Chapter 15 God Speaks to Hosea
Imagine God speaking to you and you unmistakably know it is His voice and this is what you hear:
“2 The Lord began to speak through me. He said to me, "Go. Get married to a woman who will commit adultery. Take as your own the children who will be born as a result of her adultery. Marry her because the people of the land are guilty of the worst kind of adultery. They have not been faithful to me." 3So I married Gomer. She was the daughter of Diblaim. Gomer became pregnant. And she had a son by me.” Hosea 1:2-3
Empathy can be defined as feeling what someone else is experiencing. The other day I was sitting with someone who was in the midst of a time of significant depression. Having been there several times myself I had personal, though not identical, insight into how the person might be feeling. I sensed that feeling of hopelessness, despair and lack of motivation and my mind was able to recall both how I had felt in the past and how it had been resolved. What is the value of empathy? It surely means that we are sympathetic to the feelings of another person – it very often makes us more human and more complete and there is a sense that going through times of personal trial or difficulties or loss does make us more complete as people rather than diminishing us.
God is my Father – my parent. As I go through the full round of human emotions as a parent I begin to glimpse very imperfectly the Father-heart of God:
- I realise the powerful emotion of sacrifice where a parent, when watching their suffering child, will do everything in their power to save them – even to the extent of sacrificing their own life.
- I realise the depth of love that a parent experiences and how a child can in one moment give you the greatest joy and the next, break your heart.
- I recognise the love of a parent that can never let go no matter how much it is wounded or hurt or rejected.
- I recognise that sense in which you want the highest and the best for your children and when I pray it is always with the desire that my children will come to know in Jesus; the very best that can be found in time or eternity.
- I understand forgiveness, mercy, grace in ways I would never have known. How can I not want to forgive someone who is so profoundly a part of me [my image]? When there is separation [not always physical] I understand the heart of the father who is looking for the lost child to return.
- As a parent who has adopted two of our five children I understand that everything in my feelings that are true of my birth children is also true of our adopted girls. I love Eilidh and Siona every bit as much as I do Alistair, Ross and Katie. That protective, forgiving, powerful and undying love is there for all my children. There are times when it hurts me deeply to love them and other times when my heart bursts with thanksgiving and pride. I empathise with my heavenly Father and his feeling for me and all his children even though my love in comparison to His is so imperfect.
Hosea lives around the mid 700’s BC in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hosea's family life reflected the "adulterous" relationship which Israel had built with polytheistic gods and rejecting God their Father. The relationship between Hosea and Gomer parallels the relationship between God and Israel. Even though Gomer runs away from Hosea and sleeps with another man, he loves her anyway and forgives her and brings her home. Likewise, even though the people of Israel worshipped other gods, God continued to love them and did not abandon His covenant with them. God is therefore asking Hosea to sacrifice a normal home life in order for him to understand His own heart – his life is a living parable of the relationship between God and Israel.
Through Hosea’s preaching God recounts the story of his relationship with his people. In the first part of chapter 2 God speaks of His pain as he watches his people behaving in a continuously unfaithful manner and even goes beyond describing the relationship as adulterous when he says to his people “stop playing the prostitute.” God pours out his anguish [read 2:1-13] and we glimpse the profound emotional heart of God. Yet, in the rest of chapter 2 [verses 14-23] God speaks of his deep love for His people and his desire to have Israel back, restore her and love her again.
Imagine for a few moments that you have met and fallen in love with a young woman [if you are a woman, imagine it to be a young man!]. Together you start to share your dreams for the future. You plan where you will live and the house you will build together. You look forward to sharing the future and nurturing a family, developing friendships, growing old together and sharing the experiences of life with one another. You have not just fallen in love but you are growing in love! A deep personal and emotional bond develops and eventually you marry. You share your thoughts and feelings and grow to feel safe and secure with one another. You plan your home and laugh at the differences you have in tastes – how you love the colour green and would have it everywhere and how she hates it as a colour. You have your first serious fall out and yet you work through your differences and are reconciled and that reconciliation deepens your bond. You work together to help other people and enjoy sharing your surplus with those who are less fortunate than yourselves. Along comes your first child – a girl – and you are thrilled. You agree on her name and the bond between you changes and deepens and matures. And then a son comes along and you feel a sense of completeness. Your love has grown, matured and deepened. You do not always agree on everything and your interests and tastes are sometimes very different. There are times when you argue and have sharp words but you learn to forgive.
But life is not rosy in a sinful and fallen world. You begin to take each other for granted and spend less time with each other. Your attention is diverted from your relationship into other things – making money, the acquisition of possessions, your desire for social advancement and even your hopes, dreams and aspirations for your family. The shine goes off the relationship and to begin with you do not see what is happening but eventually learn to live with a less than happy relationship. Then your attention begins to stray and you start to look at other women or men. You begin to fantasise and justify your actions by telling yourself that these are just harmless thoughts. But the thoughts persist and you begin to justify spending time with another woman who is not happy in her marriage – you both have something in common. Your mind justifies your actions and your feelings catch up with your mind and soon you are in a relationship. At first it is exciting, but then you begin to feel guilty and then angry at your wife/husband because if she/he had been different then this would never have happened. You think you can have the best of both worlds but know you will have to choose and the relationship is broken.
We are so used to that kind of story today that it has become normal yet we know that unfaithfulness destroys relationships, trust, children’s lives [no matter how old they are] and inevitably leads to conflict and the deepest pain. The relationship ends!
