Relentless Love (Hosea) - Week 4
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- So, in just a few minutes we are going to explore the power of a name, and what those names can tell us.
- But, before we dive into that, in somewhat of a sequel to a game we played in the summer, we’re going to start our time together this morning by guessing the meanings behind different names.
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- Kennedy (helmeted head)
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- Emily (rival)
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- Cassandra (excelling over men)
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- Wyatt (little warrior)
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- Cecilia (blind)
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- Calvin (bald)
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- So we’re in the fourth week of our series “Relentless Love” where we are looking at the life and ministry of the ancient Jewish prophet Hosea.
- Next week we’re going to wrap this series up, but for this week we are going to focus in a bit more on Hosea’s family life, and what it teaches us about the relentless (prodigal, pursuing, extravagant, reckless) love of God for us.
- And, as we’re going to see today, the story behind the names of Hosea’s children, tell a powerful story of how God feels about His people.
- Now, just to quickly recap in case you’ve missed previous weeks, but Hosea was a prophet (a messenger for God) during the 8thcentury BC when the northern kingdom of Israel was moving from a time of material prosperity towards decay, and eventually completely conquered and exiled by Assyria.
- Israel had been moving further and further away from God since splitting apart into their own kingdom, and this spiritual decay was joined by material decay, until there was nothing left.
- And, part of what makes Hosea so unique is the particular way that his life played an object lesson for the people as a way to warn them and call them to return back to following (and loving) God.
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- Hosea 1:2-3
o The Lord began to speak through Hosea. He said to him, “Go. Marry a woman who has sex with anyone she wants. Have children with her. Do this because the people of the land are like that kind of wife. They have not been faithful to me.” So Hosea married Gomer. She was the daughter of Diblaim. Gomer became pregnant and had a son by Hosea.
- This is the story of Hosea in a nut shell.
- The people of Israel have not been faithful to God.
- And there are many warnings coming their way about what will happen if they don’t turn to Him.
- But, in the midst of those warnings, in the midst of those prophecies of impending doom, there is this foundation that comes underneath all of it.
- That God is a faithful husband who loves His Bride (He loves His people).
- And so for today, let’s pick this story up right here, as we dive deeper into the family that Hosea and Gomer had, what it meant for Israel (and what it meant for those coming after reading these records that were compiled and preserved to warn future generations – including us).
- And so let’s look at these words again.
- Now, the translation I’m using here is the one we’ve used all throughout the series (the NIRV).
- And it’s great and it’s fantastic.
- But, in order to understand something important for this morning, we need to switch translations, because this one misses something in this passage.
- So let’s read it again, from the New English Translation:
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- Hosea 1:2-3
o When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the Lord.” So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son for him.
- So there’s something key that we need to note in order to dive deeper into Hosea and Gomer’s family.
- Right from the very beginning, right at the moment when it is revealed what kind of wife Hosea is going to have, it is also revealed what kind of children he is going to have.
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- “illegitimate children conceived through prostitution”
- Hosea and Gomer will have a family together, but some of their children will be ones of which Hosea is not the biological father.
- So, in this collection of Hosea’s prophecies, poems, and story of his life and family, there are three children who are specifically mentioned.
- Let’s meet each of them for just a moment before we dive deeper into their names.
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- Hosea 1:3-4a
o So Hosea married Gomer. She was the daughter of Diblaim. Gomer became pregnant and had a son by Hosea.
o Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel.
- So here’s the first child, a son named Jezreel.
- And let’s make note of one specific thing.
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- “Gomer became pregnant and had a son by Hosea.”
- Hosea and Gomer’s son, Jezreel.
- Ok, moving on.
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- Hosea 1:6
o Gomer became pregnant again. She had a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah.”
- So now we have a second child, a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah.
- Now, some translations word it as God saying “name your daughter”, but based on what I could find, that’s just not that clear.
- There is no mention of who was the biological father of this baby girl.
- It might have been Hosea, it might not have been.
- But now we’ve got two kids.
- Big brother Jezreel.
- Little sister Lo-Ruhamah.
- And then we meet the last child.
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- Hosea 1:8-9
o Later, Gomer stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah. After that, she had another son. Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-Ammi.”
- Now here, even in the translations that want to state that Hosea was the father of Lo-Ruhamah, they do no such thing for this third child – a son named Lo-Ammi.
- One specific commentator says about these verses that “there is no indication that Hosea was his natural father”.
