Tag: Hosea

Hosea’s One Bride–and the One Messiah

But who is this woman? Is she the same Gomer whom Hosea married in chapter 1, or does she represent a second bride, perhaps symbolizing Judah alongside Israel in some grand drama of two sisters? Here stands one of those interpretive crossroads where the very trajectory of revelation hangs in the balance.

Brent Pollard

In the ancient landscape of Scripture, few passages arrest the soul quite like Hosea 3, where God commands His prophet: “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.” (Hosea 3.1). Here Hosea purchases her—this mysterious woman—“for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley,” then withholds marital relations for “many days” (Hosea 3.2-3).

But who is this woman? Is she the same Gomer whom Hosea married in chapter 1, or does she represent a second bride, perhaps symbolizing Judah alongside Israel in some grand drama of two sisters? Here stands one of those interpretive crossroads where the very trajectory of revelation hangs in the balance.

Two paths stretch before the careful reader. A minority of conservative scholars sees chapter 3 as a fresh symbolic act with another adulteress, sometimes linked to Judah through the “two sisters” motif found elsewhere in prophetic literature. Yet the majority view—held by the great cloud of classic conservative commentators—perceives one continuous drama with one wife, one covenant, one story of love’s persistence through the darkest valleys of unfaithfulness.

This latter reading, I would argue, best preserves the magnificent Messianic arc that governs the whole of Hosea 1-3, an arc as vast and purposeful as the eucatastrophe that crowns the most remarkable tales ever told.

The Divine Command and Its Shocking Grace

Chapter 1 opens with words that still have power to startle the modern heart: “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (1:2). What kind of God would command such a thing? Only one whose love burns with such intensity that He will use even the prophet’s agony to mirror His own heart’s breaking.

Hosea obeys—for prophets know something of the weight of divine calling—and marries Gomer. Their children become living sermons, their names carving judgment into the very air that Israel breathes. Jezreel speaks of scattering that follows political bloodshed; Lo-Ruhamah means “No Mercy,” signaling heaven’s withdrawal of compassion; Lo-Ammi—“Not My People”—depicts the ultimate horror: covenant rupture, the tearing of that sacred bond that once made them the apple of God’s eye (1.4-9).

The effect is deliberately devastating. This departure is no mere moral slip, no gentle wandering from the path. Israel’s sin bears the face of spiritual adultery against the very God who chose her, loved her, called her from Egypt, and made her His own.

The Promise That Changes Everything

Yet—oh, what power lies in that simple word!—judgment is not God’s final word. Immediately after the “Not My People” sentence, Hosea hears a promise of breathtaking scope: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head.” (1.10-11).

Here stands the North Star by which we must navigate all that follows. The story moves inexorably toward reunion under a single Davidic ruler—toward the Messiah. This reconciliation is not merely restoration but transformation, not simply healing but resurrection unto new life.

When Love Becomes a Lawsuit, Then Wedding Song

Chapter 2 unfolds like a covenant lawsuit in the courts of eternity. The Judge indicts His faithless spouse, exposes her idols and ill-placed alliances, announces discipline that will strip away the very gifts she has misused for evil purposes (2.2-13). Justice must speak its harsh truth before mercy can whisper its tender promises.

But then the tone pivots from court to courtship. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” (2.14). The wilderness, that place of testing and purging, becomes a wedding aisle where love writes its most beautiful poetry.

Hear how the Bridegroom’s voice grows tender: “And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.” (2.19-20).

This promise is a covenant renewal of the most glorious kind—not by human reform or religious effort, but by pure divine initiative. The righteousness will be His gift, the faithfulness His accomplishment, the steadfast love His very nature poured out upon the undeserving.

The Purchase Price of Love

Chapter 3 returns us to the sign-act, but now we see it through the lens of promise. God commands Hosea to “love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel” (3.1). He buys her—this woman whom love will not release—and then imposes a season of chaste separation: “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” (3.3).

On the majority reading, this is Gomer once more—the same woman, the same covenant, the same costly love. The symbolism thunders with gospel truth: the bride belongs to Hosea by right of covenant, yet he pays a price to reclaim her from slavery. She dwells under his protection, yet marital intimacy waits for the appointed time. It is a perfect picture of God’s people under discipline—kept and preserved by unshakeable love, yet awaiting the full warmth of restored fellowship.

Why prefer the “one wife” interpretation over “two”? Textually, the prophecy promises not two restored marriages, but one united people under “one head” (1.11). Thematically, a single spouse clarifies the gospel shape of this ancient drama: one relationship broken by sin, one redemption purchased by love, one reunion consummated by grace. To split the sign into separate unions risks obscuring that clean line running from Israel’s infidelity to the Messiah’s unifying reign.

The Long Wait and the Coming King

Hosea himself interprets the sign with words both sobering and hopeful: “For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods” (3:4). A prolonged season follows—kingless, templeless, suspended between judgment and restoration. It is discipline, but discipline shot through with promise.

For afterward, the prophet declares, “the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.” (3.5). “David” here is no mere historical echo but the promised Son of David, the Root and Offspring of Jesse’s line, the King whose kingdom shall have no end.

In the New Testament’s brilliant light, that restoration dawns in Jesus Christ, who gathers the scattered, “broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” and creates “in himself one new man in place of the two” (Ephesians 2.14-15). The apostles see clearly how Hosea’s reversal—“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” (Romans 9.25) applies to all who are called into Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. As Peter puts it with stunning directness: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2.10).

The bride is being made ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb (2 Corinthians 11.2; Revelation 19.7-9).

Gospel Theater in an Ancient Home

Hosea’s household, then, becomes gospel theater of the most profound sort: covenant love initiates the drama, sin wounds the heart of it, grace pursues through every shadow, redemption pays the necessary price, sanctified waiting refines the beloved, and Messianic reunion brings the story to its glorious close.

