"Hosea's period of ministry was about forty years -- the last
forty years of the northern ten-tribed Kingdom of Israel, just as Jeremiah
prophesied during the last, sad forty years of the Kingdom of Judah.
"Hosea began his prophecy in a time of prosperity for Israel.
The land had been in great distress before Jeroboam began his reign, but God in
His pity for the sad condition of Israel, even though they were wicked, greatly
strengthened and helped Jeroboam and enabled him to recover Israel's lost
territory and defeat her enemies and even extend his rule over Syria to the
north.
"It was one more opportunity for Israel to recognize and
appreciate God's goodness and love, and the wisdom of drawing nigh unto Him in
faithfulness. But Israel did not respond. Because of their apparent strength and
stability, they could not believe the end was so near. In spite of God's help,
they and their king intensified their wickedness and idolatry. God often
blesses, as a last invitation to repentance and reform, before pouring out His
judgments on sin.
"Such was the background of Hosea's prophecy, as the powerful
but evil reign of Jeroboam II drew to its close. Israel did not realize it, but
this reign was to mark the end of any real security or stability for the nation.
In the remaining twenty-five years of the Kingdom, six kings were to rise and
fall, and the dark shadow of Assyria, to whom they had first turned as an ally,
was to grow swiftly and terribly until it completely destroyed and blotted out
their nation, and carried them away" (GVG).
HOSEA: Another form of Joshua/Jesus: sig "the salvation
of Yahweh".
Hos 1:2
GO, TAKE TO YOURSELF AN ADULTEROUS WIFE...: "For us, so
many centuries later, not the least of its {Hosea's] values is its astonishing
revelation of the tender love of God towards those who are His, His yearning
desire that they 'might not perish' but might turn unto Him and be saved. This
love is expressed in Hosea with such earnestness, that if we had not had this
sanction of the word of the prophet himself, we might well not have dared to
presume that it could be so great. In the light of Hosea we may enter a little
better into the convictions of the apostle Paul that nothing, literally nothing,
can 'separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' [Rom
8:38,39]" (FP, Xd 113:99).
AN ADULTEROUS WIFE: Not that Gomer was necessary an
immoral woman, or a prostitute, BEFORE her marriage. But rather that she turned
out to be so later. (Consider that v 2 also speaks as though the "children of
unfaithfulness" were already there -- when of course they were not born as yet!:
vv 3,6,8.)
The Hosea story is all about redemption. But the whole of the
OT is about redemption: Israel was a slave in Egypt, and a "harlot" and an
"idolator"... but she was redeemed (ie, bought out of slavery) by the blood of
the Passover lamb. And we can surely see ourselves, as you say, in Gomer: we are
all "slaves" to sin, and we are unfaithful in our allegiance to the world, and
worshipers of many false "gods" -- yet we have been redeemed by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb, which is priceless beyond our feeble
words to describe.
The question is: do WE really see ourselves in Gomer? And what
does that say about us?
AN ADULTEROUS WIFE: " 'A wife of harlotries.' The noun
means 'prostitute; harlot' (HAL 1:275). The term does not refer to mere adultery
which is expressed by a different root (HAL 2:658). The plural noun (lit
'harlotries') is an example of the plural of character or plural of repeated
behavior. The phrase 'wife of harlotries' prob refers to a prostitute, poss a
temple prostitute serving at a Baal temple" (NET notes).
Gomer was possibly a Gentile, and a prostitute at a pagan
temple.
Cp God taking Israel to wife, as described in Exo 34:15; Deu
31:16; Jdg 2:17; Isa 54:4-6; Jer 3:14; 31:32; Eze 16:17; 23:5; Rev
17:1,2.
THE VILEST ADULTERY: "Israel was guilty of gross
spiritual prostitution by apostatizing away from Yahweh. The verb is used in a
concrete sense to refer to a spouse being unfaithful in a marriage relationship
(HAL 1:275.1), and figuratively 'to be unfaithful' in a relationship with God by
prostituting themselves with other gods and worshiping idols" (Exo 34:15; Lev
17:7; 20:5,6; Deu 31:16; Jdg 8:27,33; 21:17; 1Ch 5:25; Ezek 6:9; 20:30; 23:30;
Hos 4:15; Psa 106:39) (HAL 1:275.2)" (NET notes).
Hos 1:3
Vv 3-9: "Following God's instruction, Hosea married an
adulterous wife and was given three children by her. Each of his children were
named by God and their names were designed to be parables of the state and
future of the nation of Israel. The message of Jezreel was that Israel would
soon be punished and destroyed. The message of Lo-Ruhama was that Israel was no
longer loved or forgiven by God. And the message of Lo-Ammi's name was that God
disowned his people: 'You are not my people and I am not your God.'
"God through Hosea had given three devastating prophecies that
were fulfilled not long after they were given. However, in God's destruction of
Israel He still remembered his promises to Abraham and David; still, in His
warnings, He gave the hope of redemption. He did not leave Israel totally
without hope despite their desperate situation. He told them that they would
again be His people and be a numerous as the sand on the seashore.
