August 10, Hosea 1
She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war horses or by horsemen." - Hosea 1:6-7
God described his covenant relationship with Israel in the Old Testament as a marriage. In the New Testament, the redeemed in Christ are called his bride. Marriage should be the greatest example of closeness, deep love and exclusive commitment to the human family. So when God spoke of his covenant relationship with Israel and later with the New Israel (the church), he chose marriage as an appropriate metaphor to express the nature of his relationship to his people.
By the time of Hosea's prophecy (just about two decades or so before Israel fell to Assyria), the "marriage" between God and Israel was in serious trouble. Israel had been unfaithful to God multiple times through the centuries. God still loved them, but his patience had just about run out. Hosea was the last prophet to prophesy to Israel before the Assyrians came and dismantled the nation. God sent a somber message through his prophet to his people. Because of Israel's serial infidelity and unrepentant attitude and behavior, God would "divorce" his people and put them away. The Lord demonstrated his displeasure with their wicked behavior when he commanded Hosea to do a strange thing. He told Hosea to marry a wife of whoredom and have children with her. When Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, it symbolized the wickedness of the Israelites' departure from God to worship an idol. When she ran away with another man again and again, it was an ugly picture of Israel's many instances of idolatry. When Hosea took Gomer back after her sin against him and their marriage, his merciful conduct demonstrated God's heart toward the straying Israelites.
Another prophetic aspect of Hosea and Gomer's relationship involved the names God told him to call his children with his adulterous wife. The first son was named Jezreel, which means "God sows." The boy's name would call to mind all the atrocities that took place at Jezreel. When the daughter was born, Hosea did as God said and named her Lo-ruhama, which meant "No More Mercy." The time for mercy had passed. Now punishment and judgment were on the way. And when Hosea named the other son mentioned here, his name (Lo-ammi) meant "Not My People." They had once enjoyed special blessings as the covenant people of God. But the little boy's name was a testimony to them that God had disowned them for their repeated adulteries with their idols.
Despite the severe punishment that was coming to the disobedient nation, God gave the remnant people who were faithful to him hope. He explained that the promises the Lord made to Abraham were still intact. He told them that the faithful remnant in Israel and the one in Judah would be reunited in one kingdom when Messiah came. They would be the nucleus of the New Israel of God, along with Gentiles, in the kingdom, or body or church of Jesus Christ. You and I can learn some powerful lessons from the tragic story of Hosea's relationship with Gomer. Hosea's long patience and tender forgiveness toward Gomer is admirable. But it is only a type or a shadow of the great love and patience God shows to sinners like us. If Hosea's self-sacrificing love for his unfaithful wife is a type or shadow, the ultimate antitype and reality of God's love for us is the cross of Christ. Perhaps we should wonder less about how Hosea could do what he did, and marvel more at the amazing love of God that endures and forgives us again and again.
But we should also remember that the time came for impenitent Israel when God said, "No more mercy." We rejoice in God's new every morning mercies, but it is wrong to presume upon that mercy and take it as license to persist in sin.
The difference between what the Lord said about "no more mercy on the house of Israel" and "I will have mercy on the house of Judah" should remind us that our God is Sovereign. He knows each individual perfectly and completely. He may extend mercy to some when others are past their time of mercy. Paul quoted what the Lord told Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
The story of Hosea and Gomer is a tragic one. But it will remind us of the ugliness of our unfaithfulness to God, and the beauty of his mercy to those who will turn from sin.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—August 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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