When people search for a marriage partner they often begin with superficial motives. We see an example of this in the book of Esther. When Queen Vashti refused to entertain King Ahasuerus and his guests at a party, he set up a beauty contest in order to select his new queen. Modern society tries to be a bit more sophisticated, but much of the superficiality remains. A potential spouse usually has to pass an appearance test before going through a personality and character assessment. Eventually, everyone realizes that compromises have to be made somewhere. Nobody is perfect.
How would an all-knowing, all-powerful God go about finding a bride? He would not need a beauty contest or personality and character assessments. He would already know who would make the best fit. Of course, he would have to compromise, but at least he could know beyond the shadow of a doubt that there were no better options.
Hosea is all about how God chose a spouse and what it cost him to maintain that relationship. The first three chapters of Hosea clearly contain a marriage theme. However, it reaches beyond the temporal relationship between a man and a woman. The story is shocking from many angles. God doesn’t select his bride because she was the best available. He does not choose the one with the most beauty, or the most intelligence, or the purest character. God selects a bride who would fail all modern evaluations.
God frequently called upon the prophets to provide a visual demonstration of their message. They were often called to engage in activities that we would consider very strange.
1. Jeremiah was expected to remain single and refrain from attending any funerals (Jer 16:1-9). God’s judgment upon Israel. Families would be wiped out; no time to mourn & lament.
2. Isaiah was called to walk naked and barefoot for three years (Isa 20:3). Judgment upon Egypt, who would be led away naked and humility, enslaved by the Cushites.
3. Ezekiel was asked to bake bread on human excrement (Ezek 4:12). It was a visual representation of God’s judgment upon Israel who would soon be eating their meals in foreign lands.
4. These commands are strange indeed, yet Hosea’s calling surpasses them all! Hosea was called to marry a prostitute. Whereas, each of the previous instances were signs of future judgment, Hosea’s calling is—remarkably—a sign of future grace.
Read Hosea 1:1-9.
I. The Call to a Broken Marriage (1:1-9)
Hosea is told to marry an adulterous woman. That is the plain reading of the text. However, many have tried to soften this command apparently out of its sheer unbelievability. They suggest that Hosea was called to marry a woman who was chaste at the time of their marriage, but that she would become an adulterer later. Others suggest that it is metaphorical language of Israel’s idolatry. There is indeed a metaphor here, but the point is that Hosea was called to physically live out that spiritual metaphor. The metaphorical language will become clear later. Here, on the other hand, we have clear historical narrative.
There are a few other strange interpretations, but all of them seek to evade the simplest and clearest reading of the text. They require the reader to find something beneath the text, something that is not there on the surface. The text clearly tells Hosea to marry an adulterer. Nothing in this passage suggests a metaphorical interpretation. If we take Gomer’s whoredom as metaphor should we do the same for the strange callings of Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel mentioned above?
Hosea is not only told to marry a prostitute, he is also told to “have children of whoredom.” Of the three children named in the first chapter, only one of them appears to be Hosea’s child by birth. As was the usual case, the names of the children have significance. “Jezreel” is the hardest name to make sense of, but it seems to refer to a spirit of violence that existed among the nation of Israel. Jezreel was the location of a massacre. So it would be like naming your child Hiroshima. In addition, the name means “scattered” and it points to the scattering of the nation as God’s judgment.
The next two children were named “No Mercy” and “Not My People” with clear implications that God had considered the Israelites to have broken the covenant. But the language used to describe these two children is different than the language regarding Jezreel. Verse 3 says, “she [Gomer] conceived and bore him [Hosea] a son,” while verses 6 and 8 read, “she conceived and bore…” This seems to imply that Hosea was not their father. If true, it would make sense of the command to “have children of whoredom”.
Kidner, “The joy of fatherhood was deeply clouded, and the children were living proofs of the invasion of the marriage.”
Not only was Hosea called to marry a protitute, but he was called to raise children who were conceived in prostitution. This was Hosea’s family. He acted as their father whether by birth or adoption. Isn’t this the marriage you always dreamed of having?
› Incredibly, it points to God’s covenant relationship with with his bride.
II. The Consequences of a Broken Marriage (Read 2:2-13)
In the same way that Hosea was called to marry a prostitute, God selects a bride who is unfaithful in every way. She has served other gods, going so far as to sacrifice her own children to those false gods.
