Hosea - When Love Refuses To Let Go

A Radical Challenge To Relate Differently

What if the problem is not that we don't understand Jesus, but that we fail to grasp just how serious he is about the radical things he says?

Especially about relationships.

When Jesus Christ was challenged by religious people who were confident they understood God, he did something unexpected. Rather than offer them a fresh insight or a new angle, he sent them back to an old story. One that they were very familiar with. He tells them:

Those words took them back to the time when Hosea heard them from God. In the most awful circumstances. Which means that if we are serious about listening to Jesus, we cannot bypass Hosea as a strange and uncomfortable relic. In this raw, unsettling story of a broken marriage and a love that refuses to let go, we are being drawn into the very heart of God that Jesus himself came to make known.

Around 700BC things were pretty grim for God's people. The nation was divided into the northern kingdom of Judah and the southern kingdom of Israel. At that time Israel was allied with Syria against Judah allied with Assyria.

Judah was fast going downhill, society was moving away from God, Assyrian culture was coming in, their religion included child sacrifice, and in fact King Ahaz slaughtered one of his own sons in a sacrifice to the Assyrian gods.

Israel was no better off under the leadership of King Jeroboam. His wickedness resulted in a very similar situation, materially the people were well off, but they did what they wanted and they too drifted into the pretty vile practises of their neighbours.

Into this situation, God sends a young man, Hosea. For the next 30 years, this man will represent God to Israel and Judah at a time when they were quickly forgetting all about him. God is going to give him words to say, but first God needs to come alongside Hosea in a unprecedented and unique way.

Now I'm sure Hosea was pretty pleased, because Gomer was an attractive girl, and this isn't necessarily what Hosea expected when he signed up at prophet school.

But God went on to say...

How's that for a challenge!

But Hosea Trusts God

So Hosea entered this relationship with Gomer in this strange way - sure she was attractive, all the men looked her way, but Hosea spent a lot of time worrying.

Hosea felt God had a message for him to speak, but it didn't seem the right time.

In time, Hosea and Gomer had a little baby boy. God told Hosea...

Now that was strange, because Jezreel meant 'thrown out'. It derived from when wicked queen Jezebel was thrown to her death out of the window and eaten by the street dogs. Thrown Out. What a strange name for a little baby boy.

As time went by, Hosea and Gomer has a little girl. Again God came up with a name. 'Loru Hamah'. It meant 'no compassion'. So now they had two children, Thrown Out with No Compassion.

When Hosea and Gomer had their last child, again a girl, this time God chose the name, 'not my people'.

So you can imagine when Hosea walked into the shop with his pretty wife Gomer and his three young children, the shopkeeper would say, what nice children, what are their names. "Well, from left to right, we have Thrown Out with No Compassion and Not My People."

Don't you think people would say, "Why on earth did you give your kids these crazy names Hosea?"

Deep down, I think Hosea knew why, but still he wasn't saying.

But surely the story of Hosea's children, as well as his wife who routinely turned heads, went around town, and probably across the country to neighbouring villages.

Shortly after that, Gomer began to fulfill Gods prediction. She started to get disinterested in Hosea, and interested in other men. And Hosea began to hear rumours, and when he confronted her, I expect they had a big row. Then one day, Hosea came home to find her gone. She'd left the children behind, and gone off with another man. The rumours started to circulate. But Gomer didn't stop there, she went from man to man. And to Hosea's horror, Gomer shrugs off the shame and ends up on the street. And all Hosea's friends and neighbours, all the town it seems, knows what kind of woman Gomer is. And as the years went by Gomer's lifestyle took its toll, and sooner or later, as always happens, she was no good for that kind of work.

Hosea had watched all this from the sidelines. I'm sure he could see what was happening to Gomer, maybe over the years he tried to persuade her to come home. But she never could admit that she needed Hosea and his love. The townspeople always expected Hosea to give up on Gomer but he never did. Surely though he would not want anything to do with her now. And all the time, Hosea is loving, hurting, longing.

Just wanting her to come home.

Now God Speaks To Him Again

And God proceeds to show to Hosea, how he is going to 'throw out' Israel and Judah. He talks to him about how there will be 'no pity, no compassion' for them, and how judgement is going to come, how Assyria is going to invade, how they will be hungry and homeless, refugees without the protection of God.

And then Hosea, I'm going to reject my people Israel and Judah, they will be known as 'not my people'.

At last Hosea's children’s names begin to make sense. Thrown out, without compassion, no longer God's people. His very own family is a living prophecy to the nation. So this is the message that God wants him to preach.

But of course, God doesn't stop there. Like Hosea, he is longing for the children of Israel to be back in a relationship of love with him. So He carries on outlining his plans to Hosea.

Win her with love.

Why the desert? This signifies leading her out of the clutches of the world, as Israel was led out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

Achor means trouble - this is the place where Achan and his family were singled out and executed for coveting and keeping some gold from the battle. But it was right at the entry to the promised land. So what signified trouble can be regarded with hope.

This is a change of relationship. Note God the King does not cease to be king, but the wife becomes the bride. We know that the church is called the bride of Christ, so maybe that day has arrived already?

So it hasn't totally arrived yet! Dog obedience classes are still required!

What covenant? Adam ruled over the animals - they were not afraid but obedient to him. Noah was feared by the animals since after the flood, they were given as meat to man. But he had no authority over them. This is a reinstatement of that original covenant relationship between men and animals.

This day clearly has not yet arrived.

Righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness.

A beautiful cameo of our Father's character.

So Hosea Passes On This Message

He goes to the various towns in Israel and Judah, stands in the marketplace and begins speaking out. Day after day, week after week. The months go by. Hosea is still talking to anyone who will listen. The people get very used to hearing this message of judgement, followed by this appeal from God to return to him. He talks about the mess the nations are going to get into, how things are going to go wrong because they've walked away from loving God.

They hear how God will rescues Judah and Israel from the mess they're going to get into. How he will betroth them in righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness. No longer thrown out, but surrounded by compassion, God's people once again.

Then back in his home town, Hosea hears that Gomer is to be sold off as a slave in the marketplace, and he hurries along. The townspeople look on in amazement, as Hosea starts to bid for Gomer, and they can't believe it when he buys her, and leads her home.

This man, with the broken heart, publicly humiliated, has bought his own wife in the marketplace. She once again has a place in the home, once again she is restored, she is surrounded by love. No longer is she a slave to a master, but now she is a wife to a husband.

What kind of man must Hosea have been to publicly reach out to a wife who had so callously rejected him? Dragged his name through the mud? What kind of love is this?

This unsettles us, even embarrasses us, because it feels like love has gone too far. But when we listen carefully, we begin to hear the voice of Jesus Christ echoing through it. The one who said that he came to 'give his life as a ransom for many' is not adding a new idea to Hosea, he is living its fulfilment.

The issue then, is no longer whether we understand Hosea’s message. Nor whether it moves us. The hard question is whether we are willing to follow him in it. Because to take Jesus seriously is to accept that his mercy reaches further than we are comfortable with, to admit that he loves longer than we think is reasonable, and still be determined to become like him.

With God's grace, we can.

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