Slices
Prepare
Difficult times? Yet, how has trouble (‘the Valley of Achor’, 2:15) sometimes brought you glimmers of hope and renewed awareness of God’s love?
Bible passage
‘Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
‘you will call me “my husband”;
you will no longer call me “my master”.
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me for ever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21 ‘In that day I will respond,’
declares the Lord –
‘I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called “Not my loved one”.
I will say to those called “Not my people”, “You are my people”;
and they will say, “You are my God.”’
Hosea’s reconciliation with his wife
3 The Lord said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.’
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, ‘You are to live with me for many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.’
4 For the Israelites will live for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterwards the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
Explore
Judgement of Israel would be radical, but God is a faithful lover. When his beloved is hopeless and empty, he courts her tenderly, leading her to a new place of blessing (vs 14,15). Turning to her husband again will bring freedom from the tyranny of false idols (vs 16,17). Harmony will be restored. In mutual agreement, there will be righteousness, justice, love and compassion – and the betrothed ‘will acknowledge the Lord’ (vs 19,20). Abundant growth follows – the result of God’s planting (v 23). The upside- down ways of God turn ‘not loved’ into the discovery of being loved and of being his people. Then they will freely assert, ‘You are my God’ (v 23). Perhaps you can recall such a pattern in your own life.
Still in the opening ‘chapter’ of Hosea’s prophetic, symbolic story, there is one more scene to play out. He proactively seeks out his adulterous wife, pays the price for her and takes her home (3:1–3). God helps Hosea understand. Bereft of leadership and spiritual direction, the Israelites will eventually ‘seek the Lord’ again (vs 4,5). Recognising their own unworthiness, they know that in God blessing awaits.
Respond
‘Oh, the love that sought me! Oh, the blood that bought me!’ (William Spencer Walton, 1850–1906). Praise God for loving you, seeking you and paying the price for your redemption in Jesus.
Deeper Bible study
Ever-loving Father, open my eyes to the blessings you have for me this day. May I walk in openness before you.
God’s message through Hosea in this passage reminds us of the great restoration that God has for the whole world. Hosea demonstrated this love and grace by buying back his unfaithful wife, restoring her into a loving marriage. It is almost unfathomable to imagine a pure and holy God having such grace towards sinners, and yet that is the gospel. Despite Gomer’s lack of voice here (we don’t know how repentant she was), God’s grace is restorative: through Jesus all who are repentant find grace and mercy.
My memories of when I first became a Christian are filled with exciting times of corporate worship, expectant prayer meetings and instructive Bible teaching. I was eager and open to God. Many years on, I am challenged to remain eager and open to all that God has for me, but I am mature enough now to know that my Christian walk goes through seasons, some of which bring considerable challenge, whereas others offer time to rest and restore.
As Paul reminds us, Hosea’s message refers to the whole world, not just the Jews.1 God’s love for the Israelites, despite their frequent sins, is a foretaste of the grace we find in Jesus. Jesus has sought us and bought us, we are invited back into a family of love, into a place where we are accepted despite our past, into a place where we are included and where we matter. The love of God restores us to something more than we had. We now have a God-given hope: we are not just given a new start – we are given eternal life, a life hidden in Christ. God has done so much for us to live in this restoration. Let’s enter more fully into that each day.
Be comforted and encouraged by the good news we have received. Pray with thanksgiving for God’s amazing grace and bountiful mercy. Accept with faith the restoration he offers.
1 Rom 9:25
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Leviticus 15,16; Acts 9
Prepare
Pray for Communications Officer Chloe Shivraj, as she continues to build relationships across the movement. These relationships ensure that stories can be easily identified and shared in engaging ways, demonstrating how alive the gospel is and how God is working through Scripture Union.
