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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Hosea was a prophet primarily to the Northern kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC, prophesying during the reigns of Jereboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah, in the Northern kingdom, and Uzziah, Jotham, and part of the reign of Ahaz in the Southern kingdom. When God appointed Hosea to be a prophet, He made a rather unusual request of him. God told him he was to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him.

Whether, Gomer, the woman Hosea married, was a prostitute when he married her, as some think, or became unfaithful after they were married is not certain from the text. But if she were pure when he married her, we find this easier to accept and more in keeping with Israel's relationship with God. Would God tell Hosea to break the law by marrying a promiscuous woman, even if the purpose was the salvation of Israel? This is the difficulty we face in accepting that she was a prostitute when Hosea met her.

Hosea did as God told him and married Gomer. Their first child was a son whom they named Jezreel. The name of each of their children had significance to Hosea's prophetic message to Israel. Hosea's whole relationship to Gomer spoke symbolically the message God wanted to convey to Israel through Hosea. In the case of this first child, Jezreel, this was the name of the town where Jehu, king of Israel, massacred the house of Ahab, also a king of Israel. The prophesy God was giving Israel through the name of this child was that He would "avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel."

Hosea and Gomer had a second child which was a daughter who they named Lo-Ruhamah, meaning, "No Compassion," or "she is not loved." The message to Israel was that God would "no longer have compassion on the house of Israel." The Lord would, however, continue to have compassion for Judah, the Southern kingdom. And because of His compassion for Judah God was going to deliver her from her enemy, the Assyrians. Judah's deliverance from the Assyrians was to be a direct intervention by God and not a result of His enabling Judah to defeat them by means of their military weaponry. And God did just that, supernaturally destroying 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.

In quick succession Gomer bore Hosea a third child who they named Lo-Ammi, meaning, "Not My People." The message to Israel was that God was going to cut her off and disconnect Himself from her, no longer being her God. She was on her own. She had turned to other gods and could depend on them for their protection. Being merely idols, this amounted to no protection at all.

But with this message to Israel that they were no longer God's people, a message of hope was also given. This message was that a time would come when Israel would be restored. The nation would again become as numerous as "the sand of the sea," and they would again be the "Sons of the living God." Furthermore, when this time of restoration comes, the two kingdoms would again be reunited as one nation under one ruler. At the time of restoration the name of the first child, Jezreel, will take on a new meaning which is, "God Sows."