The “same woman” reading allows us to feel this story as Scripture intends—a single, unbroken through-line running from rupture to redemption, from betrayal to betrothal, under one Head who is Christ Jesus our Lord. In His nail-scarred hands, every broken covenant finds healing, every faithless heart discovers mercy, and every wayward bride learns the deep, costly joy of being loved with an everlasting love.

This is the gospel that Hosea’s pain purchased for our instruction, the good news that his obedience spelled out in living letters. One bride, one Bridegroom, one story of love that will not let us go—no matter how far we wander, no matter how deep we fall. For such is the love of the God who calls things that are not as though they were, and who makes His enemies into His beloved.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (XIV)

How is God’s expectation of repentance in Hosea’s day parallel to our day?

“Return” (14:1-9)

Neal Pollard

God ends His message through Hosea with a plan for Israel’s repentance. It is thorough and thoughtful. It is pointed, but pleading. God can perfectly foresee the collision course with spiritual disaster that this nation is on, and He wants them to feel the urgency of their situation. The postscript at the end of the book (9) calls on the wise, understanding, and discerning person to know and do. 

The Lord begins with what the people must do (1-3).  In a word, they must “return.” In this, they must acknowledge that they have gone astray (“you have stumbled…”)(1). Their repentance and returning would be articulated with words (2-3). With humility and honesty, they must confess to God how they had betrayed Him. 

The Lord promises what He will do (4-8). Notice that God looks to the future and uses the word “will” 12 times in these last six verses. If they genuinely return to Him, He is anxious and ready to heal and love them. But, more than that, God focuses them on what their return would do for them. Every other occurrence of the word “will” speaks of the abundance and blessings that would follow Israel’s restoration. It would be apparent to others that God was blessing these penitent people. 

The Lord appeals to what He expects and why (9). He expects people to evaluate their spiritual situation and make the right decision. He expects that every accountable one could do that and, in wisdom, would do that. He expects them to do that because His ways are right and “the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.”

Consider that our situation parallels what God says to Israel through Hosea in this chapter. Through Christ, He has told us what we must do (Luke 3:10,12,14; Acts 2:37ff; Acts 16:30). Think about the multitude of promises that flow out of our obedient, penitent response to His will (Js. 1:17). He tells us what He expects and why (6:6; Dt. 10:12; Mic. 6:8). The question is, will we be wise, understanding, and discerning? Will we appreciate the protective love of our spiritual groom and His reasonable expectations that we be faithful to Him?

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (XII)

How does Jacob’s character compare and contrast with Hosea’s audience in Hosea 12? Open your Bible to this chapter and let’s look closer.

A Word To Jacob (12:1-14)

Neal Pollard

Hosea appeals to the family history of Israel, the name given to Jacob by God in Genesis 32:28 after He contended with Him. The prophet appeals to certain troublesome attributes of the patriarch’s character as symbolic of the sin problems of his contemporaries to whom he writes (2). He refers to Jacob’s treachery against Esau from the womb and his contending against God as a man (3). While these liabilities did not debilitate Jacob’s faith, his descendants, the nation, expressed the worst of these traits in their lives. 

Hosea appeals to how their father Jacob wept and sought God’s favor. He turned away from sin and immorality and turned to “the Lord, the God of hosts” (5). The nation had done the opposite. They went from faithfulness in their earlier days to the scheming and fighting against God of their unrighteous present. They multiplied lies and violence (1). They made alliances with the pagan nations (1). They were dishonest and oppressing (7). They trusted in wealth above all else (8). Because their hearts were not turned to God like Jacob’s was, they are worthless and their worship is, too (11). He has provoked God to bitter anger, and He will punish him for his reproach (14).

Despite their unfaithfulness, look at God’s steadfastness toward these descendants of His beloved patriarch. He appeals to them to return to Him, conform to His ethics, and wait continually for Him (6). He has been their God through thick and thin, from the beginning (9). He sent them abundant revelation through prophets, visions, and parables (10). But they fell back upon their baser nature. Therefore, God will allow them to go their own way and suffer the consequences of such.

In the spirit of Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:6,11, what should we take from this admonition? Think back to the beginning of our Christian walk. We turned away from the deficiencies and destitutions of our soul and character and called out to Him (Acts 22:16). Where are we now? Are we building on that faithfulness (Heb. 10:32-39) or are we reverting to the “old man” ways (Eph. 4:17-22)? If we turn away from Him, it pains Him. But He will allow us to go whatever way we desire (cf. Acts 14:16). Yet, let there be no doubt, He desires us to return to Him (cf. 2 Pet. 3:9). 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (X)

What is your biggest impression about Hosea up to this point?

A Charge, A Complaint, And A Call (10:1-15)

Neal Pollard

The unfaithfulness of the people is further highlighted by a metaphor of a vineyard (1-4), a picture of their idolatrous worship (5-8), a description of their guilt (9-11), and a command to repent (12-15). Much like the previous chapter, Hosea writes about how the people had thoroughly forsaken the God who blessed them for the influences of the world around them. God is heartbroken, but He is also omnisciently aware of how they forsook Him to His face. Notice the content of the chapter.

The Charge (1-8). At the top of the list is ingratitude (1). The more their fruit and the richer their land, the more steeped in pagan practices the became. Why? Their heart is faithless (2). They are also charged with misplaced confidence, ignoring God but saddled with a weak and helpless king (3). They are charged with empty oaths (4). They are devoted to their worthless idols and they pour out their hearts to them (5). Their mourning would turn to shame and sorrow when, only too late, they realize the consequences of their sin as it causes their captivity (6-8). In fact, they would be horrified. Everything they relied on would not only fail them, but they would be destroyed alongside them. They would beg for the hills and mountains to fall on them and cover them (8). 

