Hosea is probably my favorite if not my most favorite book of the Bible. The themes of ensnaring sin, loving redemption and complete salvation touch my heart every time. God has used it in many important times in my life. I seem to gravitate toward it every year around this time. Coming out from the dark winter, seeking renewal in my life.
Read Hosea 1:1-11
The main players in this book are God, Hosea and Israel. In the beginning though there is another character, Gomer. She is only mentioned in the first three chapters then nothing for the rest of the Bible! But this woman, despite her past and her future was a great tool of God, showing for the rest of eternity how great His love is.
First things first, Gomer was a prostitute. I’m sure we all know what this is but to simply describe it, she gave the use of her body sexually for material gain. Her name is given in verse 3 as Gomer the daughter of Diblaim. For the longest time I wondered, “How could this women be the daughter of someone who would allow her to be a prostitute? Where is her father?”. Diblaim actually means cakes, two cakes, fig or grape cakes; depending on which source you look at. It’s like saying Gomer, daughter of tasty sweetness. Rabbis believe this to reference her profession as a prostitute. In the light of the Baal references throughout the book she may have even been a temple prostitute.
So we have a woman, with no family to speak of, constantly seeking happiness and finding the easiest way to get what she wants is to give up her heart and her body. To make compromises of her soul.
But then something changes in her life. She gets married! God asks His prophet Hoses to marry a “wife of whoredom” and he choses Gomer. I don’t want to overlook the great task God gave Hosea. Before God told him to write anything down, he had to go against family and cultural opinions and marry a whore, a woman known for her sexual immorality. As a servant of God he may have been praying for a sweet and humble virgin bride. But God need Hosea to marry Gomer to show His love. This was a great trial for Hosea to be sure, as he is to be our Christ figure, he had to lay down his life and pride for Gomer.
Gomer gets married and has a son with Hosea. Then, if you watch the language of the text, she has 2 more children but Hosea may or may not the father. Her next 2 children are named No Mercy and Not My People. It seems she continued to have sex with other men despite being married. If Hosea had suspected something with the second child there was definitely no question with the third. Who is this woman that she would do this to her loving, godly husband? To him who took her away from an empty and dangerous life into freedom and safety with him.
This poor, lost and confused woman is representing so much more than her own struggle in her heart and mind. She is Israel. She is a lost soul. And she is me. And she is the Church. And she may even be you.
Read 2:1-13
Every time I read that I am struck by my own sin. By my own heart’s inconsistency. By my willfulness to run away from my God and not toward Him.
In my life, being a pastor’s daughter and growing up in the church, I know what is right. I know how I should act and I know that God loves me. I want to make Him happy. But I know that it doesn’t come naturally to me, I knew this even as a child. My heart is desperately wicked. I desperately want to do bad things. I essentially say in my heart “I will go after my lovers, who gave me my bread and my water, ...” I go after the things that I think will make me happy, or make me cool, or satisfy me.
Read 2:14-23
This may be my favorite passage of scripture. We will get more into it later! The language used here is so sweet and so reassuring. 13 times the Lord says “I will”. And every “I will” is followed by an action that will benefit the ones He speaks of. He is at this time referring to Israel, but think of what Hosea must have thought after going though all the marriage and baby drama with his wife. Hearing that God will restore Israel to Him, despite mistakes made in the past, despite the fact that Israel doesn't deserve it. In 2 Corinthians 6:17-19 Paul tell us “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ..... not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” God wants to lavish gifts and blessing on us. He give us His Son. He entrusts us with His words. All this to filthy sinners. But He claims us as His own. He will restore us. He wills it, so it will happen. This encourages Hosea in the next task God gives him.
Read 3:1-5
Even though her name is not given in this passage, we know it must be Gomer otherwise it would not fit into the context of the message. God will not restore Israel and then the next time they stray, give up and pick someone else! That is not the character of God.
