Thoughts on Reconciliation - Part XIV: Hosea & the Prostitute

Today my heart was led to consider the book of Hosea, and in particular the opening chapters dealing with his marriage to Gomer.

The book of Hosea opens with the LORD telling Hosea to do something, namely to marry. However, what is most striking is who God tells him to marry...

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. (Hosea 1:2-3)

It certainly seems inconceivable that the LORD, who is pure and holy, would direct one of his prophets to do something as abominable as marrying a prostitute. Yet that is precisely what God did. And He did it for an amazing reason. God wanted to show His people just how merciful and forgiving he was. However, first he needed to demonstrate how much they had forsaken him.

Gomer bore Hosea 3 children. The first was likely Hosea's, but the second two, well, let's just say they looked a little more like the milk man, so to speak. God drove this point home by the names he directed Hosea to give them. The first was named Jezreel, meaning "to cast out". The second was called "L0-Ruhama", which means "No Mercy". The third child was named "Lo-Ammi", which means "Not my People". Needless to say, these are some pretty harsh names for his kids.

But God was comparing Israel, and it's sinful idolotry, to the sins of prostitution of Gomer. Her kids were named such as judgements upon Israel. God was effectively telling His people that they were banished from His good graces.

That's not the end of the story, however. God is called various names in the old testament. Usually, these names have something to do with His character. In the book of Exodus, God passes before Moses, proclaiming His name:

The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6b-7)

Here God is proclaiming that He is merciful, and through Hosea, He was about to show that to Israel. He commands Hosea to go back to his prostitute wife. Hosea had all this time cared for and looked after his wife from behind the scenes. As she decended deeper and deeper in to infidelity and prostitution, Hosea was behind the scenes providing for her when her lovers wouldn't. Finally, she had reached her limit, it was time for Hosea to take her back. She is put to shame, stripped in public. But Hosea turns to Gomer, and buys her for a cheap price (15 shekels and barley) and reminds her of his love for her.

She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. (Hosea 2:7-10)

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14)

And the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” (Hosea 3:1-3)

So Hosea took back his wife, and restored their marriage. And likewise, God after banishing Israel to the Babalonians and the Assyrians, took them back once they had turned from their infidelity and returned to Him.

But what does this have to do with reconciliation? What does this have to do with how I treat others around me?

When someone wrongs us, for whatever reason, it can feel as though they are betraying us, being unfaithful to us. Especially wicked is if the schism is due to a disagreement where we feel the other has willfully left us and doesn't even care for us anymore. Yet God desires reconciliation ALWAYS. Israel was His people. They had committed the worst of sins, to whore after other Gods. They attributed their good fortune to other things, even though it was God who provided. Yet God wanted them back. It would require rebuke, certainly, but not without cause. Once corrected (led back to the wilderness; Hosea 2:14), they would once again be God's people.

Likewise we should look upon our brothers and sisters in the same way. It's not easy when one you love spurns your affections (whatever those forms may be). Our pride is hurt. We feel betrayed and bitter and angry. But notice that God doesn't just forgive his people and look for a new people, nor does Hosea look for a new wife. Instead, Hosea returns to his unfaithful wife, just as God returns to Israel. There in lies the secret to reconciliation. It is not just saying "I forgive you" and then having nothing to do with the person anymore. It is returning to them. It is lovingly correcting them (and the "whore" as it were to be willing to accept correction). It is taking them back when they are wanting to come back. Not to judge them or condemn them, but to welcome them back with open arms to restore what once was.

Several times I've discussed the wonderful mercy and love that is God. The Apostle John reminds us of this in his 1st Epistle:

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:9-11)

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10)

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

Here John reminds us that to simply say we love our brother is not enough, we have to show it. Likewise, simply saying we forgive our brother is not enough, we must live it out in how we treat them. Hosea showed his love for his wife by providing for her when she was most unfaithful, and taking her back when she was destitute. Likewise, God shows his love for us by taking us back and cleansing us from unrighteousness when we are completely unfaithful to Him. He doesn't just say he changes us, he actually does it.

One of the ways in which we know God, and experience His mercy and forgiveness is to live it out to others. Because mercy and forgiveness are an overflow of the Spirit of God, an outpouring of his Love and goodness. We know who are children of God because of this overflow, for it will overflow from them. Just as Moses's face shone after his time on Mt. Sinai due to the reflected Glory of God, we too become a radiance of the mercy and forgiveness of God when we show it to others.

Hosea knew this of God, which is why he obeyed God to do such an unspeakable thing as marry a prostitute. Through his relationship with his wife, Hosea was able to demonstrate and live out the mercy and grace that came from God. Likewise, those who are truely of God will also live out that mercy and forgiveness by granting it to those around us, even when they seemingly least deserve it.