The Story of Hosea

A love story of renewed love

and forgiveness

Hosea 1:1-2:1 "...the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." {3} So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. {4} Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. {5} In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel." {6} Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. {7} Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them--not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God." {8} After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. {9} Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God. {10} "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' {11} The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. {2:1} "Say of your brothers, 'My people,' and of your sisters, 'My loved one.'

As hard as it is to fully understand the mighty and sovereign wisdom of a loving God in matters of unconditional love, the scriptures give us a perfect and time-honored example.

There was a young man named Hosea, and he was called by God to enter a living drama and even heartache that was to vividly show God's people a tremendous love story. But it is also a story of God's love for his people, forgiveness and restoration. Hosea was asked to marry a beautiful woman named Gomer. But before this, God told Hosea that his wife, whom he loved with all his heart, would be unfaithful and chase after other loves, and would ultimately disgrace him. Yet God promised Hosea that although tragedy and suffering would follow his relationship of love, God would use all the circumstances to strengthen him and his love for his wife, ahd her's for him.

It was also a message of love from God to His own people. Hosea's name means salvation, and thus he in type, prefigured the Creator who one day appeared as the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hosea would have three children, and God told him to name them as follows. The first child, a son was named JEZREEL, which means "scattered." God was predicting that God's children, His firstborn, the nation of Israel, would soon be scattered for their rebellion and sins.

The second child born to Hosea and Gomer was a little girl to be named "LO-RUHAMAH." Her name meant " one who never knew a father's love." God was showing through this second child of Hosea and Gomer, that God's long suffering love can be rejected, and such rejection can cause the flow of the father's love to cease. This symbolized the state of Israel at the time of her living disobedience to God.

Then along came a third child. God said this one was to be named, "LO-AMI." This name meant "no child of mine, or not my people." Each child and the progression of them spoke of a great tragedy to come in Hosea's home life, which specifically portrayed God's suffering heart for His children, the nation and people of Israel.

As God had predicted, Gomer became unfaithful in love and disgraced Hosea's faithfulness to her. What's worse, she not only became unfaithful, she became a prostitute, and continuously wallowed in immorality. She sold her body simply for "the lust of the eyes and the pride of life." At that particular time, the nation of Israel was quite prosperous, and materialism was everywhere. Gomer coveted such wealth and its abundant pleasures and was willing to pay any price for it. She wanted what she wanted and would do anything to get it. Nothing the Hosea had to offer was not good enough for her wandering eye.

How Hosea's heart must have been broken. His home torn apart, His life disgraced, and his heart crushed and everything he had hoped for, gone. But the story tells that Hosea, broken by this treachery, was not about to turn away from Gomer or their children.

Gomer had forgotten the blessings provided by Hosea, a faithful hard working husband who loved her dearly. Yet, in spite of this dedication and love- which is what all women want from their husbands, Gomer followed other lovers who used her. Still Hosea's plight is recorded by the Spirit of God who paralleled God's suffering in like manner. We read in,

Hosea 2:15 "There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt."

The book of Hosea is written with what might seem dry and boring speech, but Hosea was saying, the day is coming when "I will turn her valley of troubles into a door of hope." Through the example of Hosea's life, God was showing His people that they too were unfaithful to Him. Yet God would not abandon them.

In chapter two, we find God instructs Hosea to do an almost unbelievable thing. Gomer's lovers themselves had not wealth although Gomer thought they did. God instructs Hosea to love her anyway, and provide for her even in her sinful ways. Keep in mine this was his wife-not just a love interest.

So Hosea, although obedient to God, expresses his own heart as well, goes to the market place near where Gomer is sinfully living, and he purchases for his unfaithful wife, food and clothing. He finds her lovers, and asks them to give it to her, not revealing it was from him. So she receives the gifts from these unfaithful scoundrels, thinking the wealth comes from her world of sin. How hard this must have been for Hosea. Yet the picture is clear. Even today all that we, the people of God's creation, have is because of God's loving provision. The Bible says,

Acts 17:28 "'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, '[all humanity] are his offspring.'"

Hosea tells us how in anguish of soul, yet in total faithfulness in spite of Gomer's unfaithfulness, he provided everything for her. The Bible recounts,

Hosea 2:5 Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' Hosea 2:8 [BUT] She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold-- which [together she and her lovers] they used for Baal.

Does the Lord God, our Creator our sustainer love us that much? Yes He does. He loves us unconditionally, always.......... because we are His.

