Reflections on Hosea 1

Hosea 01 (Contemporary English Version)


1. I am Hosea son of Beeri. When Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah, and when Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel, the LORD spoke this message to me.
   
2. The LORD said, "Hosea, Israel has betrayed me like an unfaithful wife. Marry such a woman and have children by her."
   
3. So I married Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and we had a son.
   
4. Then the LORD said, "Hosea, name your son Jezreel, because I will soon punish the descendants of King Jehu of Israel for the murders he committed in Jezreel Valley. I will destroy his kingdom,
   
5. and in Jezreel Valley I will break the power of Israel."
   
6. Later, Gomer had a daughter, and the LORD said, "Name her Lo-Ruhamah, because I will no longer have mercy and forgive Israel.
   
7. But I am the LORD God of Judah, and I will have mercy and save Judah by my own power--not by wars and arrows or swords and cavalry."
   
8. After Gomer had stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah, she had another son.
   
9. Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-Ammi, because these people are not mine, and I am not their God."
   
10. Someday it will be impossible to count the people of Israel, because there will be as many of them as there are grains of sand along the seashore. They are now called "Not My People," but in the future they will be called "Children of the Living God."
    
11. Israel and Judah will unite and choose one leader. Then they will take back their land, and this will be a great day for Jezreel.
    

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In these 'Reflections' we just completed Song of Solomon. In summing up the marriage relationship of the couple depicted in that book, I pointed out that "The beauty of the marriage relationship is also God's picture of His intended relationship with us." The book of Hosea is a perfect example of this. However, rather than the beauty of the marriage relationship, we see in Hosea the seamy side of the relationship when it is not characterized by faithfulness and devotion. By this time in Israel's history the nation has split into two kingdoms - Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The book of Hosea is about the unfaithfulness of Israel. That is, her unfaithfulness to God. As verse two points out, God told Hosea to marry a promiscuous wife. 'Promiscuous' is also translated prostitute or adulterous. Why did God want him to do this? Because "the whole land has been promiscuous." It was to depict Israel's relationship with God.

Hosea was obedient and married Gomer. Soon she conceived and had a son. As we will see, there is significance to the names of the children. This first child was named Jezreel which meant "God will scatter," providing a message to Israel of what God was about to do with her. This scattering of Israel would come as a result of the destruction of the nation through military defeat at Jezreel. It would also end the dynastic rule of the family of Jehu, an evil king who led a massacre on the house of David at Jezreel. Soon there was a second child, a daughter, who was given the name Lo-Ruhamah, which meant “she is not loved.” God would no longer show compassion toward Israel. Then came a third child, another son, who was given the name Lo-Ammi, meaning "not My people." God would disown His child Israel. In truth, Israel had disowned God and God was merely acknowledging this reality. Israel had said through her actions, "You are no longer our God," so God was saying through this child, "You are no longer My child." As stern as this sounds, it is followed by a show of God's mercy. In the last two verses of the chapter, God says that Israel will one day be restored and will become so large that her people cannot be numbered. And, as a part of this restoration, Israel will one day be called, "Sons of the living God," in the very place in which she was told, "You are not My people."

This is the message of scripture many readers lose. Particularly in the Old Testament, God's dealings with His people involves so much sternness that many do not see the mercy. God's sternness is motivated by the actions of man, but His mercy is related only to His own character. Nothing in man brings out this mercy. God is merciful to us because He wants to have a relationship with us, not because we deserve it or have done anything that merits it. We must not lose sight of the mercy of God. That is what the Bible is all about. It is the story of God's mercy, His desire to redeem man to Himself. Neither should we lose sight of God's sternness or judgment. That is also a very real part of the equation. But it is there only as a means of bringing us to Him and leading us to the life He has intended for us, in the same way a parent disciplines a child. The discipline is intended to protect the child and to help direct it to a better way of life.