Take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of Hosea. Hosea tonight.
Remember, we are going through the stories of the Bible. Trying to go in chronological order. Last week we talked about king Ahaz of Judah. Judah’s worst king.
Tonight we are going to move our attention back to Israel, back to the Northern Kingdom and look at the life of a prophet who lived during this time period.
Hosea 1:1 says:
1 The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hosea 1:1 (KJV)
So Hosea lived during the time of Ahaz and Hezekiah in Judah and when Jeroboam (the second Jeroboam) was king in Israel. He lived in and prophecsied to Israel - to the Northern Kingdom.
Now we are just going to look at the first three chapters of Hosea tonight. Hosea actually had a long ministry of prophecy. He prophesied for 50 years. Hosea is actually kind of a long book. 14 chapters. More than 11 of those chapters are just prophecy.
But the story part, the part Hosea is known for, is found in chapters 1-3.
Look at verse 2 of chapter 1:
2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
Hosea 1:2 (KJV)
God gave Hosea an extraordinary assignment. A crazy task. God told him to go find a wife who was a prostitute and to marry her as a picture of how Israel had been acting to the Lord.
Now, some people like to say that this was just rhetorical. That God would never actually ask someone to do this. But I think that shows an ignorance of the Bible. This isn’t even close to the most extreme thing God had the prophets do.
We all know Isaiah. The prince of prophets. So poetic. Do you know what God had Isaiah do? God had Isaiah walk around stark naked for three years. That will get people’s attention. Either that or get them to look away. But Isaiah walked around for three years in his birthday suit. You can read about that in Isaiah 20.
Ezekiel had it rough too. He got three separate assignments from God. First, he had to lie on his side for over a year: 390 days. During that time he was supposed to cook his food over human dung.
Second, God told him to shave his head and his beard with a sword, divide it in three parts. He was to burn one third of his hair. Cut up one third with the sword and then scatter the last third to the wind.
Finally, when Ezekiel’s wife died. God told him he couldn’t mourn for her. No weeping and no crying.
You see, often God had the prophets write out his message for the people. Just as often, God had the prophets speak out His message to the people. But sometimes, to really get people’s attention, God had His prophets act out His message to the people in extreme ways - and Hosea was one of those ways.
Hosea’s marriage
God’s command to Hosea was to marry a prostitute. Look at verse 3:
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
Hosea 1:3 (KJV)
Hosea married a woman named Gomer. A prostitute. Someone who had lived that life for a while. Somebody who had grown up in that life. Someone who knew nothing but that life.
Now why did God ask Hosea to marry a prostitute? Because Israel was acting like a prostitute. Israel has been very unfaithful to the Lord. And to get through to them that this is what they're doing, God has Hosea live out this heartbreak before them.
I think that Hosea really loved this woman despite her past. I think Hosea may have hoped that this marriage would work, that Gomer would change, but that's not what happened. Despite being married to Hosea, she went back to her old lifestyle again and again.
And you can really see this through her children.
Hosea’s children
Look at verses 3-4
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
4 And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
Hosea 1:3-4 (KJV)
I want you to notice a phrase here in verse 3. The first son is born and it says very specifically that Gomer conceived and bore him, Hosea, a son. God has him named the son Jezreel, which is a word that means scattered. God is going to scatter the children of Israel.
But then Gomer has two more children. Look at verse 6:
6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
Hosea 1:6 (KJV)
Notice what that verse doesn't say. It doesn't say "she bore him a daughter." It just says "she bore a daughter." It seems like what's happening here is Gomer is running around on Hosea.
And God has Hosea name this daughter Lo-ru-hama, which means no mercy. There's a two-fold meaning to this name. The first is that this daughter is going to grow up without the mercy of her natural father. The second and the main meaning is that God wants Israel to know He is not going to have mercy on them like He is going to show mercy on Judah.
Then Gomer has another child. Verses 8-9:
8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
Hosea 1:8-9 (KJV)
Again it doesn't say she bore him a son like it did with the first one. It says that she bore a son. This isn't Hosea's child.
And there's no doubt here because the name that God tells Hosea to give this child, is Loami which means “not mine.”
Can you imagine growing up and your name is not mine? I spent most of my childhood with step-parents in the house and they were great. I've joked about it but they were great. In the mind of a child who's in a broken family like that, they often think, "Am I wanted? Am I the leftovers?"
Well this poor kid, he didn't have to wonder. His name was a reminder that he was born from a broken marriage.
What a broken mess of a family.
But if you look at Israel, what a broken mess of a country. God loved Israel. God redeemed Israel out of slavery in Egypt. God brought them into this land of milk and honey, this beautiful land, and yet they constantly chased after idols. God would deliver them from their enemies and they would chase after their enemies' gods. They were very, very unfaithful to the Lord. They broke the heart of God over and over again.
And God called Hosea with his broken family to show them what that's like.
As you turn to chapter two we’ll talk for a minute about:
Hosea’s warning
Look at verses 1-2:
1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
Hosea 2:1-2 (KJV)
Before we get into the divorce here between Hosea and Gomer, I want you to notice what Hosea calls his children in verse 1. He calls Lo-Ammi, not Mine, Ami, which means Mine. He calls Lo-ruhamah, which means no mercy, Ruhamah, which means mercy.
And that there is just a hint at the mercy and the love that God shows to his children, even when they're wicked, even when they're rebellious.
But Hosea has to deal with his unfaithful wife. Remember in the Old Testament law there were very clear rules for what you were to do with adulterers. Adultery was to be met with death. This woman had gone beyond adultery.