The Complaint (9-11). God looks back (9) and sees a pattern of apostasy that goes back at least as far as the Period of the Judges. Gibeah, mentioned first in 5:8 and again in 9:9, is associated with some of the “deepest depravity” anyone, much less God’s people, ever committed (see Judges 19-20).  Duane Garrett also associates it with Saul’s military fortress, a king more devoted to the military than to the Lord (NAC, 214). They will be overtaken in this infamous city. He says they bear “double guilt” (10). He says they are a trained heifer that loves to thresh (11), and God will allow them to do so in the yoke of captivity and punishment (11b). They were a fruitful vine, but yielded only poisonous fruit. They were an industrious heifer, but threshed that unfit produce. God’s patience with such hardhearted rebellion was exhausted. 

The Call (12-15). Yet, He does not simply throw up His hands at this point. He renews His plea to this stubborn people. Staying with the farming analogy, He calls for them to sow righteousness, reap kindness, break up their fallow ground (be genuinely penitent, not just on the surface), seek the Lord, and wait for the rain of righteousness (12). Yet, their misplaced trust and malevolent decisions (13-14) had them on course for tumult, destruction, and being cut off. 

God’s anger seems hot and His judgments pointed. If there is any question about whether He is moved only by wrath and not also unrequited love, keep reading. The next chapter will prove His steadfast love, even in the face of all of this. How tragic that Israel refused to see it. As tragic is when the world (1 Tim. 2:4-5) or I (Heb. 2:3) refuse to see such love and respond in faithful obedience! 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (IX)

When God Lets Go (9:1-17)

Neal Pollard

If we wonder why God chose to use a harlot like Gomer to represent Israel, all we need to do is read the inspired indictment in chapter nine. Again using Ephraim, the largest tribe, to represent the northern kingdom, God lays out the unfaithfulness of His people in the multitudinous ways they were guilty. In verse one, he explicitly accuses Israel, saying, “For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved harlots’ earnings…” (1). What spiritual toll would this take on the nation?

They would starve (1b-2). They had given Baal credit for their harvests (2:8-9), but their anticipated harvests would not come. There would be no wheat or wine! God would withhold those material provisions. 

They would go into captivity (3,6). This actually expressed in multiple ways in this chapter. First, explicitly, Hosea says they would not remain in “the Lord’s land” (3). They would return to “Egypt” (a figurative way to describe the bondage of captivity, 3), which Hosea makes parallel to Assyria (3b). He says, “they will go” (6) and again symbolically mentions Egypt and Memphis (a famous cemetery in Egypt, Robert Chisholm, BKC, 1399) to show how they would die in this frightening process (6). It is described as “punishment” and “retribution” (7). Finally, he says God “will cast them away” and “they will be wanderers among the nations” (17). 

Their worship would be rejected (4-5). Hosea mentions drink offerings, sacrifices, bread, appointed festivals, and feast days, central to Old Testament worship. These won’t please Him and He will not allow them to enter His house. God stands at the door of the temple and stops His people from coming in and trying to worship Him. Can you imagine?

Their spiritual leaders would be powerless to help them (7-9). These seem to be true prophets and divinely-inspired men, driven mad by the grossness of their iniquity and the greatness of their hostility (7). They are full of depravity, iniquity, and sins, and faithful messengers, like Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Micah, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, and others, had been warning them to repent and return to God. But they were so far gone in their wickedness that they rendered themselves incapable of restoration. It can happen (2 Pet. 2:14). 

They would be unfruitful, barren, and bereaved of children (10-14,16). Much of the latter half of this chapter is devoted to how costly the people’s sins would be on their descendants. While they would not bear the guilt of their parents’ sins (Ezek. 18:20), they would bear the consequences of them. The fortunate ones would be those not born (11,14) and not delivered (16). They would be bereaved–childless (12). If righteousness strengthens a home, sin certainly destroys it. 

They would be unloved and rejected by God (15,17). Go back and review these first five consequences of Israel’s unfaithfulness. They are sobering in the extreme! Yet, add this last one to it and it becomes absolutely unfathomable! What is worse than having God declare, “I came to hate them” (15), “I will love them no more” (15), and that He will cast them away (17). A penitent David, heartbroken by his sin, pleaded, “Cast me not away from Your presence, O Lord” (Psa. 51:11). Yet, that is exactly what God is doing to Israel.

Like Hosea, God tried to bring His bride back and give her another chance. In fact, He had given her countless chances over the centuries. But she was devoted to deviance and intent on iniquity. Now, God pledges that He is letting go. He will not fight for her affection anymore. Let us not ignore the fact that God does not want to do this, but if we refuse His overtures we should understand that He will! 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (VIII)

Reaping The Whirlwind (8:1-14)

Neal Pollard

Hosea calls for a trumpet to sound, an action that symbolizes judgment and warning in both the Old and New Testaments (Ex. 20:18; Jud. 6:34; Hos. 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Th. 4:16). An enemy will come against Israel because of transgression and rebellion (1). While the whole chapter will specifically address what that sin was, Hosea describes the whole matter in verse seven. This is one of the best-known passages from the book, where the prophet writes of Israel, “For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind.” What was the iniquity they sowed?

Lip service (2-3). It is an act of desperation, in view of impending doom. They cry out, “My God, we of Israel know You!” (2). They not only confess Him, but they appeal to their identity as Israel. However, “Israel” has rejected the good. How well this illustrates the condemnation Christ would later make of their descendants, quoting Isaiah  29:13, “This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me” (Mat. 15:8). Jesus calls this hypocrisy, and so it was for Israel! We sow to the wind when our devotion is no more than skin deep. 

