Category: Hosea

Many parents know that anxious feeling—“How is my kid going to act in public and how is it going to reflect on me?” Probably just as many of us have seen a kid throwing a tantrum in the grocery store and shaken our heads in judgment of the failed parenting on display. Sure, we think the kid should know better, but somehow, he has come to understand from his parents that acting out is acceptable.

In Hosea, we see a somewhat similar, albeit holy, perspective from God regarding the degradation of Israel. Yes, the people are faithless, loveless, adulterous, and murderous (v. 1-3), but God reiterates, “With you is my contention, O priest” (v. 4). He doubles down, saying, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, [but this is] because you have rejected knowledge” (v. 5). If the world is Godless, Hosea states that it flows specifically from the failure of its priests to seek the one true God, to submit in obedience to Him and to diligently and unwaveringly call others to do the same. In our clinical reading of this historical book, we can appreciate the failure of the Levites to guide the children of Israel towards God. But it is much harder to internalize the fact that in the New Testament church, we are the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) established by God as the catalyst for holiness in the world.

As we look at the world around us and bemoan the godlessness, the dissolution of truth and the humanistic elevation of self, God says that failure falls at our feet. For those of us who have sought to represent Christ to the culture and call all men to repentance, we feel affronted by this. But of course, we alone hold truth, so we alone are responsible to disperse it. This affront is less about guilt, however, and more about opening ourselves to conviction. Paul writes, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1)

The challenge before us is less about changing the world for righteousness and more about submitting ourselves in obedience to the holy convictions of the Spirit. The current state of our world is less an indictment on the godless and more an indictment on those who know God but fail to live from that truth.

This chapter of Hosea is short but packed with beautiful truth. Look beyond the words in these verses and see the greater story of God’s love for all of us. His character is powerfully on display here.

The chapter opens with a personal directive from God for Hosea to go and show his love for his wife again, even though she is caught in a life of adultery. While the case of adultery would permit Hosea to divorce his wife, God is asking for him to do something radically different. Illustrating the Lord’s love for Israel though they too have been an adulterous people. Hosea then goes, buys her back and brings her home to stay with him. He isn’t casting her aside amid her sin but paying a price to restore a relationship with her.

This act is a perfect depiction of God’s love for us. Romans 5:8 states that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He doesn’t ask us to come to Him clean and perfect. He rescues us in the midst of our mess. Not because we deserve it, but because that is how much He loves us! Christ was the payment for us, so we could have a relationship with God. It’s simple and yet radical. It’s incomprehensible yet true.

The chapter ends with a focus on the restoration of Israel. Their idolatry will result in a long period of separation both politically and spiritually. This ruin will cause them to return to the Lord. When we find ourselves in similar ruin or desperation, God welcomes us to return to Him. We are an adulterous people. Our lives when examined often display things that we have put before God. Career, family, comfort, fun, money, pleasure, and any number of our own selfish desires. God is calling us back to him. If we confess to Him, He will cleanse us (1 John 1:9). As with Israel, there may still be earthly consequences to face, but Christ is where we find life. John 1:4 says, “in Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

That is what radical love looks like. God sees us in our sin and makes a way for us to experience life! For those that believe, it should shake and transform us. May we go forth and display the same radical love and forgiveness.

Like the relationship between Hosea and Gomer, God compares Israel to an unfaithful wife. Hosea is wronged and wounded by Gomer’s pursuit of other lovers. The Israelites left behind their covenant relationship with God and turned toward idols. They took the gifts God had given them and used them to worship Baal. The start of this chapter describes the judgment an unfaithful wife receives because of the pain and brokenness she caused.

Without warning, the tone of the chapter changes. In verse 14, the Lord begins to explain the purpose behind the punishment Israel is receiving. Through reminding Israel of what He has done for them, He is drawing His people back to Himself. Because of God’s love, His covenant with them remains despite their unfaithfulness. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is patient, it keeps no record of wrongs, and it always perseveres. In God’s love, He demonstrates this patience and perseverance by having mercy on His people. This is not because they had already turned back to God. They did not beg Him for forgiveness. They did not acknowledge the covenant they had broken or express a desire to change their ways. This chapter gives us a picture of God’s faithfulness to Israel, and reminds us that He loves us in the same way.

God’s judgment and discipline always leads to restoration. He loves His people in a way that invites them back into a relationship with Him. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Although Israel turned away from God and did not recognize His provision for them (v. 8) and used the very gifts they received from God to worship an idol, God continued to restore them to Himself. In the same way, God sees us in our idolatry and our choice to continually turn away from Him and loves us anyway. Verse 19 says, “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” Knowing we are sinners, God still holds us close. May we respond to His faithfulness by directing our worship to the only One who is truly worthy.

Two themes quickly present themselves as we begin our reading of Hosea: the willingness of Hosea to be a living, breathing example of God’s love, and the faithfulness of God to restore Israel and continue to bless them despite their rebellion. Hosea was both called to marry a woman who would ruin his reputation and standing, as well as give his children names symbolic of the Israelites’ sin. That’s a tall request by God. We aren’t given much information as to Hosea’s reaction (if he was reluctant, if he begged God for a different way, etc.), but he was obedient and willing to give people, both in his present and in the future, a human depiction of a love that seems reckless.

Through these two overlapping themes, we see one consistent truth quickly emerge: Even when we are faithless, God is still faithful to seek us out and restore us. He leaves the 99 to seek out the one (even if the one doesn’t deserve it). We will find as we read through this book that God’s character and purpose is always to heal and save. In our own lives, sometimes that will look very different than we would like or expect, but Hosea gives us a beautiful picture of God’s desire to relentlessly pursue and save us.

While Hosea was called to name his children after the Israelites’ rebellious character, his own name means “salvation” and was from the same Hebrew word as the name for Jesus (Hoshea). In his writings, Hosea will remind us that salvation comes from faithfully following the Lord and turning away from our sin. Hosea also gives us a picture of how our sin feels to God—like the victim of an adulterous marriage. As one commentary puts it, God put Hosea in the place where he feels what God feels—and it doesn’t feel good.

Just as Hosea’s wife will return time and time again to her sinful patterns, we do the same. We create idols of our status, our kids, our achievements. We fall into habits of gossip, excessive drinking, judgment, and impatience. It’s easy to imagine what Hosea felt in his marriage, but it’s more difficult to imagine that we make God feel the same way. Whatever our struggle is, and no matter how many times our actions break His heart, God promises to seek us out for restoration just as He sought out the Israelites. 

In verse 11, God proclaims that the civil war between Judah and Israel will one day be erased. In Ephesians 2, Scripture explains how Jesus Christ came to be our peace and end all hostility, unifying all of Israel, Judah, and even Gentiles to form His church. The promise of unity and redemption was not just a promise for that time—it is a promise to all of God’s people, including us. Our God is reckless in His pursuit and love for us. He will always seek to restore His children to Himself.