And so Hosea is begging her, using her children, to put away this awful, adulterous lifestyle that she's living. In verse 3 and 4 he warns her what's going to happen if she keeps living the way that she's living.
And again this is God speaking to Israel. Israel had been adulterous. Israel had chased after the world. Israel had welcomed all of the false gods of the wicked Canaanites into their land. Israel had even taken up child sacrifice.
Gomer's behavior in this chapter and this story is really disgusting. Not only is she leaving behind a faithful husband but she's leaving her children. I don't know if you've ever met somebody that's done this, that has left behind her children to chase after the love she wants to get from other men. It is a heart-breaking, unnatural thing to do and that's what Gomer does in this story.
And so chapter two is mostly warning. It is a warning from God to Israel about what is about to happen to them. Because of their unfaithfulness, God is going to bring judgment.
They have been warned and warned and it's going to happen. We know by history that the Northern Kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, does not last much longer than this. It wouldn't be too much longer after the ministry of Hosea that the Assyrians would come in and basically wipe Israel off the face of the map. Israel, the Northern tribes, never were really a cohesive people ever again after this. God eventually brought judgment to Judah, the Southern Kingdom, much later, like a hundred years later. Their judgment was much softer than the judgment that God brought by the hands of the Assyrians to the wicked Northern tribes.
And so the book of Hosea is a warning about what's going to happen to Israel and why it's happening. It's happening because of their unfaithfulness. God has been a loving husband to his people and they have been an unfaithful wife.
But I want to tell you it's not all about judgment. It's also about mercy. Look back at chapter one again. Remember that verse where God said for Hosea to name his third child Lo-Ammi, not mine?
Look what God said after that. (Verse 10)
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Hosea 1:10-11 (KJV)
God is saying, 'For a little while I'm going to say you're not my people but there's coming a day where I'm going to gather you together and you're going to be like the sand of the sea. I'm going to say to you, "You are the sons of God." I'm going to bring you together and I'm going to rule over you. You're going to have one King, no more of this two King business. You're going to have one King and it's going to be great.'
That's not the only ray of light that shines through this dark book. In chapter two after Hosea says what he's going to do to Gomer if she doesn't stop her ways, the chapter kind of turns and God talks about how he's going to bring Israel back to himself. How they're going to put away their false gods, how they're going to make a renewed covenant between them.
Look at verses 19-20
19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
Hosea 2:19-20 (KJV)
God said to Israel, "I'm going to renew our relationship and it's going to remain forever."
Look at verse 23.
23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
Hosea 2:23 (KJV)
God's plan is to bring Israel back to himself. And God illustrates that plan with Hosea in chapter 3.
So we've talked about Hosea's marriage, and we've talked about Hosea's children, and Hosea's divorce. Let's talk lastly about
Hosea’s reconciliation
Let's just go ahead and read all of chapter three. There's only five verses.
1 Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
Hosea 3 (KJV)
God tells Hosea to go love Gomer again. Go love this woman who has been unfaithful to you. Go buy her back for yourself at great cost and love her.
And that is a picture of God's love for His people.
God loves his people so much that he bought us back to himself with a great price. Hosea might have bought Gomer back with fifteen pieces of silver and a homer of barley and half a homer of barley. Whatever that is.
But God bought back us to himself with his only begotten son, with Jesus Christ.
I love Romans 5:6-9.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Romans 5:6-9 (KJV)
Listen Christ didn't die for us because we are good. Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Jesus came and died for us and we are justified by His blood. We are saved from the wrath that we deserve because of the price that Jesus paid for us.
When most people think about religion that God loves righteous people. That God has his own little group of holy people that he is just pouring his goodness on all the time.
But that's not biblical Christianity. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible portrays us as wicked, as unfaithful to His love, as rejecters of God's goodness that He loved and died for anyway. While we were still sinners, He died for us.
So there are really two pictures, two lessons that come through this story of Hosea, loud and clear. I'm not going to try to overcomplicate it. The first lesson is that God's judgment is real. God will only put up with our unfaithfulness as his people for so long before judgment comes.
At some point Gomer's sin led her out of the house, led her back into slavery. Back into shame.
At some point God had had enough of Israel and their idolatry and their wickedness and their hard-heartedness, their spiritual adultery. God said, "Enough." The Assyrians came in and they wiped them out. Judah had it a little better but eventually God said, "Enough." The Babylonians came in and wiped them out. They went back and had their own land there for a little while but they were still unfaithful to God. They rejected the Messiah. God said, "That's enough." The Romans came in and wiped them out.
God is a merciful God but His judgment is coming. People that reject the Lord will face His judgment. If not on this earth, they'll face His judgment when they stand before Him as the judge.
It's a dark message but it's a true one and I think it's one of the points of the book of Hosea. But against that dark message there's the second picture that Hosea paints for us of God. God is the judge but God is also the merciful husband that buys back his bride at immense cost to himself.
God wants to gather his people together to love his people forever. God yearns to have that relationship with them and God's way of accomplishing that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is a judge. He is 100% just and he will judge the world. And God does need to be obeyed. But do you know what else God is? The God of the Bible is a faithful husband that loves us despite us being unlovely and loved us so much he sent his perfect son to die for us while we were sinners. The God of the Bible is a God that chases us. He chases us all the way to the cross.
What a merciful and gracious and loving God we have.
So as we close tonight, I just want to ask one question: Has God been a faithful husband to you, and what have you done with that faithfulness?