Ezekiel 23:39 ESV
For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.
She has forgotten God’s political provision and begun to trust in the help of other nations. She has broken every commandment revealing the absence of moral character. Much like Gomer, God’s bride does not have an appealing description.
This section begins with a description of the separation between God and Israel because of her whoring (2:2) followed by oracles of judgment. Israel has begun to whore after other gods. Their children were conceived in whoredom (2:5). They have taken the gifts that God has given to them and offered them as sacrifices to Baal (2:8). The text conjures up the image of a husband bringing home food and clothing for his family, only to see his wife take it and run to her other lovers in order to share it with them.
Notice God’s response in Hosea 2:9-10. God promises to judge his bride, Israel, by taking his gifts of food and clothing away from her. As she stands before her lovers naked and ashamed, no one comes to rescue her. No once comes to her aid! No one comes to comfort her. Her lovers want nothing to do with her when she has nothing to offer them. They were simply using her. Until she sees that, she will continue to run to them. And that is what we see her do. She continues to worship Baal and collect wages as a prostitute leaving and forgetting her husband altogether (2:13). Apart from God Israel is naked, alone, and ashamed.
Do you recognize yourself here? This is a picture of you and me. We are the unfaithful Gomer. We are the ones continually taking God’s gifts and offering them to our idols. We take the resources and talents God has given us and use them to promote our own success. When the gifts cease we search for them in places where they do not exist (the world).
Apart from God we are naked, alone, and ashamed just like Gomer.
› However, there is a way to be clothed again. There is a way to re-enter fellowship with God. There is a way to regain our dignity. But it will be costly!
III. The Cost of a Restored Marriage (2:14-3:5)
The text unexpectedly transitions from judgment to mercy. Just when we would anticipate another oracle of judgment, another description of Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness, we get a picture of God’s mercy instead. From devastating unfaithfulness, the text transitions to covenant renewal. Right after God’s marriage has been described as broken due to his bride’s unfaithfulness we read this amazing passage in Hosea 2:14-23.
In the midst of her sleeping around, God calls to her and woos her back. While she is selling herself to other gods who cannot provide lasting peace, God promises mercy and hope. He reminds Israel of how he rescued them out of Egypt before, and now he plans to rescue them again.
Why doesn’t he forget about her the way she had forgotten about him? Where’s the justice? Doesn’t justice demand punishment? God had ample justification to pour out his wrath upon her. She was covetous (2:5), proud (5:5), unstable (6:4), worldly (7:8), corrupt (9:9), continually backsliding (11:7), and idolatrous (13:2).
Yet, we read of God’s eternal betrothal in Hosea 2:19-20. The characteristics of this betrothal are defined as righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, and knowledge of God. This language speaks not only of God’s commitment to his bride, but her commitment to him. God has promised to betroth himself to his bride, but has she done the same? Have God’s people kept their wedding vows? Do righteousness and justice describe their character? Are they faithful, keeping steadfast love for God? The obvious answer to every one of these questions is “No!” So what is the proper interpretation?
The covenant is renewed, but the stipulations have not been met. Apart from satisfaction, there can be no peace in the marriage. Once again we transition back the marriage of Hosea and Gomer in Hosea 3:1-3.
From this passage we can discern some things about Hosea’s situation. Gomer has left her home. She has left Hosea and their three children, and she has gone to be with another man. You can imagine the pain Hosea was experiencing. He must have spent many late nights thinking of his wife in the arms of someone who cared nothing for her. He must have been sick with grief. Think of the onslaught of difficult questions he had to tenderly answer from children who were confused and fragile.
In this state, when Gomer’s unfaithfulness has hit rock bottom, God calls Hosea to redeem her. Many people have speculated what this means. House writes, “Hosea completes his symbolic activity by buying his wife back from the slavery she has embraced.” If Hosea had to buy her at a slave auction, she would have been exposed and paraded before the crowd. The cost of her redemption is what makes this interpretation so plausible. Hosea had to purchase Gomer back for what amounts to the price of a slave, 30 shekels. And it appears that Hosea couldn’t even afford that much. He had to cover half of the price with barley. Hosea must have been humiliated.
House, “By loving this woman despite her failure to remain faithful to him Hosea demonstrates for Israel the persevering love of God for a constantly straying Israel.”
