A Prophet and a Prostitute

Three Wooden Crosses

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher, Ridin' on a midnight bus bound for Mexico. One's headed for vacation, one for higher education, An' two of them were searchin' for lost souls.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway, Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows. I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, It's what you leave behind you when you go.

The next verse talks about what each of the ones that died left behind.

The farmer not only left a farm, but also the love for farmer in his son.

The teacher left a legacy of learning in her students.

And the preacher left his blood stained Bible to the prostitute, who survived.

This morning we are going to talk about another man of God and a prostitute.

The Book of Hosea

Hosea - Salvation.

Hosea 1:1 NASB95

1 The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Jeroboam II - He was good at his Job. Isreal knew prosperity and peace. Expanded their territory, and wealth was pouring in.

But Jeroboam, like the other Jeroboam who ruled about a 100 years before, disobeyed God.

Hosea 1:2 NASB95

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”

Hosea 1:3 NASB95

3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

God and Isreal = Hosea and Gomer

I am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before me.

Hosea 1:4–5 NASB95

4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 “On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

Jezreel - God Sows. Also a valley where Jehu a general had destroyed the city. He later became King and continued his viciousness.

Break the bow.....Destroy her Army.

Hosea 1:6 NASB95

6 Then 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, that I would ever forgive them.

Lo-ruhamah - Not Pitied.

God removing his protection from Isreal

Gomer had begun to stray from Hosea

Hosea 1:8–9 NASB95

8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”

Lo-ammi - Not my people.

This is not Hosea leaving Gomer, but the other way around. It is also not God abandoning Isreal, but the other way around.

Judgement

Hosea 2:1–3 NASB95

1 Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.” 2 “Contend with your mother, contend, For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; And let her put away her harlotry from her face And her adultery from between her breasts, 3 Or I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land And slay her with thirst.

No compassion on her children

For she said: I will go after my lovers who gave me

wool, flax, oil and wine.

Hosea 2:13 NASB95

13 “I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.

Restoration

Hosea 2:14–16 NASB95

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness And speak kindly to her. 15 “Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 “It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord, “That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali.

Ishi - Man

Baali - Master

Genesis 2:23 NASB95

23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

Ephesians 5:25 NASB95

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

Hosea 2:19–20 NASB95

19 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, 20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.

Redemption

Hosea 3:1–2 NASB95

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

Rasin cakes - Possibly a cultural reference I certainly don’t understand. Commentaries suggest is may have been a sexual stimulant.

Not only is Hosea (Salvation) striving to get Gomer back, but he is paying to redeem her, while she is still an adulteress.

Romans 5:8 NASB95

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Peter 1:18–19 NASB95

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway, Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows. I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, It's what you leave behind you when you go.

That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday. As he held that blood-stained bible up, For all of us to see. He said: "Bless the farmer, and the teacher, an' the preacher; "Who gave this Bible to my mamma, "Who read it to me."