Hosea's Wife and Children: A Parable of Judgment (1:2-2:1)

Introduction

In a day where tolerance is king, we are told that we are to remove all barriers that prevent people from following their hearts. Egocentricity is to be proclaimed as the new mantra of our age. We chart our own course as self made people, and if you you dare to tell me different, you are an intolerant bigot and should be disposed of accordingly. If God does exist, he is on my side and will help me chart my course, and the bible, well, It has value only in reference to my interpretation, thus throwing out any or all of its prohibitions.

Sound far fetched you say…just ask the average person on the street what they think the number problem of mankind is, and you will get something close to the above.

It may interest you to know that nothing has changed in 3,000 years. This is pretty much the problem facing Hosea in the eighth-century BC. The children of Israel had enjoyed a long history of God’s grace upon them and to think of anything different would be anathema, and would be considered the act of a traitor or unloving. For Yahweh has chosen us, they would say, out of all the nations of the world, and to think he would judge us is just not thinkable. But what they failed to realize is that the God of Israel is also a just and holy God and to tolerate sin is a violation of his very character of holiness. To teach his people how vile they actually were, and to show how his love and justice go hand-in-hand in relation to their vileness, he gives them a living parable using Hosea to implement the details.

So who is Hosea? Well, according to verse one of chapter one, he is the son of Beeri. Which doesn’t offer much help, since this is the only time in scripture that a man Beeri is mentioned, except for Beeri the Hittite, the father-in-law of Esau, who was mentioned way back in Genesis 26:34. Hosea may have been a native to the Northern Kingdom because of his familiarity of its geography. Whatever the case, God called him and chose to use him in a very unique and special way. Hosea has been called the “death-bed prophet of Israel” because he was the last to prophesy against the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom before they fell to Assyria (about 722 B.C.). His ministry followed a golden age in the northern kingdom (under Jeroboam II), with a peace and prosperity not seen since the days of Solomon. Unfortunately, with this prosperity came moral decay, and Israel forsook God to worship idols. So God instructed Hosea to marry a “wife of whoredom” (1:2), whose unfaithfulness to her husband would serve as an example of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Hosea then explained God’s complaint against Israel and warned of the punishment that would come unless the people returned to the Lord and remained faithful to him. The book shows the unfathomable depth of God’s love for his people, a love that tolerates no rivals.

So as we study this book we will see that it very clearly teaches that true knowledge of God is not merely the possession of correct information about Him, but includes the intimacy typical of marriage and family life, an intimacy evidenced in worship, lifestyle, and loyalty to the covenant LORD.

Thus we begin our series this morning in Hosea, who is called, the prophet of hesed, which is a beautiful a Hebrew word translated as “steadfast love”, or “covenant loyalty”, and so I have subtitle the series, Hosea, the unfathomable love of God. We will seek to unpack Chapter one this morning with a message entitled, Hosea’s Wife and Children: A Parable of Judgement.

Text: Hosea 1:1-2:1

Hosea 1:1–2:1 ESV

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” 10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. 1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”

Main Idea: Because God’s unfathomable love is in complete cooperation with his holiness and justice, we his people, must expect that our disobedience warrants his discipline and judgment.

(1) Hosea’s ministry spanned the time of 4 Southern Kings of Judah (2 southern nations, Judah and Benjamin), and only King Jeroboam II of Israel (10 nations in the North) is mentioned, from about 750 BC ~ 722 BC. The other kings of Israel between Jeroboam II and the fall of the north in 722 BC were not worthy of mention (four were assassins).

You will note that as we go through this book, that it is divided into two major sections:

The Lesson from Hosea’s Family Life (1:2-3:5) - where God illustrates his love and his people’s sin by the context of Hosea’s personal life.

Hosea’s Prophetic Message (chaps. 4-14) - where God pronounces his judgment upon his people for their sin as illustrated by Hosea and Gomer.

I. The Marriage (1:2-3)

A. The Command (2a)

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea

Note that before the Lord uses Hosea to speak, he first speaks to him.

Note also that it is Yahweh (LORD) that speaks. This is significant since all that is wrapped up in that name is synonymous with a covenantal relationship.

BTW, Hosea means “He (God) has saved”. Hosea is a form of Joshua, Yeshua (Jesus)

Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom

Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room…why would God have Hosea marry a prostitute?

