This blog is the second in a three-part series on the book of Hosea.
“She’s not worth it. She’ll just keep hurting you. Forget about her and move on. You’ll be better off without her.” This is where we left off last time as we journeyed with Hosea into his painful marriage to Gomer. Her unfaithfulness provides Hosea with the decision of whether to abandon ship or pursue her with the hope of winning her back.
As I look at Gomer it’s like looking into a mirror. I can see myself before I was a Christian, as I blindly ran after other gods, doing only what I wanted. I was searching for true joy, peace and contentment, but all I could find were cheap replicas which promised everything, but delivered little. But I can also see myself after I became a Christian. Like Paul (Rom 7:15) I still seem to do the things I know I shouldn’t do and don’t do the things I know I should. I choose my way over God’s way. But this account in the book of Hosea is not primarily about Gomer or Israel or me. It’s about God. It’s about His grace and mercy to an unfaithful bride, portrayed through the life of Hosea.
So what is God’s response to us as we constantly turn our backs on Him. What would Hosea’s response be to Gomer? In chapter 3:1 we find God telling Hosea to do something that goes against our human reasoning. She had committed adultery, actively gone after other lovers and there was no sign of remorse or regret. Hosea would have been within his rights and within the law to have Gomer stoned to death because of her adultery (Ezekiel 16:35-41). But instead what we read are words which are gloriously echoed throughout the Bible and are filled with hope and wonder and beauty!
And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”1
Go and fight for her! Don’t give up! Love her! Do whatever it takes to get her back! She is too precious to let go of! Hosea could have questioned this and said “Love her even though she is an unfaithful, selfish adulteress? Love her even though she has flaunted herself in front of other men without a care about me and the hurt she is causing me!?” But his response is quite the opposite! Verse two tells us that he went and bought her back. Gomer at this stage has now fallen so deeply into sin that she is now in some form of slavery to another man who has no thought or care for her or her wellbeing, but simply wants to flaunt her and use her for his own gain. What at first seemed pleasurable and exciting has proven to be torturous and enslaving. Hosea pays 15 shekels of silver, a homer and a lethech of barley. He probably would have given it all in cash, but it looks like he maybe didn’t have enough so he gave half in cash and half in barley. He was determined to use whatever means possible to raise the money needed to own her again. He sacrificed everything he had. He was determined to have her back no matter what.
What a vivid picture this would have been to the people then of God’s redemptive heart and plan for His people. The stark contrast of Gomer’s wilful sin and Hosea’s patient, persistent love stands out like white paint splattered on a black background. What a picture this is of God’s love for us. Even in our unrepentant state, He never stops loving us. Even when we show no interest in Him He never stops fighting for us. God tells us in Ezekiel 34:11-12 that it is Him who seeks after us, not the other way around. It is Jesus who runs after us and pursues us and draws us lovingly to Himself. We’re thinking about how we can see Jesus’ beauty so that we will run after Him, but maybe in order to do this, we first need to see how He ran after and continues to run after us!
God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.2
While I was an unfaithful, selfish, immoral, hurtful, spiteful, two-timing human being, God was pursuing me with love, the depth of which cannot be expressed in words. He didn’t just take me back, He bought me back using the blood of His Son as the currency. And this transaction didn’t just involve God handing Jesus over to die, which in itself is just incomprehensible. It didn’t just involve sending His Son into the world to be mocked and forsaken and hunted down like an animal and then finally brutally nailed to a cross and left to die. But God then poured out the weight of His wrath and anger towards our sin, on Jesus! Imagine the pain in God the Father’s heart at this agonising moment. Punishing your own Son for something He didn’t do in order to free the perpetrator!
It was God’s will to crush Him!3
I am Gomer! I was born running away from God and running to other lovers. I am now a Christian and I still see signs of that old nature in me running after other things on a daily basis. How could anyone want me, let alone crush their only Son for me? To be honest, I can’t answer that question. But what I do know is that the transaction has occurred, the price has been paid…and I am free! I was a slave…now I’m a son of the King!
The price has been paid for Gomer. She is free from her old master who wanted to hurt, use and abuse her. But Hosea doesn’t stop at this! He has more love to give to his bride!
1. Hosea 3:1, ESV.
2. Romans 5:8, ESV.
3. Isaiah 5:10a.
