Hosea 1-3 Two Marriages: Object Lessons in Judgment and Restoration

Introduction

Most people either know nothing about Hosea, or what they know is incorrect (or may be)

Language is hard; translation is hard (Hebrew -> English)

Sometimes a translation tries to be helpful but ends up obscuring the meaning; sometimes it’s better to leave things just a bit ambiguous

Why don’t we know as much about Hosea?

A “minor prophet” (in size, not importance), but the opening book of the “Book of the Twelve” in the Hebrew Bible

Who were the other prophets?

Former Prophets

1. Joshua 2. Judges 3. Samuel (our 1 & 2 Samuel combined) 4. Kings (our 1 & 2 Kings combined)

Latter Prophets

5. Isaiah 6. Jeremiah 7. Ezekiel

The Book of the Twelve makes 8!

Who was Hosea? (family tree)

Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary Comment

The prophet’s name, which comes from the Hebrew yāšaʿ (‘to help, deliver’), reflects God’s ultimate goal for his people

When did Hosea minister?

Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary Comment

Hosea’s ministry is set during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, placing it in the eighth century BC, during the most recent Assyrian resurgence.

Hosea Hosea and His Times

Israel and Judah, the two nations comprising God’s covenant people, enjoyed material abundance and a large measure of peace

Hosea Hosea and His Times

As Hosea witnessed the fall and destruction of Israel and its capital at Samaria, it seems that his concern turned toward the remnant of the covenant people in Jerusalem, under the true kingship of the house of David. The contents of Hosea will suggest that his writings were collected in Jerusalem. Therefore, while his personal ministry was to the north, the primary audience of his book was the people of this southern kingdom as they foolishly followed the same downward path of idolatry and unrighteousness.

Who were the contemporaries of Hosea? (755-710)

Amos (760-750) - concerned with social injustice (Amos 5:24 “24 But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.” )

Jonah (760)

Isaiah (740 - 680)

Micah (740-700) - Justice, true worship

What did Hosea preach about?

Spiritual Adultery (Idolatry) - Israel chases Baal, fertility rites, household idols [1:2; 2:13, 17; 4:12–13; 8:4–6]

Empty ritual & hypocritical worship - Festivals, sacrifices, and even Torah study continue—but God calls them “meaningless” because hearts are hard. [5:6; 6:6; 8:11–13]

Political reliance on foreign powers - Israel makes treaties with Assyria & Egypt (“lovers”) instead of trusting Yahweh. [5:13; 7:11; 8:9–10; 12:1]

Corrupt leadership (kings, priests, prophets) - Priests feed on sin; kings are installed without God’s approval; prophets are false. [4:4–9; 5:1; 7:3–7; 9:7–9]

Moral debauchery—sexual & economic - Drunkenness, prostitution (cultic and literal), pride in wealth gained by fraud. [4:11, 18; 9:1; 10:1; 12:7–8]

Hosea preaches that Israel’s rampant idolatry and covenant betrayal have corrupted worship, poisoned society, and driven the nation to trust politics instead of God—sins that demand judgment yet are met with God’s plea to return and be healed (14:1–4).

1. Hosea’s Marriage and Children

Hosea 1:1–11 CSB

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel. 2 When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him: Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord. 3 So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to him: Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in Jezreel Valley. 6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him: Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. I will certainly take them away. 7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God. I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war, or by horses and cavalry. 8 After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 Then the Lord said: Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. 10 Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, they will be called: Sons of the living God. 11 And the Judeans and the Israelites will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves a single ruler and go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great.

How to understand v2?

Go and marry a prostitute

Go and marry someone who will become a prostitute

Go and marry...someone from your people - a people characterized by spiritual promiscuity

Doug Stewart: When Yahweh began to speak through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, ‘Marry a woman of ‘prostitution’ and have children of ‘prostitution’ because the land is completely involved in ‘prostitution,’ and has turned away from Yahweh

“By the time God began inspiring Hosea to preach those things now preserved in the book that bears his name, Israel had deteriorated religiously and spiritually to the point that no one—not even a prophet’s wife and children, and certainly not the population as a whole—could claim that they were free from the effects of the polytheistic idolatry that permeated the culture. One way or another, everyone was encountering it. Israel was corrupt, and the prophet’s marriages—both of them—as well as the names of his children function in two enactment prophecies to symbolize that reality.”

Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 171 “Marry a Promiscuous Woman” (Hos. 1:2) and “Your Wife Again” (Hos. 3:1) (Douglas K. Stuart)

When Yahweh began to speak through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, ‘Marry a woman of ‘prostitution’ and have children of ‘prostitution’ because the land is completely involved in ‘prostitution,’ away from Yahweh

Why would he suggest this?