Leviticus 21:7 ESV

7 They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

Deuteronomy 22:21 ESV

21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

The question of how to interpret the personal events of Hosea’s life that symbolically parallel his prophetic message has long perplexed readers of the Book of Hosea. Are the details given in chs. 1 and 3 about Hosea’s family life to be understood literally or allegorically? Because of the moral perplexity posed by the holy God’s command that Hosea marry a prostitute, throughout the ages there always have been interpreters who have understood the details of Hosea’s married life allegorically. Others, arguing that 1:2 refers to the future, reason that Gomer became a prostitute only after the birth of their first child. Still others, advocating a modified literal reading, argue that Gomer was not a common prostitute but rather a woman involved in cultic prostitution related to the fertility religion of Baal. However, the prophet’s actual marriage to an unfaithful wife would make the analogy with the Lord’s relationship to Israel most vivid, and this seems to be what the text intends.

B. The Purpose (2b)

for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord - the whole purpose of this living parable was to show the seriousness of Israel’s sin. Israel was seen as a prostitute unfaithful to her husband Yahweh.

II. The Children (1:4-9)

Note that Hosea’s children here each represent an allegory of God judgment

Also note that with each child, God’s judgment gets more intense

A. Jezreel (4)

Jezreel. Lit. “God sows” or “plants.” This is the name of a beautiful and fertile valley between the mountain ranges of Samaria and Galilee (the site of Gideon’s victory over the Midianites, Judg. 6:33), and of a town at the valley’s southern end, where Jehu came to power through violence (1 Kin. 21:1; 2 Kin. 9; 10). This valley became the place of judgment in 733 b.c. (2 Kin. 15:29). This punishment through military defeat suggests the theme of covenant breaking since it reflects the curses recorded in Lev. 26:17; Deut. 28:25, 49–57. Yet Jezreel is also a sign of blessing and fertility in Hos. 2:22.

I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel -

Jehu was anointed by God’s prophet to usurp the throne of King Ahab, and to destroy his dynasty because of Ahab and his wife Jezebel’s commitment to Baal worship (2 Kings 9:1-10). Jehu’s dynasty prevailed many years, and includes the present king Jereboam II.

blood of Jezreel - this refers to how King Ahab, who promoted Baalism as the national religion of Israel, plotted to murder Naboth, a man loyal to the Lord, in order to seize his vineyard in Jezreel (1 Kings 21).

Thus this phase can be restated to mean, “I will punish the house of Israel for their worship of Baal.”

I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel - signified the defeat of Baalism at the same place where Baal had seemingly triumphed over the Lord.

B. No Mercy (6)

No Mercy. Hebrew “Lo-ruhama.” Lit. “she has not received mercy.” The child’s name signifies the imminent withdrawal of the compassion God had shown to Israel in spite of her covenant unfaithfulness.

I will have mercy. A reference to Jerusalem’s miraculous deliverance from the Assyrians in 701 b.c. (Is. 37:14, 33–38; 2 Kin. 19:32–37).

C. Not My People (9)

Not My People. Hebrew “Lo-ammi.” The name of the third child marks the high point of God’s judgment, as God cancels the ancient covenantal formula (Ex. 6:7; Lev. 26:12; Deut. 26:17–19) and declares that the covenant is not in effect (v. 10 notes).

I am not your God - lit: “I am not ‘I AM’ to you”, this level of rejection is the most severe as it shows that what God had said to Moses in Ex. 3:14, is being rescinded.

III. The Hope (1:10-2:1)

(10)Yet - Yahweh is about to remind us of his covenant with Abraham and help us understand how this all plays out with the Allegorical judgment names of Hosea’s children.

A. Covenant Remembrance (10a)

(10) Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered

Genesis 13:16 ESV

16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

Genesis 22:17 ESV

17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,

So how does this work? God is rejecting his unfaithful wife Israel, is he also reneging on his covenant promise? He explains next...

B. Covenant Promise (10b-2:1)

In the first place, God had never intended to save just one group of people, but his covenant with Abraham includes all the nations of the world. Lets look again at the Abrahamic covenant:

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So the blessings of this covenant was to be fulfilled in all the families of the earth

This is the meaning of the following verses, where we begin to see the reversal of the allegorical judgments represented by Hosea’s children.

(10b) in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.

(11) the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. - this was partially fulfilled during the reign of King Hezekiah in the south when he restored Yahweh worship and drew many from the north to join him.

(2:1) Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy

The apostle Paul helps us understand what is being said here in chapter nine of Romans:

Romans 9:22–27 ESV

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” 26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” 27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

So there it is, though the children of Israel were unfaithful, as unfaithful prostitutes to their husband Yahweh, God will bring judgment, but his covenant with the families of the world is unchanged, his love is unfathomable, as he pours it out on a remnant of people who will receive his blessing. More about this next week...

So What?

Do we realize the seriousness of our sin or our we banking on the fact that we are God’s children and he will always look kindly upon us?

Do you truly know God, or do you just know about him?