A diverse group of ladies have been studying the Book of Hosea the past couple of weeks; a difficult passage in the Bible for all of us to read.  This book was not about Hosea and Gomer but it was all about God and Israel. It is also looked at as a typology of Christ and His Bride. Christ and YOU. When it is viewed in this manner, of God’s great love for us, for His Church, for each of us as individuals, we glean more than we ever imagined. Many of us are linking up today to share our thoughts at She Reads Truth, feel free to discover some more insight!

Hosea. His name alone means Jehovah is Salvation. He comes on the scene 700+ years before Jesus Christ with a divine calling so radical that most of us would make like Jonah and run. Sin is rampant. The list reads like an R rated movie: Stealing, killing, adultery, taking the Lord’s name in vain, drunkenness, deceitfulness, perversion, oppression, lying and much, much more. Jeroboam had brought back idol worship 150 years earlier when he set up the golden calves and he opened the door to human sacrifice, religious prostitution and every evil sort of idol worship.

“And now they sin more and more,
and make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
all of them the work of craftsmen.” Hosea 13:2 ESV.

In the midst of all of this, God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, an adulteress, who would most definitely be unfaithful to him. Things are fine for a little while and together they bring their first child into the world. But Gomer becomes restless. Maybe she was bored, possibly longing for a more exciting lifestyle. A wife, mother, keeper of the home just might not have been on her list of life-long desires.

So Gomer strays with multiple affairs and Hosea is holding things together at home. They have another son (Hosea is sure this one does not belong to him) and then another (sadly, this one is born during her wanderings too!). But Gomer is not satisfied and she finally leaves for good.

Here Gomer parallels the prodigal son. She reaches the lowest of the low during her sinful escapades and is sold into slavery.

God steps in again.

“Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods.” Hosea 3:1.

What? Hosea has to PAY to get Gomer back!

Yet he does because he loves her and he is obedient to his God. How can anyone love like Hosea did? The verse above tells us that he was to love her: “Even as the Lord loves…”  He never stopped loving Israel, never stopped pursuing them and pleading with them to return, even in their idolatry.  He relentlessly goes after His bride.

“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.” Hosea 14:1-3 ESV.

To You, Lord, we return. We repent, put away our idols and come back to the One who created us.

Can we relate at all to the story of Hosea and Gomer, of Israel and the Lord? Have we wandered aimlessly, lost and ashamed, not knowing if we belonged any longer? Children without a father?

Yet there He was all along, pursuing us, pleading with us to come back, even in our idolatry. Relentlessly, He came after His Bride!

Hosea 14:4: “I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely.”

Do you feel like Gomer today? Have you slid backward so many times that you have fallen into slavery with the world?

Jesus is here. Only He has loved us with a love so fierce that He paid the ultimate price and bought us back! Never more to roam, but safe in His embrace, forevermore.

Though you have failed, you have fallen, time and time again, there is mercy.

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