Did you see that Hosea had to go get her? She had left him completely. She w
as not home taking care of the kids, she was not even with another lover in the house. She was a prostitute again. She had gone right back to her old life. Hosea had pay for her. She belonged to someone else, a guard or a pimp and Hosea had to pay them to be able to get her home. But she did go back with him. It says in the last verse “and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to His goodness in the later days”. She was probably fearful of what Hosea might do
to her, being no stranger to violence, but instead of hostility she came home into goodness and restoration.
So that is the story of Gomer! A woman whose life raged back and forth between to opposing sides. A woman in love with the world yet romanced by godliness. I found three main truths that God used Gomer as a tool to show Israel and to show us today.
The first is that Gomer shows us that God accepts, uses, and rescues us despite our past, present or future. As it says in 1:2, Gomer is a whore. She debases herself for material or emotional gain. That was her past. But God still sought her out, chose her for rescuing. Though we may not walk the streets as a prostitute ourselves, we make compromising choices in our lives and in our hearts. Whatever choices or acts you may have done does not disqualify you from God’s grace and mercy. If anything it make you more eligible! In Isaiah 54: 4 God reassures “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth...” Big or small disappointments in our lives are not a hinderance to God. They are only a hinderance to you if you let them be so. Gomer went back to her old way of life and thinking because she could not accept the love that Hosea (Jesus) had to offer. I’ll be the first to say there are places in my heart that I will not let God plant new life in. And I know that it is holding me back from truly experiencing the redeeming love of Christ. I am working on it, day by day. Bu
t if I cling too tightly to it, those things will soon be all that I am holding on to and not my Jesus.
The second thing Gomer shows us is the way that God demonstrates His love. In chapter 2 after the accusations in verses 1-5, God says “Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but not find them.”
As God is our father and protector He knows that we will run, so He makes sure we cannot run to our destruction. He hedged her paths. In a sense He caged her in, but it is not a hedge or wall of imprisonment but a hedge of protection. In Job 1:10 Satan bemoans that he cannot get to Job because God has “put a hedge around him and his household...”. This is the hedge of the Lord! Not a cage with bars that tease you with views of the outside. But a plant that provides shade, air, beauty and protection. God may hedge your paths, but it is because He loves you and not because He is trying spoil your fun. Also in verse 2:10 God speaks of “uncovering her lewdness”. This is exposing her shame. For us it may be public “in the sight of her lovers” or private in our own hearts but never the less, when we are in sin we must
be faced with our sin. However, He assured her that “no one shall rescue her out of my hand”. We may be shamed but God is with us, we may hate ourselves but God is with us, others may despise us but God is with us. We are never out of His hand.
And lastly Gomer shows us God’s ultimate plan of restoration. Let’s look back to chapter 2: 14"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor (Trouble) a door of hope. And there she shall answer (sing) as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. 16"And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' 17For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 19And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. 23and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"
After hedging her paths and removing all the filth from her life does God leave her destitute? No! He gives her vineyards and a new home with hope and love. And God doesn’t just drop us down in this new life. It says He allures us. He speaks tenderly to us, appealing to our hearts. I imagine Gomer was so surprised at the grace and mercy of Hosea. He didn’t drag her back to his house but he drew her back with love. And the joy she will experience will be so great, it will be as though she is a young girl, pure and free. Do you remember how you felt when you first came to Christ? When you first saw how much He loves you? That is what you will feel again and again as you draw closer to Him. You can have that joy again! Your sins will be removed from His mind, from your memories. Only you can drag them up again.
But rejoice! For He has removed them! And Jesus, your savior will bind Himself to you. He makes promises to you of righteousness, steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, and an opportunity to know God. As Gomer was redeemed my her savior Hosea who was just a man, we are redeemed by our Savior Christ Jesus, who can make these promises and keep them, for He is God.
So that is it! I hope it blessed you as much as it did me! I hope to be able to teach a lot more in the future. I feel very out of practice!
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