Failure to consult God (4-6). This was true of their earthly rulers, their kings and princes (4). This was true of their idols (4). Verses five and six make a difficult text, and the wording is confusing. It seems that Hosea is referring to the calf set up by Jeroboam (1 Ki. 12:28-29; cf. Hos. 10:5-6). God is outraged at Israel’s guilt and immorality. They pay homage to a calf idol and ignore Him. That calf would be broken in pieces (6), and the people who worship it would be “cut off” (4). We sow to the wind when we fail to keep God in the only place He will accept (Mat. 6:24,33; Ex. 20:3; Js. 4:4). 

Political folly (8-10).  The same issues the prophet Isaiah repeatedly addressed, trusting in earthly alliances rather than submitting to the authority and power of God, are highlighted by Hosea. “They hire allies among the nations” (10), but they would have the respect of no one (8). Like a donkey, stubborn and resistant to rule, they turn to man instead of God. Their foolish choice of lovers and protectors would cause them to diminish and be of no delight. We sow to the wind when we put our trust in man and refuse to submit to the Lordship of the only Master who can save and deliver us (Prov. 3:5; Isa. 36:4). 

Empty rituals (11-13). Like the first offense mentioned in this chapter (lip service), this is a matter of a people more than willing to worship but unwilling to know and practice His Word. They regarded the many precepts of His law as a strange thing, but they kept on coming to worship and going through the motions anyway (12). Yet, as Hosea has already told them, “I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (6:6). Because of this, God will cause them to go into “Egypt” (13; this must be symbolic given the timeframe, standing for exile and captivity. They are going to Assyria (7:11). We sow to the wind when we refuse to repent of the sin of our daily lives, but insist on continuing to offer worship. 

Self-reliance (14). The condemning, closing indictment is succinctly put: “Israel has forgotten his Maker.”  They built their palaces and fortified cities with no thoughts of God. But God vows to set those dwellings on fire. How God had warned them against self-reliance from the time of the giving of the Law! “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deut. 8:11-14). He warned that the danger would be to say, “My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth” (Deut. 8:17b). So it was in Hosea’s day. So it usually is in every generation. We sow to the wind when we trust in our income, our wisdom, and our strength, forgetting the God who gives every good and perfect gift (Js. 1:17). God reminds us “that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” chosen by God (1 Cor. 1:26-27a). When self is too strong and sufficient, we buy into the illusion that we have provided everything for ourselves. The rich farmer shows us how poorly that ends (Luke 12:20)! 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (VII)

A Physician Desiring To Heal, But A Patient Who Refuses Treatment (7:1-16)

Neal Pollard

While God changes the metaphor to describe His relationship with the northern kingdom, from husband and wife to doctor and patient, the unfaithfulness of Israel is a continued theme. Hosea’s words are addressed to Ephraim, again chosen to represent the whole nation due to its place as largest tribe. The diagnosis is extremely critical, and the outlook is grim. Yet, in the midst of the warnings, one still sees a hurt God who reels with the feelings of rejection. Hosea bemoans her refusal to return to God (10). God cries, “They have strayed from Me!” (13). He says, “I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me” (13). “They do not cry to Me from their heart when they wail on their beds” (14). “They turn away from Me” (14). For all He did for them, they plotted evil against Him (15). Yes, He is angry, but He also is filled with profound hurt at being rejected by His people. 

When you get a physical and blood is drawn and tests are administered, you get a report that indicates your overall health picture, including blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. Those statistics help measure your health (or lack thereof). Notice the spiritual health report from this divinely-administered checkup.

  • They were deceivers (1).
  • They were deluding themselves (2,11). 
  • They were delighted in sin (3). 
  • They were disloyal to their spouses (4) and their God (10).
  • They were drunkards (5).
  • They were deranged by sinful anger (6-7).
  • They were devoured by strangers, but didn’t know it (9).
  • They were devising evil against God (12-16).

God’s diagnosis is blunt and sobering. He calls her “a cake not turned” (8), “a silly dove, without sense” (11), and “a deceitful bow” (16). They turn, but not toward God (16). He could heal them and make all things whole for them, but they refuse to turn to them even as their self-inflicted suffering is at its worst. God sees them as beyond hope, though He continues to love them and long for their return.

I wonder how often this expresses God’s feelings for congregations and individual Christians, His covenant people with whom He is in a special relationship with. How often does He see one, racked by sin and self-inflicted hurts, looking anywhere and everywhere but up to the only source of healing and hope? Does He see a relentless pursuit of the world and worldly answers despite His desire to be the remedy for all that ails us? More pointedly, I ask that about me. Am I spiritually sick, but so self-centered that I refuse to turn to Him? Hosea’s message should be taken very personally! When it is, it helps me see how much God loves me and hates my sin and what it does to me. 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (VI)

A Call To Return To the Scorned Husband (6:1-11)

Neal Pollard

After the severe admonition of the Lord, Hosea leads the call to God’s people to return to Him (1). The reasoning is clear. Though He had justly punished their unfaithfulness, He would also heal, bandage, and shortly revive them (1-2). He renews the call in verse three, for Israel to invest in the relationship. He calls for “press on to know the Lord” (3), an intimate act to show Him their love and interest for Him. He would respond in eager, generous affection (3b). Despite the promise and hope of restoration, God knows how fickle and unfaithful of heart His people are (4-11). He describes it in those last several verses.

