Hosea 1:1-3
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 Jereboam son of Jehoash king of Israel.
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Have you ever loved someone who didn’t love you back? Ever had a broken relationship? Or maybe an old flame who delivered the bad news that “It’s not you it’s me”? Are you a Cubs fan?
At one time or another most of us have had the bittersweet experience called “unrequited love” – that is, love that is not returned.
Whenever I think of the phrase “unrequited love” I think of Charlie Brown and his infatuation with the “little redheaded girl.” Throughout some 50 years of Charles Shultz’s cartoon strips the “little redheaded girl” is a classmate of Charlie’s at school. He develops a serious crush on her but never musters the courage to actually talk to her. He watches her from a distance on the playground and in the school lunch room. He daydreams of inviting her to sit with him during lunch but he never does. Finally, he says wistfully to himself,
“Nothing takes the taste out of a peanut butter sandwich like unrequited love.”
As the book of Hosea begins we see that God calls on his prophet to do a very strange thing.
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.”
Quite literally, God tells Hosea to take for himself a wife who will be unfaithful to him; a wife who will not love him in return for his own faithfulness and love.
Why would the God who created marriage to be holy require such a thing of his prophet? He does so to illustrate the unfaithfulness of his own people, Israel.
In Hosea chapter 4 we read:
Hear the word of the Lord you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: ‘There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.”
Hosea 4:1
By this time in her history, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, north (Israel) and south (Judah). The kings of the north were fearful that their subjects would be drawn to the southern kingdom so they could worship in the holy city of Jerusalem. This, together with the threat of impending attack from the Assyrians, led King Jereboam II to continue to worship the pagan Canaanite idols that his predecessor, Jereboam I, had set up rather than the God of Israel. This led to all manner of detestable worship practices, including cult prostitution.
So God calls upon the prophet Hosea to take for himself an unfaithful wife and then to demonstrate God’s own steadfast love by continuing to love a woman who does not return his love. In this way the book of Hosea, like all of the minor prophets, points us to Christ himself!
But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Even though Hosea lived nearly 2700 years ago and spoke God’s word to a much different culture than ours, that word is still very relevant to us today. For, in a way, because of our sin, we are the unfaithful wife; we have not returned his faithful love with our own; we have given ourselves to lesser gods; and we are desperately in need of his forgiveness and grace.
And thus the prophet of the Old Testament points us toward Christ and the gospel of grace that permeates the New Testament.
Take a moment to thank God for continuing to love you even when, at times, you may not always love him back!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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2 comments:
Thank you Pastor Brian. When you delivered the message Saturday night, I tried to understand, but couldn't get 'it' why God instructed Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife. I am grateful for your 10 Minutes with God this morning and for the Holy Spirit's promptings, for now I understand.
I think the story of Hosea is even prophetic for our times. As we as a country turn our backs on God, and focus on false idols, "situational ethics", and tolerance of a myriad of lifestyle choices including divorce among others; one can already see the damage reaped by this unfaithfulness. It portends a difficult, frightening future for this country if we can't bring ourselves to love and obey God.
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