Slices
Prepare
What gets in the way of your relationship with God? Take time to allow God’s Spirit to draw you back into his embrace.
Bible passage
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel:
Hosea’s wife and children
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, ‘Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.’ 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.’
6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them – not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.’
8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the Lord said, ‘Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
10 ‘Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”, they will be called “children of the living God”. 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
2 ‘Say of your brothers, “My people”, and of your sisters, “My loved one”.
Israel punished and restored
2 ‘Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, “I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
“I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.”
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold –
which they used for Baal.
9 ‘Therefore I will take away my corn when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days – all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig-trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewellery,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,’
declares the Lord.
Explore
Other prophets had used images of infidelity (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), but God asks Hosea to go further. He is to become the living example of God’s own painful experience of his people turning from him. Hosea’s story is the backdrop for God’s message.
The ‘word’ came to Hosea to go and marry – not a girl from a faithful, God- honouring family, but a prostitute, depicting the unfaithfulness of God’s people (1:2). God would teach his prophet through his own bitter experience (1:2–8). The names of Hosea’s children (or at least, those of Gomer, his wife) spoke of God’s judgement. Questions of friends and relatives about names for the children would bring surprising answers (1:4,5,6,9). But to Hosea, God whispers the promise of their reversal: you will be my people; you are loved (1:10 – 2:1).
Out of this living picture, God speaks his judgement of unfaithful Israel (2:1–13). As we read, we can imagine Hosea’s distress as he responds to the behaviour of Gomer. She has run after other men, resulting in ‘children of adultery’ (2:4), not been grateful for the gifts of her husband (2:8), wasting these in worship of Baal (2:8). God draws out his application: Israel’s extravagant, unfaithful behaviour will be stopped. They have forgotten him, but…
Respond
Have we forgotten God? Misused his gifts? Repent and receive renewed assurance that you are his and are loved (2:1).
Deeper Bible study
Pause and be still. Rest a while before God. Ask God to speak into your life through his words. Be prepared to be challenged and encouraged by his Spirit.
Like some of the other prophets, Hosea is called to demonstrate the message of God through more than just words. This passage tells of his call to marry a promiscuous woman and of their subsequent children. In many cultures, the naming of children is a powerful and significant event, full of meaning. The idea of a ‘Christian’ name stems from the renaming of the likes of Simon (Peter) and Saul (Paul). Hosea’s children are given meanings that relate to the culture and crisis of their day.
All my life I have had to explain my first name. It is a rare Celtic name that I pronounce as James, but I have no idea if that is what it originally sounded like; I regularly receive a variety of attempts to make sense of the letters. For me, in my Western culture, my name has only minor significance, I just want it spelt and pronounced correctly. I am not all that bothered by what the name means (I can’t even remember). Rather, I want to be known by what I do and to whom I belong: God.
Hosea’s children were given names that had prophetic meanings. Whenever they were spoken about, the meaning would be inferred. God’s message through Hosea was a message of inclusion and grace, despite all that the people had done. Rejecting God is to reject his love and his invitation into his family. To accept God is to receive his grace-gift of love and adoption into his worldwide family. Who we are, as Christians, is found in who God is and who he says we are. That may be evident in our name, or in the name he gave us: children of God.1
How does the message of being adopted, based upon grace and faith, challenge how you look at the way other people live?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Leviticus 10–12; Psalm 22
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks with Prince Laryea, Regional Mission Team Leader in the south, for a great six months settling into SU, building the team, and connecting with partners. Pray for faith, boldness, confidence and discernment as he shapes a long-range vision for our ministry in the region, seeking particularly to engage young people through music, art and culture.
