Hosea 1:2-5

Hosea's Wife And Children Are To Be A Sign Of The Unfaithfulness Of Israel (Hosea 1:2 to Hosea 2:5 a).

There is no reason in chapter 1 for seeing Gomer's ‘whoredom' as being anything other than spiritual whoredom, (even though some do choose to see it differently). But whatever view might be taken about that, there can be no doubt that the main thought behind the presentation is certainly that Gomer and her children are to be seen as a part of the land which commits great whoredom (Hosea 1:2), that is, has deserted YHWH and His covenant and is both following false religion and rejecting the requirements of His Law. And that was what Israel as a whole were seen as doing. Thus the whole land was ‘a land of whoredom' (seeking other lords than YHWH). Consequently any wife whom Hosea selected could have been described as a ‘wife of whoredom', however pure she was. With regard to this it should be noted that it was not the name of Gomer, Hosea's wife, that was to be a sign to Israel, but the names of his children. We are therefore probably doing Gomer an injustice to suggest that she was initially a prostitute, or even a fallen woman, (whatever may have happened to her later).

But the chapter is undoubtedly intended to bring out the horror of Israel's situation in God's eyes. Here was the land of God's inheritance, the land that God had given to His people, and it had become prostituted to Baalism. For although Jeroboam, following the example of Jehu, had eschewed the Phoenician Baal of the house of Ahab, he had continued the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, together with their Canaanite accompaniments, which included features of local Baalism carried out both in the sanctuaries of Bethel and Gilgal, and on the hills of Israel. And it was based on a false priesthood, and would appear very much to have included the utilisation of cult prostitutes (Hosea 4:13). The consequence was that there was an open breach of God's commandments (Hosea 4:2). God's ‘wife' (Israel) had become unfaithful to Him.

Of course, we today would not behave in such a way. Instead our gods are sports stars, film stars, musicians and singers, or even celebrity chefs. But they nevertheless similarly entice us or encourage us into breaches of God's commandments. And where that is so they must be put away, otherwise we too are guilty of spiritual adultery.

The consequence of all this is brought out in the naming of Hosea's children. The name ‘Jezreel' indicated that the sin of Jezreel would be expurgated by judgment on both the royal house and the land, the name ‘Lo-Ruhamah' indicated that Israel would become ‘not pitied' and the name ‘Lo-ammi' indicated that they would be ‘not My people', (although it will turn out that, in the mercy of God, that will not be the end, for there is to be a final restoration). That is why the children must wrestle with their ‘mother' (Israel) about her behaviour. It is because she is breeding sin.

Analysis of Hosea 1:2 to Hosea 2:5 a.

a When YHWH spoke at the first by Hosea, YHWH said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom (unfaithfulness) and children of whoredom (unfaithfulness), for the land does commit great whoredom (unfaithfulness), departing from YHWH (Hosea 1:2).

b So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived, and bore him a son (Hosea 1:3).

c And YHWH said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. And it will come about at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel” (Hosea 1:4).

d And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And YHWH said to him, “Call her name Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them, but I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by YHWH their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen” (Hosea 1:6).

e Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son. And YHWH said, “Call his name Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God” (Hosea 1:8).

f Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered (Hosea 1:10 a).

e And it will come about that, in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”, it will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

d And the children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head (Hosea 1:11 a).

c And they will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel” (Hosea 1:11 b).

b “Say you to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah, ‘Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband' (Hosea 2:1 a).

a “And let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. Yes, upon her children will I have no mercy, for they are children of whoredom; because their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has done shamefully” (Hosea 2:2 a).

Note that in ‘a' Hosea has to take a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom, because the land is a land of whoredom, and in the parallel the wife is to cease her whoredom, and if she does not her children will suffer for her whoredom. In ‘b' Gomer conceives and bears a son (who is to be a warning to Israel), and in the parallel that son has to advise his brothers and sisters to contend with their mother (Israel) because of what she has done. In ‘c' the son is called Jezreel as a sign of what is to happen to the house of Jehu (and of Jeroboam) and to Israel, and in the parallel the day of Jezreel is to be the sign of restoration for Israel of the true dynasty. In ‘d' Judah is to experience deliverance, and in the parallel it will lead to Israel and Judah being united under one head. In ‘e' Israel are to be called ‘not My people', and in the parallel in the place where it was said to them ‘you are not My people' they will be called the children of the living God. In ‘f' we have the renewal of the promise made to Jacob/Israel, that the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea (Genesis 32:12).