- If anything, the name (and the story that the name tells, which we’ll get into in just a few minutes) would point us to believe that Hosea was not Lo-Ammi’s father.
- And so these are the three children that we are told about.
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- The oldest son, Jezreel.
- The middle daughter, Lo-Ruhamah.
- And the youngest son, Lo-Ammi.
- So, now that we’ve met each of them briefly, let’s dive deeper into what each of their names tell us.
- So let’s start with Jezreel.
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- Hosea 1:4-5
o Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel. That’s because I will soon punish Jehu’s royal family. He killed many people at the city of Jezreel. So I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. At that time I will break their military power. It will happen in the Valley of Jezreel.”
- So, for this oldest son (this big brother), his name was wrapped up in a part of Israel’s history.
- At the time Hosea ministered, things were looking dark, and the mention of Jezreel (which was a physical place in Israel) reminded readers of another time when Israel was in a dark place.
- This was during the time of King Ahab.
- You may or may not be familiar with that name, Ahab was known as one of the most evil, worst kings the northern kingdom of Israel ever had.
- And, even if you don’t know the name of King Ahab, chances are you know his wife.
- Queen Jezebel.
- Again, you may not be familiar with all of the specifics, but chances are if you hear the name “Jezebel” you know that’s not a good thing.
- I don’t know anybody today who is having a baby girl thinking “Jezebel, what a beautiful name!”
- Because Ahab and Jezebel pulled Israel further away from God.
- They persecuted followers and prophets of God (including the famous prophet Elijah).
- They took their stand on the opposite side from many of the things God said that He wanted for His people.
- It got so bad, that this is what was spoken over Ahab, this is what was prophesied for his lineage and dynasty.
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- 1 Kings 21:20-21
o Ahab said to Elijah, “My enemy! You have found me!”
o “I have found you,” he answered. “That’s because you gave yourself over to do evil things. You did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord says, ‘I am going to bring horrible trouble on you.
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o I will destroy your children after you. I will destroy every male in Israel who is related to you. It does not matter whether they are slaves or free.
- Now I’ll be the first to admit that this is a difficult, dark, and disturbing passage.
- Again, if anyone ever tells me that they are fine with everything that’s in the Bible, all that really tells me is that they haven’t actually read the Bible.
- But this is the picture here.
- Ahab and his family line is going to be wiped out.
- They will not continue on the throne of Israel.
- But Ahab dies, and his son Amaziah does take the throne.
- Then Amaziah dies, but he doesn’t have any sons, and so his little brother Joram becomes king of Israel.
- But then, the prophet Elisha anoints another man named Jehu to be the next king of Israel (while Joram is still king).
- And, around 15 years after Ahab’s death, that is when the prophecy against Ahab and his family line comes to fruition.
- As Jehu slaughters Joram and all the members of Ahab’s royal family.
- It happens in 2 Kings 10, and it is a dark and disturbing picture (it’ll be listed on the Now What website, read it if you want).
- And Jehu’s orders are carried out, this massacre of Ahab’s family culminates, in a place called Jezreel.
- But the thing about Jehu and this violence, is that it was not a one-off moment for him.
- He was a militaristic man who was zealous for violence and bloodshed, and his drastic actions divided Israel in a way that lasted for generations.
- And God spoke and said that Jehu’s dynasty on the throne would only last until the time of his great-grandchildren (2 Kings 10:30).
- And Jehu’s great grandson was a man named Jeroboam, the same Jeroboam who was king at the time Hosea was beginning his prophetic ministry.
- And so there is this deep and violent picture that runs underneath the name of Hosea’s oldest son.
- Because Jezreel was the place where Ahab and his family met their end.
- But Jehu (and his descendants) would not turn Israel back to God, and his family line would also be punished.
- And, as Hosea was beginning his ministry, that time had arrived.
- Jeroboam, a successful king from a worldly perspective (he reigned for 41 years and led during a materially prosperous time), would pass the throne over to his son Zechariah, who would only hold the throne for 6 months until he was assassinated (the man who assassinated him, Shallum, would only reign for one month before he was killed) and no one from Jehu’s family line would ever rule as king again.
- Hosea sees all of this coming, and it’s all connected to the name of his oldest son.
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- Jezreel.
- A place of violence and death, would be the place where the military might of Israel would be broken.
- Hosea’s first born son is named, calling back to this dark picture of death, as a way of pointing to what is coming.
- It’s not just Jehu’s family line that will be overthrown.
- It’s all of Israel that will be overthrown, conquered, exiled.