"In the same way He has offered hope to every sinner that
turns to Him. In the midst of the wages of sin, death, there is always the hope
of the gift of God -- eternal life, if we turn to God. Turn to Him today!"
(RP).
BORE HIM A SON: Notice the "him" here: in contrast,
Gomer has two other children, but the "him" is absent: suggesting the last two
children (vv 6,8) were not fathered by her husband.
Hos 1:4
"Hosea's message sheds much light on the relationship between
God's love for His people and their necessary chastening and
disciplining.
"While it manifests the great beauty and the transforming,
appealing power of His infinite patience and affection, it clearly speaks in the
strongest terms of the sorrows and bitternesses and hardships that must
inevitably arise from disobedience and wickedness.
"Its basic message is the great tragedy of Israel's blindness
and unnecessary, self-caused miseries in the face of God's choice of them as the
special recipients of His love -- a choice not as a matter of respect of
persons, but as a witness and example to all the world of the beauties of His
character and the glories of His purpose.
"Even in judgment, its tone is sorrow rather than anger, and
the severest condemnations always look forward to eventual
reconciliation.
"The book of Hosea contains many deep lessons on the subject
of marriage and divorce -- deep spiritual principles of patience and kindness
and hope, and faithfulness, and a love that bears and endures all things, and
never fails" (GVG).
I WILL PUNISH THE HOUSE OF JEHU FOR THE MASSACRE AT
JEZREEL: "Jezreel is one of the fortresses commanding the valley of Megiddo,
or Esdraelon. It is on the slopes of Mt Gilboa, where Saul died, and it controls
the gateway between the mountains down to the Jordan valley, the main entrance
to Israel from the east. This is Israel's historic battleground, right back to
the days of Gideon.
"The 'blood of Jezreel' that was soon to be avenged began with
the treacherous murder of the faithful Naboth by Jezebel (1Ki 21; cp 2Ki 9:7).
Jehu was raised up to destroy the house of Ahab for this wickedness, which he
did at Jezreel, but because of his own subsequent wickedness and following in
the ways of Ahab, all the bloodshed associated with Jezreel is held against him
and his house, including his killing of Ahab's family.
"Jehu had boasted, 'Come and see my zeal for the Lord.' He
manifested a great zeal for vengeance and destruction, and condemnation of
others, but such a zeal -- if it is not accompanied by righteousness and
gentleness and mercy and tenderness toward the weaknesses of others -- is merely
an ugly, hypocritical, Pharisaical manifestation of the evil of the
flesh.
"Jezreel (cp Hos 2:22) has a double meaning, which comprehends
both Israel's judgment and her redemption. Basically it means, 'God will sow.'
It is the name of God combined with the root word related to seed, planting, and
conception -- both animal and vegetable. It also comprehends the meaning of the
'seed or offspring of God' -- the Fatherhood of God -- the family relationship.
'We also are His offspring,' as Paul told the Athenians -- both naturally, and
also potentially in a spiritual sense, as John expresses it -- 'Beloved, now are
we the sons of God.'
"Jezreel also means 'God will scatter' -- as seed is
scattered, but with the idea of an eventual reaping and gathering -- 'He that
scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock'
(Jer 31:10)" (GVG).
Hos 1:6
Vv 6-9: "And so the basis of the allegory is laid in Hosea's
wife and three children. The three names represent three successively increasing
stages of divine abandonment -- Jezreel, Lo- Ruhamah, Lo-Ammi -- Scattered,
Unloved, Rejected" (GVG).
LO-RUHAMAH: "Not loved". Ct with Peter's words: "Once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1Pe 2:10). "LORD
Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of
Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" (Zech
1:12).
AND GAVE BIRTH: Ct v 3n.
Hos 1:7
YET I WILL SHOW LOVE TO THE HOUSE OF JUDAH: Judah will
be spared as an independent kingdom even after Israel is destroyed.
I WILL SAVE THEM -- NOT BY BOW, SWORD OR BATTLE, OR BY
HORSES AND HORSEMEN, BUT BY THE LORD THEIR GOD: The defeat of Sennacherib's
invading force (2Ki 19:35). (Cp other examples: Gideon in Jdg 7; Deborah and
Barak in Jdg 4.)
Hos 1:8
GOMER HAD ANOTHER SON: Ct v 3n. Gomer seems to revert
to her previous life as a prostitute. "Where is your mother's certificate of
divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother
was sent away" (Isa 50:1).
Hos 1:9
LO-AMMI: "Not my people". Ct with Peter's words again:
"Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God" (1Pe
2:10).
Hos 1:10
LIKE THE SAND ON THE SEASHORE: Gen 13:16; 32:12; Isa
48:19; Rom 9:27,28.
Hos 1:11
REUNITED... ONE LEADER: Subsequent returns to the Land,
under Zerubbabel, then Ezra, and then Nehemiah. But, of course, the last great
Return of the End Times, under Christ: Eze 37:21-28; Zec 14:8,9; 12:6-10. God
scattered Israel among the nations, but in the Last Days He will reap an
increase (Jer 31:10), under Jesus Christ, the true "Jezreel" (Seed of
God).