There is still one major problem that has not been addressed. At this point, we still do not have any indication as to how Israel is going to uphold her end of the betrothal. With that in mind, we can begin to get an idea from Hosea 1:10-2:1, 23.
What warrants this sudden renaming of the children? It’s a reversal of judgment. The prophet points us forward to a future where both the children of Judah and the children of Israel are gathered “under one head” (1:11). The immediate context is the coming exile and eventual return to the land, that would reconcile Israel and Judah. Yet these prophecies were only partially fulfilled in the Old Testament.
Paul explains in Romans 9:24-26 that these same verses apply to the Gentiles. How can that be? Is he simply ripping these verses out of their context? Paul knows the “one head” (Hosea 1:11) can be none other than Jesus Christ who said,
John 10:16 ESV
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Kidner, “The prophecy, in fact, after touching-down in the post-exilic age leaps into the present and names us who are believers ‘the Israel of God’, whether we are Jews or Gentiles.”
Listen to Hosea 3:4-5. “David their king” is already dead. This verse points forward to a future David. True and lasting reconciliation between God and his bride doesn’t occur until the coming of Jesus Christ. Christ alone is able to cover the cost of our redemption in his passive obedience. Christ alone secured our fidelity with his active obedience.
In other words, Jesus accomplished two things that we never could:
1. He upheld all of our betrothal requirements (active obedience).
2. He suffered God’s wrath, paying the penalty for our unfaithfulness (passive obedience).
Only through union with Christ, in His life and death, can anyone be reconciled to God.
Conclusion
So what does Hosea teach about the marriage covenant between God and man? First, this imagery of marriage means that man’s relationship with God is intimate. Communion with God should not be cold and distant. We are in his loving embrace forever. Those who recognize that will not search elsewhere for satisfaction.
Secondly, Hosea teaches us that Christ is the true bridegroom. Just as Hosea humbled himself in order to take an unfaithful bride, Jesus Christ humbled himself in order to rescue an unfaithful people. Hosea redeemed Gomer for some shekels and barley. Jesus Christ redeemed his bride at the cost of his life!
Hosea reveals the unsurpassable love of God for his people. Like Gomer, our only hope is in a love we don’t deserve; a love that will not let us go!
Love That Will Not Let Me Go
Brad Mills / General
Reformed Distinctives / Covenant; Marriage / Hosea 1–3
When people search for a marriage partner they often begin with superficial motives. We see an example of this in the book of Esther. When Queen Vashti refused to entertain King Ahasuerus and his guests at a party, he set up a beauty contest in order to select his new queen. Modern society tries to be a bit more sophisticated, but much of the superficiality remains. A potential spouse usually has to pass an appearance test before going through a personality and character assessment. Eventually, everyone realizes that compromises have to be made somewhere. Nobody is perfect.
How would an all-knowing, all-powerful God go about finding a bride? He would not need a beauty contest or personality and character assessments. He would already know who would make the best fit. Of course, he would have to compromise, but at least he could know beyond the shadow of a doubt that there were no better options.
Hosea is all about how God chose a spouse and what it cost him to maintain that relationship. The first three chapters of Hosea clearly contain a marriage theme. However, it reaches beyond the temporal relationship between a man and a woman. The story is shocking from many angles. God doesn’t select his bride because she was the best available. He does not choose the one with the most beauty, or the most intelligence, or the purest character. God selects a bride who would fail all modern evaluations.
God frequently called upon the prophets to provide a visual demonstration of their message. They were often called to engage in activities that we would consider very strange.
1. Jeremiah was expected to remain single and refrain from attending any funerals (Jer 16:1-9). God’s judgment upon Israel. Families would be wiped out; no time to mourn & lament.
2. Isaiah was called to walk naked and barefoot for three years (Isa 20:3). Judgment upon Egypt, who would be led away naked and humility, enslaved by the Cushites.
3. Ezekiel was asked to bake bread on human excrement (Ezek 4:12). It was a visual representation of God’s judgment upon Israel who would soon be eating their meals in foreign lands.
4. These commands are strange indeed, yet Hosea’s calling surpasses them all! Hosea was called to marry a prostitute. Whereas, each of the previous instances were signs of future judgment, Hosea’s calling is—remarkably—a sign of future grace.
Read Hosea 1:1-9.