- Assyria is coming for Israel, and they will not escape.
- Jezreel.
- That’s the picture here.
- So now let’s look at the middle daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, and what her name tells us.
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- Hosea 1:6-7
o Gomer became pregnant again. She had a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah.” Lo-Ruhamah means Not Loved. “That’s because I will no longer show love to the people of Israel. I will not forgive them anymore.
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o But I will show love to the people of Judah. And I will save them. I will not use bows or swords or other weapons of war to do it. I will not save them by using horses and horsemen either. Instead, I will use my own power to save them. I am the Lord their God. And I will save them.”
- So now we get away from a historical meaning and picture behind the name, to simply just what these words mean.
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- Lo-Ruhamah means “Not loved”.
- No love, no compassion.
- And this is some extreme language here, as God says through Hosea “I will no longer show love to the people of Israel. I will not forgive them anymore.”
- It’s a dark, bleak picture of what Israel’s repeated and constant rejection of God has led to.
- God is saying, through the naming of Hosea’s daughter, that “I am no longer the merciful one.”
- “I am no longer the forgiving one.”
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- And then, there’s this weird note: “But I will show love to the people of Judah.”
- And, as we explored in the first week, we need to understand that this collection of Hosea’s poems, prophecies, and writings likely existed separately at first, and then were later gathered together and compiled into one single volume.
- And that happened, after Israel had been conquered, exiled, and scattered.
- So why gather the writings together?
- Why compile it into a single volume now?
- Because it was the southern kingdom of Judah who were looking into Hosea’s teaching and prophecies, and considering them as a warning for their kingdom as well.
- And so this right here is a picture of how Assyria would conquer Israel but would try – and fail – to conquer Judah.
- You can read about that in Isaiah 36-37, as Assyria has conquered Israel and they are coming for Judah.
- But they fail.
- Judah stands strong.
- Even though, just as Hosea says, Judah doesn’t need to use weapons of war or go into battle themselves.
- God miraculously saves Judah from suffering the same fate as Israel when it comes to Assyria.
- Now, for those of us who have the benefit of knowing what would follow, we can look ahead – hundreds of years ahead in fact – and consider how this shaped the world in which Jesus lived.
- The northern kingdom of Israel falls to Assyria.
- They are conquered and scattered in exile.
- Other people groups are exiled into the land to prevent a revolt from rising up.
- And these different people groups begin to mix together over the course of generations.
- And then you have the rise of the people known as Samaritans.
- But, Judah didn’t fall to Assyria.
- God saved Judah.
- Judah would be exiled by Babylon, but they would also return from exile.
- All of this plays a role in the tension between Jewish people and Samaritans that is present when Jesus arrives on the scene.
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- Because Israel was “Lo-Ruhamah”.
- Israel was not loved.
- But Judah was saved, so surely Judah must have been loved?
- Surely, they must be better, right?
- And then we reach our third child, the youngest son Lo-Ammi.
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- Hosea 1:8-9
o Later, Gomer stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah. After that, she had another son. Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-Ammi.” Lo-Ammi means Not My People. “That’s because Israel is no longer my people. And I am no longer their God.
- So, similar to Lo-Ruhamah, this name is also one with lots of meaning packed into it.
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- This is a son, whose name means “Not my people”
- Going back generations before Hosea, back to the time of Moses, when Moses was giving his big “farewell address” (we call it the book of Deuteronomy), there’s a lengthy part of it where Moses begins to go into what will happen to the Israelites if they do not remain faithful to God.
- It’s a lengthy section, and I’ll post a chunk of it on the “Now What” part of the website if you want to read some of it for yourselves later this week.
- But essentially, with striking accuracy, we see in Hosea the consequences that Moses warned about (specifically in chapter 28) coming to fruition.
- After generations of patience.
- After repeated cycles, through judges, kings, and prophets, saying “repent, turn back to God”
- After all of it, these consequences finally happen in Hosea’s lifetime.
- In fact, also thinking back to the time of Moses, there is this incredibly significant moment in Israel’s history where God reveals Himself to His people in a new way.
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- Exodus 3:13-14
o Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the people of Israel. Suppose I say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And suppose they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”
o God said to Moses, “I am who I am. Here is what you must say to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
- While talking to Moses in the form of a burning bush, God gives Moses a name that He is to be known by.
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- “I am”
- This is a loaded and powerful term, one that Jesus even utilizes to great effect numerous times during His ministry.
