Love in a Minor Key
Hosea 3
The so-called “minor prophets” are somewhat misnamed. They’re labeled “minor” simply because they’re shorter than the major prophets (1). What can we learn from these smaller prophetic books? Much more than we might think. So many of the prophets seem inexorably drawn into life’s pain. And it is in their pain that we clearly sense their humanity. They’re a lot like us.
Perhaps none of the minor prophets endured more pain than Hosea. He had family problems on a major scale. What’s more, God himself had plainly ordained it. He instructed Hosea to “marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her” (Hosea 1:2). Out of more than fifty English translations of that verse, almost all of them use one of these words (some of which we would consider horribly inappropriate) to describe Hosea’s wife: prostitute, harlot, whore, promiscuous, immoral. The word fornication makes several appearances. The kindest rendition, used sparingly, is “unfaithful.” Hosea is marrying a woman who will break his heart.
Things go badly after they marry, both for Hosea and for his wife, Gomer. They have three children together (or perhaps not together) whose names are significant. Jezreel gets his name from the scene of a slaughter perpetrated by Israel’s former king, referred to as the “house of Jehu” (v. 4). At Jezreel, God will soon “put an end to the kingdom of Israel” (v. 4)(2). The second child is named Lo-Ammi, which means “not loved.” The third is called Lo-Ruhamah: “not my people.” Are these children truly Hosea’s? Who knows? It appears that Gomer doesn’t merely have a paramour; today’s reading strongly suggests she may be living as a prostitute again (3:3).
To put it in brutally candid terms, a woman who spent her life professionally sleeping with the band would no longer be much of a marriage prospect for any man. That is when God tells Hosea to find her and win her back: “Go, show your love to your wife again” (v. 1). Not only that, Hosea must also purchase her—likely a paying off of some kind of debt she incurred in her profession. The price is fifteen shekels of silver and a few hundred pounds of barley. Imagine bartering for your wife! Did he buy her from her pimp? The scene is not attractive in any way.
Why did God put Hosea through this? Throughout the Old Testament prophets, God refers to his wayward people as adulterers. The reason is twofold: many of them were engaging in literal adultery. The region was surrounded by sex-cult religions, which the people found alluring. But the charge of adultery was also figurative, and it relates directly to those foreign religions. Israel had turned from worshiping the one true God and replaced it with idolatry. This was spiritual adultery. God was to be their only love. That’s why God calls himself a jealous God (Exodus 20:5; 34:14). He won’t share his people with other lovers.
And yet, the despair and desolation of Hosea 3 leads to a beautiful moment. The entire book is a picture of God’s unrelenting love for his wayward people. The story shows us the vast scope and limitless depth of that love. We humans are the crowning achievement of God’s creation, and yet we choose to rebel against him. We were created for relationship with him, and we keep running off.
We might readily identify with Hosea. On some level, everyone knows the pain of betrayal.
But the point God makes through his profound—if also bizarre—metaphor in Hosea’s life is simply that we shouldrelate more to Gomer than to Hosea. We abandon God to do whatever we please. We spurn his love in exchange for the multiple loves we think will fulfill us. All the while, we grow more and more empty. We were rightfully his in the first place. But we’ve ignored him to live our lives our way. In the process, we’ve made a desperate mess of things. We have nowhere else to turn. Yet he still wants us! And like Hosea going to buy back his wife, the New Testament shows us that God buys us back through the death of his Son.
The story of Hosea is in the historical record because it really happened. We can relate to it precisely because of its raw authenticity. Can we even begin to comprehend the scope of God’s love for us? Do we sense what it cost him to buy us back?
It doesn’t matter where we are or what we’ve done. God pursues us!
