Hosea

So last night I started reading Hosea, and I've never read it before. I went through chapters 1-3, and tonight I'll read some more, but upon beginning this book all I can say is WOW. I feel like I've been missing out. Hosea was one of God's prophets in the Old Testament, and in order to demonstrate God's love for his people, he commands Hosea to take a wife whom he knows will be unfaithful to him:

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." -Hosea 1:2 (According to the footnote in my Bible, (ESV Study Bible) "whoredom" does not refer to prostitution but rather some other kind of sexual misconduct that obviously includes infidelity.)

So Hosea goes and marries a woman named Gomer, and she bore him a son. They named him Jezreel, and the Bible is clear that this is Hosea and Gomer's son. The next 2 kids they have are not, or at least might not be, Hosea's kids. So she has a daughter and another son, named No Mercy and Not My People,

In chapter 2, Hosea basically makes his case for why he has every right to leave his wife and completely abandon her. He uses the legal process of the time to make his case. But then, in verse 14, there's a turn. Verse 13 reads:

"And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the LORD."

But then verses 14-15:

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt."

So Hosea goes off on his wife, talking about laying waste to all of her belongings and exposing her despicable acts to her lovers, and then all of a sudden he's speaking tenderly to her and restoring her hope. He goes on to say:

"And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD." (vs. 19-20)

Then, this little bit:

"And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
I will answer the heaves,
and they shall answer the earth,
and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
and 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.'" (vs. 21-23)

Then, in chapter 3, Hosea goes and finds Gomer and brings her back.

That's as far as I've gotten so far, but I'm really excited about reading the rest of it. The New Testament talks of the church, or God's people, as the bride of Christ. The marriage analogy is used a lot in the Bible, but Hosea is quite a different picture (at least on the surface) than the New Testament bride. God is the jealous husband whose wife is running around on him. Not only does he remain faithful, but he wants to restore her, even though she continues to hurt him time and time again. This really reminds me of Ryan Long's song "Justice of the Peace."

Got your message on the answering machine,
You said you'd be late again-
But what does that mean?
It means im lonely- after all,
So ill be waiting here in case you call.
I guess our telephone ain't gonna ring,
I found a note he wrote,
It says he heard you sing.
So I guess your out with him,
Whats a marriage mean to you?
Do you wear you diamond ring when you lay down?

Oh-oh-oh,
You drop your dress,
You turn your head,
You hold him when I sleep at home alone in our bed.

I didn't sleep last night- waitin' by the window,
Now the mornings come with night time glow.
You told me where you were
I said you lie,
Don't you even wanna try?
I take that ring back cause you dont wanna be my wife.

Oh oh-oh-oh,
You drop your dress,
You turn your head,
You hold him when I sleep at home alone in our bed.
You drop your dress,
You turn your head,
You hold him when I sleep at home alone in our bed.

Do you know girl,
Bout the justice of the peace,
Is gotta bring one of us to our knees.
So I'll go down you can come back home even though,
I know your gonna keep runnin' round.

You drop your dress,
You turn your head,
You hold him when I sleep at home alone in our bed.
You drop your dress,
You turn your head,
You hold him when I sleep at home alone in our bed.
You drop your dress,
You turn your head,
You hold him when I sleep at home alone in our bed



Anyway, it was kind of a revelation. I love the Old Testament.

<3 chanchan