by Rev. Natalie Hill (DCXA at AU)
Throughout scripture, we see that God used prophets to do some pretty extreme things in order to communicate something to His people (for example, one time Ezekiel could only eat food cooked over human dung…). This is what we see with the prophet Hosea.
The book of Hosea is a collection of poems written by, you guessed it, Hosea who was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II, one of Israel’s most evil kings. Assyria had just conquered Israel, and the book addresses God’s people’s sin and unfaithfulness to Him. God commanded Hosea to share a message with the people by marrying a woman, Gomer, who both God and Hosea knew from the start would never be faithful. As soon as Hosea and his wife had children, she prostituted herself and eventually ended up enslaved. God called Hosea to redeem Gomer from slavery and restore her to the family, even in the midst of her deep unfaithfulness. The restoration of this marriage served as a comparison to the relationship between God and His people Israel: although they were deeply unfaithful and had given themselves over to their sinful desires, resulting in their capture and slavery, God in His mercy would redeem them and restore His covenant with them.
We see through the story of Hosea and Gomer that there are consequences for sin, but in God’s love and mercy, He will rescue His people. Although God was angered by the unfaithfulness of Israel, He never stopped loving them and He never rejected them completely. However, He also didn’t enable their sins by extending to them unqualified mercy. The people of Israel had to suffer the consequences of their disobedience by enduring a long period of capture and exile.
This book is composed of poems broken into three sections about Hosea’s marriage and a series of accusations and warnings specifically written to Israel. It addresses their unfaithfulness, the hypocrisy of their worship, and their trusting in political alliances. But then it ends with hope for the future. It paints God as a loving Father whose heart is to heal and to save His people. And although this book wasn’t written to us, these are long lasting truths that apply to us today.