Now in the rest of Hosea, chapters 4-13, through the sins I recounted earlier, God's lpromise of love is severely tested. Hosea watched as Gomer went from bad to worse. The riches and luxury she coveted, and secretly received from the one who truly loved her, soon expires as God tells Gomer to withdraw them. By now Gomer has gone deep into immorality and sinful living. She now is lost to sin, and deeper and deeper she falls into the squalor such a life ultimately brings. Her lovers begin to treat her badly, many abuse her and in the end, they cast her aside. At that point, Gomer hits the bottom. Hosea, under God's prompting, tells us, in His living drama of redemption and love these words,

Hosea 2:5-7 "...[Gomer] said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' {6} [God said] Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. {7} She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them..."

Neither Gomer nor God's people of her day and people today, will ever find satisfaction in anything outside of God. Everything that we strive for will be in vain if it is not within God's will and providence. It was a lesson that Gomer learned, but it was also a lesson for Hosea. He had to trust in God as He led him through all of this, and he had to trust in his timing...

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

God warns in His word that following our own sinful paths, seeking to find fulfillment outside of God Himself, always fails and in the end brings hopelessness and despair.

Well, the story of Hosea moves on, and finally Hosea finds Gomer dishonored and deserted. She is found as it were, a slave to be sold on the auction block. Her life and youth spent, her beauty worn and faded, and now her value was next to nothing. In the pity of this pathetic scene, Hosea whose love never dwindled, goes to the slave market, and purchases her back from slavery. Listen to the Word of God,

Hosea 3:1 "The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." {2} So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. {3} Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you." {4} For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. {5} Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days."

This third chapter in the book of Hosea in many interpreters minds is the greatest chapter in the whole Bible, because it portray the greatest love story, the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to redeem His spent and sin enslaved people. Through this living drama, Hosea in never ending faithfulness, shows forth a love beyond understanding. As we skip ahead of the listing of the Israel's sins I earlier recounted, God tells us in,

Hosea 13:9-10 "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help. I will be thy king, where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities?"

The closing chapter is so beautiful. For in it God relates Hosea's broken marriage and disgraced home, to a picture of God's heart as He calls for Israel to return. Much like God's call to the people of the last time, found in

Revelation 2:5 "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Hosea too, God's faithful prophet writes,

Hosea 14:1 "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!"

How beautiful is the Word of God and His glorious pictures of true lasting love. To a sinning, uncaring people God promises healing, hope, love and forgiveness.

Hosea 14:4 "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them."

This story was a story of God's love for his people, but Hosea, through his suffering and trials clearly showed his people the love of God, His long suffering, grace, and the goodness of God that desires to lead everyone of us personally to Himself. That my friends is the greatest love story ever told! But, it is a story that may remain to be told, if it doesn't embrace your life and mine. All that God has and does for us, all that He has promised to do in the future and eternity, will never come true or be a reality unless we like sinful Gomer, come to see ourselves, our sinful selfish ways, our spiritual whoredom - and return to the Lord who owns and bought us.The Book of Hosea ends with a beautiful exaltation of the ways of God. We read in,

Hosea 14:9 "Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them."

Yes God is good, and He is a God of love. Would that you my friend will take heed and come to Him. Today why not give your heart to Christ, your Maker and God? Why not surrender afresh to the greatest lover of all, the Lord Jesus Christ? Just call out to Him, ask Him to forgive you and receive you. Yes, your sins may be great, your selfishness and sinfulness long and deep, but the Lord Jesus says,

John 10:9-10 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. {10} ...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Revelation 3:19-20 "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. {20} Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me." Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Now, we can argue about why God would have called Hosea to submit his life to such hurt and sorrow, but one thing we cannot argue about - the Love of God. The Bible my friend is God's love letter to you and me. It calls sinful men, women, boys and girls to see the real reason for our existence. It calls for us to realize that all we have is because of God's unquenchable love for each one of us.

But in a more earthy picture, such a love can restore broken relationships within God's will. But it also can, like Hosea, keep us close to His promises and resting in His arms..

Yes, this story from the pages of history also calls each one of us to seek the Lord while He may be found, to forsake the wicked way, the unrighteous man his self thinking and plans, and for us all to return unto the LORD, for He will have mercy upon us and will abundantly pardon. (Isa. 55:6-7). That my friend to me is my Valentine story. May the heart of such love ever flow in your life for Jesus sake. Amen.