“Like a morning cloud and like the dew” (4-5). This is the picture of an inability to sustain faithful love. They briefly submit to Him and show Him loyalty, but it gone as quickly as a cloud and the dew. True character emerges and temporary resolve disappears. How that had to hurt God’s heart! Neither would they be able to get away with it, as God’s judgment would fall heavily on them (5); 

Lacking in loyalty and knowledge (6). They knew how to make the outward expressions of love. They brought God sacrifices and burnt offerings, but it was empty and superficial. Throughout Scripture, God tells us that He rejects shallow sanctity and hollow holiness. In Isaiah 1:11, God says He’d had enough of their sacrifices and took no pleasure in them. When the self-righteous, but hypocritical, religious leaders criticize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, His response is more of a rebuke than we might first think. He quotes this passage and applies it to them (Mat. 9:13). He does it again when they criticize Jesus’ disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath (Mat. 12:7). The Pharisees and scribes illustrated the very skin deep religion God condemns by the pen of Hosea. 

Full of transgression and treachery (7-11). Even as they attended worship and gave their offerings, they 1) transgressed like Adam (7), 2) dealt treacherously with God (7), and 3) murder and commit various spiritual crimes (8-9). God’s summary analysis of their lives in stark and startling: “In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself” (10). Whatever temporary efforts they made to make things right with God, their fleshly desires and wayward hearts returned to straying. While Judah was not yet as far down the road as Israel, she was heading the same direction as her sister (11). She would experience the same result, though not to the same degree as Israel.

Can you see the outraged, angry God, holding on and holding out His hand in persistent love and care? Despite what all she had done and what, with perfect foresight, He knew she would do, the brokenhearted God still hopes and longs for His wayward wife to come to her senses. But, with a perfect innocence and holiness exclusive to Him, He would reach a point where He would bear with her adultery no longer. But, you can see how He disdained the very thought. 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (IV)

The Lord’s Case With Israel (4:1-19)

Neal Pollard

Hosea 4 begins the prophet’s disclosure of what his personal assignment was truly about. Writing from an empathy he otherwise would not have had, the inspired seer lays out the Lord’s case against His bride, Israel. It is possible to teach on subjects that one has no personal experience with and be effective, leaning on the power of God’s Word (Heb. 4:12). Yet, some of the most passionate, persuasive lessons come from intimate knowledge. For an omniscient God, there is perfect knowledge about every subject, but He is speaking from experience through the pen of Hosea. As such, He states His case (1).

The overview of the charges (1b-2). There is a twofold indictment against Israel. She is guilty of negligence, for her failure to be what she should be and do what she should do. He says, “There is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land” (1). They lacked faithfulness, which James Swanson defines as “a state or condition of being dependable and loyal to a person or standard” (Dict. Of Biblical Languages, np). They were devoid of kindness (lovingkindness, loyalty; “The core idea of this term relates to loyalty within a relationship,” Nettelhorst, in Lexham Theo. Wdbk, np). They were without knowledge (“information of a person, with a strong implication of relationship to that person,” Swanson, np). All three of these sins of omission center around the neglect of the relationship, a failure to invest in it to the point that they were cold, distant, disinterested, and, not surprisingly, unfaithful to the relationship. 

On the other side of this, they were aggressors as much as they were passive in this relationship. Verse two says, “There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.” Their unfaithfulness went beyond a failure to love. They were hateful and guilty of immorality on a grand scale. Their aggression was seen in acts of sexual immorality, but also violent mistreatment of others. God was an appalled, aggrieved groom. 

The outcome of the crimes committed (3-14). Hosea focuses on the many consequences that followed Israel’s guilt in both her sins of omission and commission. The land and the people mourned (3). Sin promises joy and satisfaction, but it delivers guilt, misery, and emptiness (Psa. 38:4-8; Prov. 13:15). The people stumbled (5). They walked around in perpetual darkness and the prophets were no help. This sin cut across prophet, priest, and people. The people were destroyed for lack of knowledge (6). They were guilty of violating half of the Ten Commandments, the third, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth (M. Weiss. “The Decalogue in Prophetic Literature.” The Ten Commandments in History and Tradition. Ed. B.-Z. Segal and G. Levi. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1985. 67–81). These relate mostly to sins against one another, but also include sin against God (including the mention of idols later in the chapter). The Period of the Judges proves that the failure to know God leads to limitless lawlessness (Jud. 2:11-23; 17:6-21:25). They prospered, but it led to sin and shame (7). Perhaps they thought money would buy happiness, but Scripture shows that the opposite is more the rule (1 Tim. 6:9-10). They negatively influenced each other, subjecting themselves to shame (8-9). Hosea points out that they negatively influenced one another through their sinful living–“it will be, like people, like priest” (9; cf. 1 Cor. 15:33). If only they had remembered Solomon’s inspired wisdom: “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. 14:34). They were greedy, but unfulfilled (10). They fed the desires of their flesh, to their undoing (11).  Consider the divine truth Paul would some day share: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7-8). They were ruined by idolatry (12-14). Entire families were consumed with religious sins that led to moral disintegration. It was pitiful, yet powerful. Israel was running headlong after sin, and it was spiritually killing them every step of the way!

The order for the chosen ones (15-19). Hosea diverts his attention from Israel to Judah, the southern kingdom and the tribe from which the Messiah would eventually come. While addressing Israel and warning her against evil influence, Hosea also charges Judah to learn from Israel’s folly and avoid it! He tells Judah to stay away from Israel’s centers of idolatry, Gilgal (9:15; 12:11), Beth-aven (Bethel? 5:8; 10:5; cf. Amos 4:4; 5:5), and Ephraim. The latter was the largest tribe of the northern kingdom, and it often is used to represent the entire nation. At least four reasons are given to stay away from Ephraim (17-19):

  • Ephraim was a stubborn heifer–They could not be fed and pastured in such a state (16). 
  • Ephraim was joined to idols– God simply says, “Let him alone” (17)
  • Ephraim was morally degenerate–“Their liquor gone, They play the harlot continually; Their rulers dearly love shame” (18)
  • Ephraim was doomed–“The wind wraps them in its wings, And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices” (19)(cf. James Smith, The Major Prophets, OT Survey Series, 232).