The predominant usage of the language of “prostitution” in the Old Testament is metaphorical, figurative rather than literal, and especially so in the prophetical books.

This is not the best picture of God’s relationship with Israel; God did not marry a prostitute

The Hebrew term here is not the usual term for a prostitute

The command to marry an immoral woman would be problematic

The phrase “have children of prostitution” is likewise challenging

“When Yahweh began to speak with Hosea, then Yahweh said to Hosea: Go, take-for-yourself a woman of harlotries and children of harlotries; for harlotrying she keeps-on-harlotrying, the land, from after Yahweh.”

What then is the message here? It is the naming of Hosea’s children:

Jezreel - Israel’s dynasty that began with Jehu’s massacre will itself be shattered.

Jehu’s Jezreel Massacre (2 Kings 9–10) in 60 seconds

What happened? In 842 BC God authorizes the army-commander Jehu to end Ahab’s corrupt dynasty. Jehu rides to Jezreel and, in rapid-fire succession,

Kills Israel’s king Joram, throwing his body on Naboth’s stolen field.

Executes Judah’s visiting king Ahaziah (Ahab’s grandson by marriage) and later 42 of Ahaziah’s relatives.

Has Jezebel thrown from a window and eaten by dogs.

Beheads seventy princes of Ahab’s house and stages a mass execution of Baal worshipers.

Jezreel is where Jehu’s sword wiped out two royal houses—an act that fulfilled prophecy yet sowed seeds of fresh judgment, making the site a shorthand for bloodshed.

What if you named your son “Pearl Harbor” ?

2. Lo-Ruhamah, “No Compassion” or “No Pity” or “Has not received mercy”

for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. I will certainly take them away. But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God. I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war, or by horses and cavalry

3. Lo-Ammi, “Not my people”

But...a reversal of all this is coming:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

They will appoint for themselves a single ruler

and go up from the land.

For the day of Jezreel will be great.

2 Call your brothers: My People

and your sisters: Compassion.

The same root also means “God sows.” Now it points to hope: after scattering, God will re-sow (plant) His people back in the land.

The “great day of Jezreel” is Hosea’s snapshot of ultimate restoration—when God reunites north and south, replants His scattered people in the land, and turns every curse name into a blessing.

2. Israel’s Adultery Rebuked

Hosea 2:2–3 CSB

2 Rebuke your mother; rebuke her. For she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts. 3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

Who would be doing the rebuking? The remnant of Israel

Hosea 2:13 CSB

13 And I will punish her for the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense. She put on her rings and her jewelry and followed her lovers, but she forgot me. This is the Lord’s declaration.

This is comprehensive judgment for idolatry and unfaithfulness

3. Israel’s Adultery Forgiven

Hosea 2:14–17 CSB

14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt. 16 In that day— this is the Lord’s declaration— you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer call me, “My Baal.” 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names.

When does this take place?

partially - when Judah returns form exile

spiritually - at Christ’s first coming

fully - in the millennial kingdom

4. Hosea’s Second Marriage

Hosea 3 CSB

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley. 3 I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.” 4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the last days.

Was this woman Gomer? What is the scenario?

This woman is associated with adultery. The first wife is associated with prostitution (though probably symbolic). These are not the same things.

The “bride price” in v.2 is more likely to refer to a marriage than a reconciliation

The woman is unnamed

Hosea is told not to consummate the second marriage. This symbolizes an extended time when Israel will be without her “husband” Yaweh

v.1 “loved by another man” - A crooked “love” — possessive, exploitative, the sort that takes rather than gives

v.2 Fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley (animal feed) - essentially the price of a slave, or 1/2 the price of a bride. See Deuteronomy 21:10–14 “10 “When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and 11 if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife, 12 you are to bring her into your house. She is to shave her head, trim her nails, 13 remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. 14 Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.”

v.3 A betrothal/probationary period of sexual abstinence; it pictures Israel’s coming exile: cut off from idols and from covenant intimacy until the relationship is truly renewed.

Applications

God pursues the unfaithful

The “single ruler” of 1:11 is Christ (Hosea 1:11 “11 And the Judeans and the Israelites will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves a single ruler and go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great.” )

God’s demonstrated love should motivate us to faithfulness

Hosea 1–3 shocks us so we’ll feel the scandal of grace— a God who buys back runaways at His own expense and leads them into a love they never deserved. Our call is to repent, receive, and reflect that kind of love.