- But now, in Hosea, there is this Hebrew play on words going on during the naming of Lo-Ammi, that is essentially communicating “I am no longer “I AM” for you.”
- “I am not Israel’s “I AM” anymore.”
- This is a powerfully tragic, heartbreaking picture, as we see promises and revelations of God that had lasted throughout Israel’s messy history, coming to an end.
- It was all coming unravelled.
- So here’s what we’ve got.
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- Oldest son Jezreel, a picture of violence and judgement, pointing towards the coming exile.
- Middle daughter Lo-Ruhamah, an image of losing God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.
- And youngest son Lo-Ammi, named after the eternally existing “I AM” turning His back on them.
- “Wow, what an uplifting sermon Pastor Matt, you sure know how to cheer people up!”
- But here’s the thing, we need to remember what we talked about last week.
- That throughout Hosea, every time you have a warning, an accusation, a judgment, a picture of the justice of God,
- Every single time, that is followed by a picture of grace, mercy, forgiveness, relentless love.
- So let’s find that picture now.
- And you don’t have to look too far, because immediately after the three kids are born and Lo-Ammi is named, we read this:
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- Hosea 1:10-2:1
o “Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together.
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o They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel—when God will again plant his people in his land.
o “In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’
- As we already said last week, this is such a dramatic shift in tone, that it is showing us the incredibly dramatic ability of God to take someone from darkness into light, from death to life.
- There are some scholars who suggest that there were two authors to what we now have as the book of Hosea, because the change in tone is so incredibly drastic, and it comes absolutely out of nowhere, that they struggle to make sense of how one author could write these things literally back to back.
- But, as we’ve already explored last week, this is meant to point us to the fact that no matter how bleak things look, no matter how lost the situation seems, no matter how long the darkness has persisted,
- No matter what, it is never, ever hopeless.
- Even though Israel will fall, even though they will be scattered, even though they will be hopelessly intermingled with other cultures as Samaritans and be looked down upon by those who see themselves as “the pure and true Jewish nation”,
- Even with all of that, they are still God’s children.
- Every child’s name gets a positive spin in these few verses.
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- You have Jezreel, a historical site of atrocious bloodshed, and it actually comes full circle right back to its original meaning.
- Because the word “Jezreel” actually means “God sows” or “God plants”.
- God is planting His people in His land.
- And again, because we have the advantage of knowing what would follow these words, we can see the bigger picture here, as this is not a promise for the northern kingdom to return to their land, gain political power again, and continue this on-again-off-again relationship with God.
- This is about something much bigger.
- God is bringing about a new heaven and a new earth, and He is planting His people there.
- Israelites, Judeans, Samaritans.
- Jews, Gentiles.
- From all people groups all over the world.
- “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
- That is what God is planting.
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- And then you have Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi, who both essentially lose the “Lo” to their names (the “no” in their names), so that “Not loved” becomes “the ones I love” and “not my people” becomes “my people”.
- It’s this dramatic, drastic, seemingly out of nowhere shift that happens.
- Not because Israel listened.
- Not because anyone repented and turned from their ways.
- God is saying “this is just how it’s going to be, because this is just who I AM”
- This dramatic shift continues:
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- Hosea 2:22-23
o Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries
o of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees.
o And they in turn will answer,
o ‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’
o At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites
o and raise them for myself.
o I will show love
o to those I called ‘Not loved.’
o And to those I called ‘Not my people,’
o I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’
o And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”
- The pictures that all three children represent all find a great reversal – not once they’ve cleaned themselves up and fixed all their problems.
- No, the great reversal happens simply because of the relentless love of God.
- And so what does this mean for us?
- What does this mean for those around us?
- It means that no matter what your name is, no matter what your name means.
- No matter what people have to say about who you are, what your family history is like, and the kind of people you have descended from,
- We have a God who is able to reverse our names, and make us into something brand new.
- In the darkest, most difficult, unsafe, chaotic places (whether we find ourselves in those places because of our own bad decisions or because of the bad decisions of someone else that led us to that place as well), God meets us right in the middle of it, and He speaks something that has always been true and will always be true.
- There is no such thing as hopeless.
- There is no such thing as “too far gone” “too lost” “too screwed up” “too much of a failure”.
- God has a dramatic ability to take those things – to take us – and completely reverse us into what He always intended for us to be.
- Now, before we wrap up, I just want to make note of one final thing.
- Going back to the beginning of that drastic and dramatic shift in Hosea.
