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Hosea's Wife and Children
Hosea 1.2-10
Good News Translation (GNT)
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2 When the Lord first spoke to Israel through
Hosea, he said to Hosea, "Go and get
married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your
children will be just like her. [a]
In the same way my people have left me and
become unfaithful."
3 So Hosea married a woman named Gomer,
the daughter of Diblaim.
After the birth of their first child, a son,
4 the Lord said to Hosea, "Name him 'Jezreel,'
because it will not be long before I punish
the king of Israel for the murders that his
ancestor Jehu committed at Jezreel. [b]
I am going to put an end to Jehu's dynasty. [c]
5 And in Jezreel Valley I will at that time destroy
Israel's military power."
6 Gomer had a second child - this time it was a
daughter. The Lord said to Hosea, "Name her
'Unloved,' because I will no longer show love
to the people of Israel or forgive them.
7 But to the people of Judah I will show love.
I, the Lord their God, will save them, but I will
not do it by war-with swords or bows and
arrows or with horses and horsemen."
8 After Gomer had weaned her daughter, she
became pregnant again and had another son.
9 The Lord said to Hosea,
"Name him 'Not-My-People,' because the
people of Israel are not my people, and
I am not their God."
Israel Is to Be Restored
10 The people of Israel will become like the
sand of the sea, more than can be counted
or measured. Now God says to them,
"You are not my people," but the day is
coming when he will say to them,
"You are the children of the living God!"
Footnotes
Hosea 1:2 get married; your wife ... her;
or
marry a prostitute, and have children by her
who will be just as bad as she is.
Hosea 1:4 At this city Jehu assassinated the
king of Israel and all the rest of the royal
family, and became the first king of a new
dynasty (see 2 K 9-10).
Hosea 1:4 Jehu's dynasty; or the kingdom
of Israel.
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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union
Hosea's Wife and Childrenm
Hosea 1.2-10
If you read this chapter as if it were the opening of a short story you will find it very puzzling.
God tells a man to marry a promiscuous woman who goes on to have three children. The eldest is called by the name of a place where there had been a bloodbath, and the younger two are lumbered with names that will invite playground bullying.
Is this some sort of bad joke?
The very strangeness of the story should tip us off that something else is going on here.
To find it we need to dig a little deeper.
In Exodus and Deuteronomy God had used the word 'prostitute' to describe unfaithfulness to the covenant
(see Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 31:16).
Hosea picks up this metaphor and acts it out for all to see.
As a prophet Hosea learned to hear God's voice and proclaim it. God called him to a life of profound suffering, which would involve his whole family.
Prophets were sometimes called upon to act out God's message in a way that would make the most impact.
(Ezekiel and Jeremiah did some very strange things.)
Hosea's children would be walking around with a message from the Lord.
Hosea's message
The message the children bear is stark.
We are deceiving ourselves if we think that God will go on turning a blind eye to our sins for ever.
Israel's sins had reached their limit, and God was about to act in judgement.
See Paul's similar warning us in Romans 2:2-4 and 11:22.
But the terrible suffering they were about to endure could not be the end of the story.
God had made promises to Abraham that he could never break (see Genesis 17:7,8).
Hosea's obedience to God's call led both Peter and Paul to a vision of God's plan to include the Gentiles in his blessing to Abraham
(see 1 Peter 2:10; Romans 9:25,26).
'Go, marry a prostitute'
Did God really tell Hosea to marry a prostitute?
Some people think that it was only after she married Hosea that Gomer was unfaithful, and she was not promiscuous (or a prostitute) when Hosea married her.
But you may prefer to take the story at face value.
God does indeed occasionally ask people to do extraordinary things.
In one sense, if we are shocked by what God told Hosea to do, it is a sign that we have got the point.
Israel's unfaithfulness was that shocking, and God used Hosea to jolt the people out of their complacency.
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