While this was not a legal case as much as it was like a divorce proceeding, it was an open and shut case. Israel was not only as guilty as sin, they were guilty of sin in every imaginable plain and to an unbelievable degree! What a reminder of the well-worn adage that “sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.” Israel seems to be oblivious to danger. Would Judah learn from the sins of her sister?

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (II)

What’s In A Name (2:1-23)?

Neal Pollard

There is an unmistakable cycle in the first few chapters of Hosea. Symbolized by the marriage between the prophet and the harlot, Gomer, their resulting children, her unfaithfulness, her suffering the consequences thereof, and his taking her back, God illustrates His rocky marriage with the nation of Israel. He had lavished them with His grace, blessings, and love, and they had responded by turning to Baal. He gave them material blessings, which they turned around and used for idolatrous purposes (8).

The cycle can be described as sin, punishment, and redemption. First, the nation sinned–which God calls “harlotry” and “adultery” (2). Then, God promises punishment both through what He will do (3) and what He will not do for her (4). This is followed by a more detailed description of the sins of the nation (5), looking elsewhere for blessings and satisfaction. Then, there is the vow of punishment (6-7). In the midst of all this, God laments that Israel used Him and took what He gave her and cheated on Him (8). For this, He declares His intention to repay her unfaithfulness (9-13). Writhing in the pain of rejection, God determines to withdraw His blessings (9), expose her adultery (10), and turn her partying into poverty and pain (11-13). There is a constant unfaithfulness by the wife and hurt, angry response by the husband. He had not neglected or mistreated her, giving her reason to look elsewhere for comfort, protection, and attention. She was simply untrue in heart. Surely God would just give up on her and let her go!

But remember there is redemption in the cycle, too (14-23). Even after all the spiritual adultery, God continues courting and wooing Israel (14). He declares His love so strongly that He believes, even after all the evidence to the contrary, that His bride will finally come to recognize what she has in Him. She will call Him “husband” (Ishi) and not “master” (Baali)(16). She’ll no longer speak the name of her former lovers (17). He will renew and rededicate His love for her, giving her righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, and compassion like an engagement ring (19). She will give Him faithfulness and intimacy (20), and He will respond to that by unrestrained generosity and affection (21-23).

Throughout the chapter, names are highlighted for significance in this whole cycle. He wants to call her “my people” and “compassion” (2), the opposite of His declaration that they are not His people and He would have no compassion because of her unfaithfulness to Him. There is the change of name by which He hoped for her to call Him (16). The crescendo of this hopeful section (14-23) is, “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

It is altogether appropriate to put ourselves in the place of Gomer and see this story through God’s eyes and His relationship with us. It should be a deterrent for us, understanding how our sin and rebellion hits our perfect, loving God. While He will punish us if we refuse to change, He longs for our love, faithfulness, and closeness. He is there waiting to lavish all that He has promised upon us, yet He rightfully expects our heart and affection. He could do nothing more to prove His endless longing for us (Rom. 5:6-10). 

Hosea: Unfaithfulness (I)

An Excruciating Assignment (1:1-11)

Neal Pollard

Perhaps no book in the Bible begins more startlingly than Hosea. Truly, this headliner of the section known as the Minor Prophets is difficult both in its message and its method. Linguists who approach this book rank it with Job as the most difficult to translate due to writing style and the number of unique and rare words making up Hosea. Yet, it is a fascinating book that draws heavily on people, places, and events from the Pentateuch (Gen.-Deut.). Those books are cited as evidence against the sins of the people in Hosea’s day. The prophet takes a jolting turn from the historical situation, his marriage to a prostitute and fathering three children with her, to the spiritual application for Israel. Yet, as Duane Garrett says, “It is as startling in its presentation of sin as it is surprising in its stubborn certainty of grace. It is as blunt as it is enigmatic. It is a book to be experienced, and the experience is with God” (NAC, 21). 

Dating the book is fairly straightforward from the very first verse, during the days of four kings in the southern kingdom and one king, Jeroboam II, in the northern kingdom. There is a strong clue in this that what Hosea wrote to warn Israel (northern kingdom) about happened. Unfaithful Israel faced a dire future if she did not repent. Since Hezekiah, the last king of Judah mentioned, saw the fall of Samaria (Isa. 36-39), we can date the book of Hosea to cover the last half of the 8th Century B.C. (760-710 B.C.). We do not know why Hosea is unconcerned with the reigns of the six kings of Israel who succeeded Jeroboam II, but the mention of the southern kings imply that he ignores them. 

Hosea’s task is extremely difficult. God tells the prophet, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord” (2). This heartsick-making imperative symbolizes the covenant situation with Israel from God’s perspective.  God was a faithful husband, loving and caring for the nation. Israel jilted God to pursue heathen nations, heathen gods, and horrific, sinful practices. As the result of her whoring, she gave birth to no hope and no identity! This is symbolized by the naming of the three children born to Hosea, the prophet, and Gomer, the harlot. 

The first child, a son, is named Jezreel. The name means “God sows.” It was not a common name for a person, but he seems to be named for the town and valley of Jezreel north of Samaria in the region of Galilee. The significance of that area is implied with Hosea’s talk of the “bloodshed” of Jezreel. It was the home of Naboth, who Jezebel had brutally murdered so Ahab could gain his vineyard (1 Ki. 21:1ff). Consequently, it was the place where Jezebel would die violently with bloodshed (1 Ki. 21:23). King Joram was violently killed by Jehu there (2 Ki. 9:15ff). Jehu killed all the remnant of Ahab’s house there (2 Ki. 10:12). On and on the bloody history of Jezreel was written. God used Jehu to judge Ahab’s house for sin, but now Jehu’s house would be judged for their own idolatry and wickedness (4-5). With the end of that dynasty, Israel would limp and totter until ultimately God crushes them with the Assyrians. 