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- Hosea 1:10
o “Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’
- There’s one simple part here that is easy to breeze right on by, but it deserves a moment of reflection before we finish this up.
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- “at the place”
- It is “at the place” where they were told “You are not my people”, that is the same place where it will be said “You are children of the living God.”
- Now, Hosea’s original context was the northern kingdom of Israel, and Israel’s capital was Samaria.
- And again, we’ve talked a few times about how Israel’s exile led to the people group of Samaritans who were looked down on and despised by Judeans.
- But let’s consider this simple fact, that Israel is conquered by Assyria, and Judah is not.
- Israel falls into exile, Judah will later fall into exile, but Judah will return home again.
- If you are keeping score between the two kingdoms that split from the one nation previously known as Israel, I think you’d have to admit that Judah seems to come out ahead in every way.
- Or, maybe, nearly every way.
- Because, in the area formerly known as the northern kingdom of Israel, where Hosea told Israel “you are not God’s people anymore”,
- In that same geographical location, hundreds of years later, in a place that no good Jewish person would walk through (let alone stop and visit), Jesus stops.
- And the very first person that Jesus openly and clearly reveals Himself as the Messiah (the Saviour of the world, the Christ, the King over all), is to a Samaritan woman.
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- John 4:25-26
o The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming.” Messiah means Christ. “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
o Then Jesus said, “The one you’re talking about is the one speaking to you. I am he.”
- Throughout Jesus’ ministry, Jesus kept the full magnitude of who He is and what He had come to do a secret from many people.
- He told people not to share about the miracles He performed.
- He wouldn’t let people (or demons) reveal His identity as Saviour of the world.
- Read through the Gospels and look for what some have called the “Messianic secret”.
- And we could get into more of why Jesus did that, but we’re wrapping things up and it’s time to have snacks in the foyer.
- But the point is that Jesus dropped His guard, Jesus openly revealed Himself, for the very first time, in the same area of the world where Hosea had prophesied this.
- Even though the southern kingdom of Judah did a lot of things better than the northern kingdom of Israel, God still never gave up on them.
- He still loved them.
- He still pursued them.
- He still revealed Himself to them.
- And the same is true for us.
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- After all, the name Hosea actually means…
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- “help” or “salvation”, and is a Hebrew name with similar roots to names like Joshua, Yeshua, or even Jesus.
- No matter how far we’ve fallen, no matter how dark things are around us.
- He hasn’t forgotten about us.
- He is helping us.
- He is saving us.
- He loves us.
- He planting us into His new creation.
- Because we are His people, and He is our God.
- And His love is relentless.
- Close in prayer
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- Now What Website
- God loves you. God is on your side. He is coming after you. He is relentless.
“Now What” Resources:
Scripture:
- Hosea 1:1-2:1
- Hosea 2:14-23
- 2 Kings 10
- Isaiah 36-37
- Deuteronomy 28:15-68
Prayer:
- Pray that God would help you to understand what you mean to Him. Ask Him to open your heart to receive His love in a fresh way today.
- Pray that God would use you to “reverse” someone’s dark situation with the light of His hope this week. Pray that you would be able to speak to someone who doesn’t understand how valuable they are, and that God would give you the words to say about the identity that they can find in Jesus.
Discussion/Reflection:
- Does your name have any specific meaning? A literal meaning/translation? Family significance? If you are discussing with others, go around and talk about what your name means (or just look it up on Google!).
- The names of Hosea and Gomer’s children paint a very dark picture about how God feels about Israel. How do you reconcile this darkness with the hope of Jesus? How would you explain how the “God of the Old Testament” is the same as the “God of the New Testament” when they sometimes seem so different?
- The reversal of the three children’s names teaches us that no matter how bad things appear, it is never “hopeless”. Do you truly believe this? How does this change how you live, how you go to work/school, how you treat your friends/family, how you approach the circumstances you are facing right now? What practical difference does the hope of Jesus make in your life?
- Why do you think Jesus chose to reveal His true identity to a Samaritan woman first? What does this mean for anyone who feels looked down on or overlooked?
Now What Next Step:
- This week is all about how God can “reverse our name” (reverse our situation). What is one way you can help someone reverse their situation?
- Could you make a donation to a local food bank or missionary?
- Could you help a neighbour put Christmas lights up?
- Could you sponsor a child?
- Could you have a family over for supper and speak encouragement and friendship into their hearts?
- Ask God to guide you to someone who could use a helping hand, and then be obedient and do what He puts on your heart to do.
