“… show your love … again …”
The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.”
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.
(Hosea 3:1-5; NIV. Please read Hosea 1-7.)
It has been said … that Hosea is a love story. But it is not an easy read – for it is not a sweet romantic ”love at first sight” – “happily ever after” love story. If it is a love story – it is also a tragedy … an epic drama of love, betrayal, and devotion. It reveals all of the joy – grief … hope – heartache … pleasure – pain … from soul level.
But it was (is) not a love story … it was (is) real life.
Hosea loved Gomer. God loved Israel.
Hosea was betrayed by Gomer. God was betrayed by Israel.
Hosea brought Gomer back home. God brought Israel back home.
ON SECOND THOUGHT: Reading about Hosea’s heartache … sobers me – humbles me – and even shames me. My sin caused this kind of pain. I hate that … apologize for that. But I find comfort in the ultimate moral of this “story”. Even when we have rejected His love – ignored His faithfulness … the Lord still loves us … and keeps His covenant with us.
June 30, 2008 at 1:51 pm
It paints a clearer picture for me when I look at the Israelites as the adulterous wife. When Hosea is commanded to go and show his love to his wife again … to actually pay to have her back with him … after what she had done to his heart … I get a pretty good idea of what it felt like for God, what it feels like for Him when He keeps loving me.
I too find comfort knowing that God still shows me His love after all my betrayal. I also learn a lesson about how I might need to show love to others. I can forget how much I hurt Him, I can forget that He feels the betrayal, that He does not like to be treated that way any more than I do. I pray that I quit forgetting and remember! I don’t want to repeat that behavior … I don’t want to betray Him again.
June 30, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I betrayed God…like an adulterous wife. And like Hosea went to purchase Gomer back…God paid with the blood of His only Son to purchase me from my sin. Why would He continue to want me? Why would He take me back? And at such a high price!! That thought hurts my heart. And at the same time boggles my mind! That sort of love is beyond what I can understand.
6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” I like this verse…and I’m sure that I do not understand the full meaning of it…
7:13….”I long to redeem them” Even though they were consumed with the sinfulness of their lives, God longed to pay the price to get them back! Again, that sort of love is beyond my understanding.