The name of the second child, Lo-ruhamah, meant “no compassion” and “no forgiveness” (6). This symbolism was very straightforward. There would be no compassion or forgiveness for stubborn and impenitent Israel (6), but there would be for Judah (7a). Yet, the deliverance for Judah would be by God’s power rather than man’s strength (7b). 

Thirdly, Gomer conceives and bears a third child, a son, whom Hosea is to name Lo-ammi. The name means “not my people.” God explains that, more fully, the name represents the idea that Israel is not His people and He is not their God (9). What a startling turnaround for a people who claimed Abraham as their father and basked in centuries of favored status as his descendants. Hosea alludes to this promise with an equally surprising follow-up statement in verses 10-11. As severe and costly as their coming punishment would be, God’s relentless love would cause Him to revive and survive led by one leader (11). Opinions differ, but it seems to me that the most logical fulfillment of this promise is Christ. It does not seem to refer to a return from physical captivity. It would also fit with the idea of the Messiah being a root and a tender plant, as Hosea ends the chapter referring again to Jezreel (God sows). God would plant the solution that would fulfill His undying love for His people, giving them hope and restoration.

It truly is a startling, amazing book, a love story of a husband who would not give up on a perpetually unfaithful wife. It is a love we must relentlessly embrace, not recklessly reject! 

A Marriage Made In Heaven?

Neal Pollard

What do you know about the book of Hosea? At the head of the Minor Prophets, Hosea is often known as the book about the prophet and the prostitute. But it is much more than that. It is a book about a marriage commanded by God between His messenger and a “wife of whoredom” that reflected a marriage made by God with His chosen nation. The prophet’s name means “deliverance” but it was written to warn about the northern kingdom about impending judgment and destruction. Certainly, the prophet reveals the spurned Husband offering Himself as the only means of salvation which the people foolishly were rejecting for a relationship with cruel, unrighteous idolaters who desired only to use and abuse them. It was written during an extremely prosperous time for the Northern Kingdom, when Jeroboam II reigned. 2 Kings 14:25 says he “restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.” He was mighty and recovered cities for Israel that had been taken from Judah (2 Ki. 14:28). But, while they prospered militarily and economically, they were spiritually destitute. 

But it is not simply about terrifying judgment on a rebellious nation. It is a love story, though it was a tragic story of unrequited (i.e., unreturned) love. Like Hosea’s wife would leave him for her lovers, Israel left God for idols. Like Hosea went and redeemed his wife despite her faithfulness, God longed for Israel to return to Him. Despite her rejection, He would say to her, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (11:8). While judgment is implied even in that (Admah and Zeboiim were destroyed alongside better-known Sodom and Gomorrah), it is not what God wanted. 

It is also good to look for the “New Testament” sprinkled throughout this book. Not only does the theme reflect a desire God has for people today through Christ, but there are quite a few passages in the New Testament which quote from this relatively brief Old Testament book. Here is my list:

  • Hosea 1:10 is quoted in 1 Peter 2:10.
  • Hosea 2:23 is quoted in Romans 9:25.
  • Hosea 6:6 is quoted in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7.
  • Hosea 10:8 is quoted in Luke 23:30 and Revelation 6:16. 
  • Hosea 11:1 is quoted in Matthew 2:15.
  • Hosea 13:14 is quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:55.

So, we see everything from Christ’s infancy as a human to His victorious resurrection foretold in this great, Old Testament book. An overriding principle to see as we walk through the book is that though God will punish those who absolutely refuse to return to Him, He loves us with a perfect love and desires nothing more than a relationship with us. We need to be wise and touched by that truth and be faithful to Him! 

(Photo credit: Kathy Pollard, March 2018–the valley of Jezreel taken from Mt. Carmel)

Favor To A Faithless People (2 Kings 14:22-29)

Monday’s Column: Neal At The Cross

The writer of 2 Kings is constantly diverting his attention from Israel to Judah and vice versa. So, he introduces us to Azariah, also known as Uzziah, anointed king over Judah at age 16. We will read much more about him in 2 Kings 15, but he seems to be referenced here only to give us the chronology for when Jeroboam II is anointed king of Israel. It is in the 16th year of Uzziah’s reign that Jeroboam comes to the throne. This will be the next-to-last generation in the dynasty of Jehu, but his son, Zechariah (29), will be murdered after six months. When he ascends to the throne, Israel only has about 70 years left before they are destroyed by the vicious Assyrians. God has been patient with Israel for almost 150 years, as king after king behaves just as Jeroboam will behave: “He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin” (24). 

He will reign 41 years over Israel, an evil king over a wicked and disobedient people. But, these are God’s people, Abraham’s descendants and once part of the United Kingdom. If we do the impossible and try to put ourselves in God’s place, can we imagine giving to and doing for a people who are continually unappreciative, rebellious, and unfaithful? How long could we go before we ran out of patience? How many times could we be betrayed and hated by the recipients of our generosity before we gave up on them? Or, having God’s power, how long before we destroyed them all? God will go over 200 years, restraining Himself as His people served other gods and gratified their flesh. 