I. The Call to a Broken Marriage (1:1-9)
Hosea is told to marry an adulterous woman. That is the plain reading of the text. However, many have tried to soften this command apparently out of its sheer unbelievability. They suggest that Hosea was called to marry a woman who was chaste at the time of their marriage, but that she would become an adulterer later. Others suggest that it is metaphorical language of Israel’s idolatry. There is indeed a metaphor here, but the point is that Hosea was called to physically live out that spiritual metaphor. The metaphorical language will become clear later. Here, on the other hand, we have clear historical narrative.
There are a few other strange interpretations, but all of them seek to evade the simplest and clearest reading of the text. They require the reader to find something beneath the text, something that is not there on the surface. The text clearly tells Hosea to marry an adulterer. Nothing in this passage suggests a metaphorical interpretation. If we take Gomer’s whoredom as metaphor should we do the same for the strange callings of Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel mentioned above?
Hosea is not only told to marry a prostitute, he is also told to “have children of whoredom.” Of the three children named in the first chapter, only one of them appears to be Hosea’s child by birth. As was the usual case, the names of the children have significance. “Jezreel” is the hardest name to make sense of, but it seems to refer to a spirit of violence that existed among the nation of Israel. Jezreel was the location of a massacre. So it would be like naming your child Hiroshima. In addition, the name means “scattered” and it points to the scattering of the nation as God’s judgment.
The next two children were named “No Mercy” and “Not My People” with clear implications that God had considered the Israelites to have broken the covenant. But the language used to describe these two children is different than the language regarding Jezreel. Verse 3 says, “she [Gomer] conceived and bore him [Hosea] a son,” while verses 6 and 8 read, “she conceived and bore…” This seems to imply that Hosea was not their father. If true, it would make sense of the command to “have children of whoredom”.
Kidner, “The joy of fatherhood was deeply clouded, and the children were living proofs of the invasion of the marriage.”
Not only was Hosea called to marry a protitute, but he was called to raise children who were conceived in prostitution. This was Hosea’s family. He acted as their father whether by birth or adoption. Isn’t this the marriage you always dreamed of having?
› Incredibly, it points to God’s covenant relationship with with his bride.
II. The Consequences of a Broken Marriage (Read 2:2-13)
In the same way that Hosea was called to marry a prostitute, God selects a bride who is unfaithful in every way. She has served other gods, going so far as to sacrifice her own children to those false gods.
Ezekiel 23:39 ESV
For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.
She has forgotten God’s political provision and begun to trust in the help of other nations. She has broken every commandment revealing the absence of moral character. Much like Gomer, God’s bride does not have an appealing description.
This section begins with a description of the separation between God and Israel because of her whoring (2:2) followed by oracles of judgment. Israel has begun to whore after other gods. Their children were conceived in whoredom (2:5). They have taken the gifts that God has given to them and offered them as sacrifices to Baal (2:8). The text conjures up the image of a husband bringing home food and clothing for his family, only to see his wife take it and run to her other lovers in order to share it with them.
Notice God’s response in Hosea 2:9-10. God promises to judge his bride, Israel, by taking his gifts of food and clothing away from her. As she stands before her lovers naked and ashamed, no one comes to rescue her. No once comes to her aid! No one comes to comfort her. Her lovers want nothing to do with her when she has nothing to offer them. They were simply using her. Until she sees that, she will continue to run to them. And that is what we see her do. She continues to worship Baal and collect wages as a prostitute leaving and forgetting her husband altogether (2:13). Apart from God Israel is naked, alone, and ashamed.
Do you recognize yourself here? This is a picture of you and me. We are the unfaithful Gomer. We are the ones continually taking God’s gifts and offering them to our idols. We take the resources and talents God has given us and use them to promote our own success. When the gifts cease we search for them in places where they do not exist (the world).
Apart from God we are naked, alone, and ashamed just like Gomer.
› However, there is a way to be clothed again. There is a way to re-enter fellowship with God. There is a way to regain our dignity. But it will be costly!
III. The Cost of a Restored Marriage (2:14-3:5)
The text unexpectedly transitions from judgment to mercy. Just when we would anticipate another oracle of judgment, another description of Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness, we get a picture of God’s mercy instead. From devastating unfaithfulness, the text transitions to covenant renewal. Right after God’s marriage has been described as broken due to his bride’s unfaithfulness we read this amazing passage in Hosea 2:14-23.
In the midst of her sleeping around, God calls to her and woos her back. While she is selling herself to other gods who cannot provide lasting peace, God promises mercy and hope. He reminds Israel of how he rescued them out of Egypt before, and now he plans to rescue them again.