The story of Hosea is indicative of that whole sad story. The children of God lose their love for God and no longer want an exclusive relationship with him. They want and open marriage. They want to hedge their bets and try out the other gods – after all some of what they have to offer is quite exciting – freedom of sexual behaviour and preference often at the top of the list. To begin with it is tantalising [as the 1960’s was for my generation] but the excitement soon wears off and other substitutes are sought to keep the sense of excitement going. Unfaithfulness becomes a way of life – something that sadly is encouraged even through the way that sex education is taught to our children today in schools – multiple partnerships and same-sex partnerships are encouraged as normal whereas exclusive, faithful and monogamous relationships are seen by some as almost ridiculous and old fashioned.
However the story of Hosea can be summed up by these verses:
“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there.” 2:14
“Go and get your wife again. Bring her back to you and love her, even though she loves adultery. For the Lord still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods.” 3:1
The Lord in the chapters that follow catalogues how the desire for other gods has affected the moral behaviour of his people –
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. You curse and lie and kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere...” 4:1,2
Chapter 11 then speaks of the heart of God for his people and of a love that refuses to give up or die:
1 The Lord continues,
"When Israel was a young nation, I loved them.
I chose to bring my son out of Egypt.
2 But the more I called out to Israel,
the further they went away from me.
They brought sacrifices to the statues of the gods
that were named after Baal.
And they burned incense to them.
3 I taught Israel to walk.
I took them up in my arms.
But they did not realize
I was the one who took care of them.
4 I led them with kindness and love.
I did not lead them with ropes.
I lifted the heavy loads from their shoulders.
I bent down and fed them.
5 "But they refuse to turn away from their sins.
So they will return to Egypt.
And Assyria will rule over them.
6 Swords will flash in their cities.
The heavy metal bars on their gates will be destroyed.
Their plans will come to an end.
7 My people have made up their minds
to turn away from me.
Even if they call out to me,
I will certainly not honour them.
I am the Most High God."
8 The Lord continues,
"People of Ephraim, how can I give you up?
Israel, how can I hand you over to your enemies?
Can I destroy you as I did the town of Admah?
Can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart is stirred inside me.
It is filled with pity for you.
9 My anger will not burn against you anymore.
I will not completely destroy you.
After all, I am God.
I am not a mere man.
I am the Holy One among you.
My burning anger will not come against you.
10 I will roar like a lion against my enemies.
You will follow me.
When I roar, my children will come home trembling with fear.
You will return from the west.
11 You will come trembling like birds from Egypt.
You will return like doves from Assyria.
I will settle you again in your homes,"
announces the Lord.
Verse 8 is the defining verse for me. Our love for God may grow cold but His passionate love for us can never change. It is a love that longs for reconciliation and restoration. It is a love that will forgive and wants to see repentance. It is the love that cries forgiveness from the Cross!
What is it that God says to us through Hosea? He speaks to us of a commitment that is absolute and concerned always and only for our good – even when we are shallow, unresponsive and fickle!
I believe that God speaks to us at a profound level through this prophecy, and through us, to other people. He first of all speaks a profound evangelical message. All around us there are people who are choosing alternatives to the worship of the living God; often unaware of the consequences of their choices people are being let like sheep down the path of a destructive lifestyle – a completely hopeless and godless existence. As a church, in the West, we can be quite intimidated by the secular indifference to matters of faith and the manner in which our societies have relegated faith to the peripheries of their existence. Yet people are, without necessarily being intelligently conscious of what they are doing, living sad, escapist lives:
More and more people spend a huge amount of time in front of TV sets being entertained, yet at the same time having their world-view and ethical values formed by the opinions of the media they are choosing to escape into – more often than not, moral values that are unconcerned with the glory of God.
The internet, which is such a valuable tool, is a dangerous entity – people use social networking sites for “sound-bite” relationships that have no depth and need no commitment [there is a good side to these sites because they keep people connected, but they have their limits]. The internet allows lunacy to flourish and perversity of all kinds to be promoted [many of the most used and lucrative sites are very disturbingly uncensored and pornographic in content].
There is an obsession with money. Socialism has virtually collapsed throughout the world and been swallowed up by materialism and capitalism. What we own and what earn has taken the place of who we essentially are and we worry about our financial status to the extent that it determines our happiness or otherwise.
We have become preoccupied with our bodies and how we appear. I am not advocating that we disregard how we appear and are indifferent to the well-being of our bodies – after all, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and as such we are to look after and respect our bodies. However the obsession with appearance to the extent that even ordinary members of the public are now airbrushing photographs is lamentable. The other day I put on my cycling helmet, got on my bike and went about my business visiting people. One of my sons asked me if I realised what looked like with my helmet? He would not countenance going anywhere on a bike because of how it would appear to his friends! Paul tells us that there are three things that are of supreme importance – faith, hope and love – these will live long after the body has decayed.
We have become preoccupied with career rather than calling. Whatever we do in life is a calling from God and we ought to serve him with integrity, joy and Christian values governing our behaviour and decisions.
God wants us in his name to take our message of hope and offer it to everyone – especially those people who would be considered as unlikely candidates for the Kingdom – no matter how far people might stray, the Lord wants them to come back home to himself!
Hosea is a warning to the Church – how easy it is for us to become lukewarm in our faith and give our love and devotion to the wrong things. When we realise how far we have fallen we go to Hosea and come face to face with our God who yearns to see his children return to him – we come to a welcoming and not a reluctant or angry God!
God speaks with passionate love through Hosea but it is not sentimental love. He abhors the things, issues, people that take us away from him – he will not have second place in his relationship with us. His love is strong enough to condemn what we are doing and yet He still love us. His love is powerful enough to change us for even though in grace, he loves us, he still desires and longs to see us come back to himself and change us more and more into the image in which we were created – that image that we see so perfectly in Jesus Christ.