Isn’t it amazing how much grace and kindness God shows to this faithless people? The Jonah who God graciously sends to the Assyrians to preach repentance (Jonah 1:1) is also sent to Israel (25). Despite Jonah’s flaws, his ministry seemed to be to extend God’s grace to an unrighteous people. Then, read what the author says about God and Israel next. “For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, which was very bitter; for there was neither bond nor free, nor was there any helper for Israel. The Lord did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (26-27). You want insight into the heart of God, as He deals with our sins? He cares when His people suffer. He views us with compassion, sympathy, and concern. He doesn’t want to reject us or let us go. God sent His prophet Hosea to this very people and speaks His mind on this subject: “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled. I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath” (Hosea 11:8-9). 

No one will be able to legitimately say at the Judgment, “God, you were harsh, hasty, and hateful!” No, even in the face of faithlessness, God shows His matchless grace! His patience can be exhausted and His justice will not allow impenitence to go unpunished (read Exodus 34:7). But let no one accuse God of reckless wrath! He is the God of unending love. May this lead us to repentance (Rom. 2:4) and faithfulness (Rev. 2:10)! 

Neal Pollard

Hosea and the Harlot

Thursday’s Column: Carlnormous Comments

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Carl Pollard

The book of Hosea is like no other book in the Bible. It even stands out from the other books of prophecy in the Old Testament. Hosea was commanded to prophecy to the nation of Israel just like other men during this time period, but unlike other prophets Hosea’s message was directly tied to his personal life. He spoke to Israel and was motivated by the personal experiences that were happening to him in his life. 

Hosea was commanded by God to marry the harlot Gomer (1:2). Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea served as an example of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. As the account unfolds, Hosea and Gomer have three children whose names are used to send Israel a very specific message. While this book may seem harsh and almost cruel, let’s notice the main idea of Hosea. 

Hosea reveals to us the depth of God’s unending love for His children, a love that is never failing but also a love that tolerates no rivals. The people that God has chosen as His own must recognize that His love must come first above anyone and everything else. This fact is seen in Hosea’s marriage to Gomer. In chapter 1:2-11, we are introduced to Hosea’s family. He has a wife and three kids, but Gomer doesn’t stick around long. She leaves Hosea and goes back to her life of harlotry. There’s a symbolic message that Hosea uses in his prophecy. He compares Israel’s actions to what his wife did to him. They left their union with God to live a life of sin. 

While most of us would find it hard to love someone if they did these things to us, God still continued to love Israel. Hosea 3:1 says, “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…” God’s love is truly unending towards His children. The book of Hosea clearly illustrates this point. 

By reading this book we can know that God’s forgiveness is available to everyone at any point. Not only do we get a glimpse of God’s attitude towards those who have left Him, we also see a personal example of how much God is willing to do in order to restore His relationship with us. 

Hosea truly is a unique book. The prophet married a woman that he knew would eventually betray his trust. He knew the pain and heartache that would come from her unfaithfulness to him, but it was all done so that we could better understand God’s love and dedication towards imperfect and sinful man. 

Mercy

Wednesday’s Column: Third’s Words

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Gary Pollard

On at least two different occasions, Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9.13; Matthew 12.7). It’s quoted from Hosea 6.6, but in multiple other passages God tells us that He prefers obedience over going through the motions of worship (Isaiah 1.11ff; Amos 5.21; Micah 6; Mark 7). 


This is NOT saying that worship is less important than obedience, since obedience causes us to worship. It does show God’s attitude toward those who claim to follow Him, but whose actions say otherwise. 
Listen to the force behind His words in Amos 5.21, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” Israel had adopted some religious and social misconduct. 


Do our actions cause God to wince at our worship? Israel was God’s chosen nation, but when they neglected to show mercy, justice, compassion, or faithfulness, God rejected their worship and sent them into captivity. 
So what kind of worship does God love? Obedience, mercy, pursuing good, showing compassion to those less powerful, integrity, justice, and being morally pure (Amos 5.11ff). 

GOD BENT DOWN, BUT THE PEOPLE BENT AWAY 

Monday’s Column: Neal At The Cross

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Neal Pollard

The story of Hosea is a microcosm of the human experience. In chapter eleven, God appeals to the people to understand how much He loved His people. God loved Israel, but the people loved the Baals (1-2). God healed them, but they did not know that He did (3). He held them with cords of love (4), but they preferred the bonds of Assyria with their swords and their fires (4-7). One way God depicts this is by saying, essentially, I bent down to feed them, but His people were bent on turning from Him (4,7). 

Have you ever reached down to feed your child only to have that child bend away in disgust and disapproval? Especially is this true when the food is good for them but does not taste good to them. Hopefully, in the process of training and development, they get over this tendency. Yet, God paints the picture of His children doing the same thing as they reject their Almighty Creator for a world that hates them.

When Hosea says God “bent” down, he uses a word found over 200 times in the Old Testament. Often, when referring to God’s outstretched hand, the writers are referring to it being extended in judgment against man (especially in Isaiah where we see the repeated phrase, “His hand is still stretched out,” several times in chapters 9 and 10). But that mighty hand is gently reaching down to care for, love, and hold His wayward people. But what do they do when He bends down? With rigid posture, they stubbornly turn away. They call Him “God Most High” but they do not honor Him with submission and obedience.

But then I consider my circumstance. Through Christ, God made the ultimate gesture of reaching down. Jesus allowed Himself to be lifted up on the cross, but this was God extending Himself and His love to me (Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20). In my daily life, what do I do with His outstretched hand. Am I ever determined to turn away from Him by my rebellion and self-will? I need to see how utterly foolish and self-defeating that is, and I need to see it for what it is. I am rejecting the love, the help, and the grace of the Omnipotent One who longs to be in a relationship with me. What do I hope to get anywhere else that can even compare to that? Thank God that His Word draws me back and reminds me of what He’s done for me and what He wants to do for me! May I be wise and humble enough to reach up when He reaches down!