Why doesn’t he forget about her the way she had forgotten about him? Where’s the justice? Doesn’t justice demand punishment? God had ample justification to pour out his wrath upon her. She was covetous (2:5), proud (5:5), unstable (6:4), worldly (7:8), corrupt (9:9), continually backsliding (11:7), and idolatrous (13:2).
Yet, we read of God’s eternal betrothal in Hosea 2:19-20. The characteristics of this betrothal are defined as righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, and knowledge of God. This language speaks not only of God’s commitment to his bride, but her commitment to him. God has promised to betroth himself to his bride, but has she done the same? Have God’s people kept their wedding vows? Do righteousness and justice describe their character? Are they faithful, keeping steadfast love for God? The obvious answer to every one of these questions is “No!” So what is the proper interpretation?
The covenant is renewed, but the stipulations have not been met. Apart from satisfaction, there can be no peace in the marriage. Once again we transition back the marriage of Hosea and Gomer in Hosea 3:1-3.
From this passage we can discern some things about Hosea’s situation. Gomer has left her home. She has left Hosea and their three children, and she has gone to be with another man. You can imagine the pain Hosea was experiencing. He must have spent many late nights thinking of his wife in the arms of someone who cared nothing for her. He must have been sick with grief. Think of the onslaught of difficult questions he had to tenderly answer from children who were confused and fragile.
In this state, when Gomer’s unfaithfulness has hit rock bottom, God calls Hosea to redeem her. Many people have speculated what this means. House writes, “Hosea completes his symbolic activity by buying his wife back from the slavery she has embraced.” If Hosea had to buy her at a slave auction, she would have been exposed and paraded before the crowd. The cost of her redemption is what makes this interpretation so plausible. Hosea had to purchase Gomer back for what amounts to the price of a slave, 30 shekels. And it appears that Hosea couldn’t even afford that much. He had to cover half of the price with barley. Hosea must have been humiliated.
House, “By loving this woman despite her failure to remain faithful to him Hosea demonstrates for Israel the persevering love of God for a constantly straying Israel.”
There is still one major problem that has not been addressed. At this point, we still do not have any indication as to how Israel is going to uphold her end of the betrothal. With that in mind, we can begin to get an idea from Hosea 1:10-2:1, 23.
What warrants this sudden renaming of the children? It’s a reversal of judgment. The prophet points us forward to a future where both the children of Judah and the children of Israel are gathered “under one head” (1:11). The immediate context is the coming exile and eventual return to the land, that would reconcile Israel and Judah. Yet these prophecies were only partially fulfilled in the Old Testament.
Paul explains in Romans 9:24-26 that these same verses apply to the Gentiles. How can that be? Is he simply ripping these verses out of their context? Paul knows the “one head” (Hosea 1:11) can be none other than Jesus Christ who said,
John 10:16 ESV
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Kidner, “The prophecy, in fact, after touching-down in the post-exilic age leaps into the present and names us who are believers ‘the Israel of God’, whether we are Jews or Gentiles.”
Listen to Hosea 3:4-5. “David their king” is already dead. This verse points forward to a future David. True and lasting reconciliation between God and his bride doesn’t occur until the coming of Jesus Christ. Christ alone is able to cover the cost of our redemption in his passive obedience. Christ alone secured our fidelity with his active obedience.
In other words, Jesus accomplished two things that we never could:
1. He upheld all of our betrothal requirements (active obedience).
2. He suffered God’s wrath, paying the penalty for our unfaithfulness (passive obedience).
Only through union with Christ, in His life and death, can anyone be reconciled to God.
Conclusion
So what does Hosea teach about the marriage covenant between God and man? First, this imagery of marriage means that man’s relationship with God is intimate. Communion with God should not be cold and distant. We are in his loving embrace forever. Those who recognize that will not search elsewhere for satisfaction.
Secondly, Hosea teaches us that Christ is the true bridegroom. Just as Hosea humbled himself in order to take an unfaithful bride, Jesus Christ humbled himself in order to rescue an unfaithful people. Hosea redeemed Gomer for some shekels and barley. Jesus Christ redeemed his bride at the cost of his life!
Hosea reveals the unsurpassable love of God for his people. Like Gomer, our only hope is in a love we don’t deserve; a love that will not let us go!