Hosea's Marriage (Hosea 1:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2015 9:04 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Hosea’s Marriage

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Hosea 1:2

            Message of the verses:  “2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD."”

            I have already mentioned that there are problems in the eyes of some about whether or not Hosea actually did take Gomer as his wife or are the first three chapters seen as an allegory, which is what some believe.  John MacArthur writes the following in his Study Bible from the introduction part of Hosea under the category of “Interpretive Challenges.”  “That the faithless wife, Gomer, is symbolic of faithless Israel is without doubt; but questions remain.  First, some suggest that the martial scenes in chapters 1-3 should be taken only as allegory.  However, there is nothing in the narrative, presented in simple prose, which would even question literal occurrence.  Much of its impact would be lost if not literal. When non-literal elements within the book are introduced, they are prefaced with ‘saw’ (5:13; 9:10, 13), the normal Hebraic means of introducing non-literal scenes.  Furthermore, there is no account of a prophet ever making himself the subject of an allegory or parable.

            “Second, what are the moral implications of God’s command for Hosea to marry a prostitute?  It appears best to see Gomer as chaste at the time of marriage to Hosea, only later having become an immoral woman.  The words ‘take yourself a wife of harlotry’ are to be understood proleptically, i. e., looking to the future.  An immoral woman could not serve as a picture of Israel coming out of Egypt (2:15; 9:10), who then later wandered away from God (11:1).  Chapter 3 describes Hosea taking back his wife, who had been rejected because of adultery, a rejection that was unjustifiable if Hosea had married a prostitute with full knowledge of her character.

            “A third question aeries concerning the relationship between chap. 1 and chap.3 and whether the woman of chap. 3 is Gomer or another woman.  There are a number of factors which suggest that the woman of chap.3 is Gomer.  In 1:2, God commanded to ‘Go, take,’ in 3:1, however, His command is to ‘Go again, love,’ suggesting that Hosea’s love was to be renewed to the same woman.  Furthermore, within the analogy chap. of chap. 1, Gomer represents Israel.  As God renews His love toward faithless Israel, so Hosea is to renew his love toward faithless Gomer.  For Hos. 3 to denote a different woman would confuse the analogy.”

            In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary he writes some very similar things about the views, but like John MacArthur he believes that this is not an allegory, but literal. 

            We again need to mention that prostitution is a symbolic of idolatry and unfaithfulness to God as seen in Jeremiah chapters 2-3 and also Ezekiel 16 and chapter 23.  Now the following is a bit of a disagreement from John MacArthur’s writings as Warren Wiersbe writes “Since the Jews were idolatrous from the beginning (Josh. 24:2-3, 14), it seems likely that Gomer would have to be a prostitute when she married Hosea; for this would best symbolize Israel’s relationship to the Lord.  God called Israel in the idolatry; He ‘married’ them at Mt. Sinai when they accepted His covenant (Ex. 19-21); and then He grieved over them when they forsook Him for the false gods of the land of Canaan.  Like Gomer, Israel began as idolater, ‘married’ Jehovah, and eventually returned to idolatry.”  Now the NLT reads as follows “When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.’’”

            Dr. Wiersbe goes on to write “But could God ask His faithful servant to marry a defiled woman?  Why not?  We might as well ask, ‘Could God permit Ezekiel’s wife to die?’  Though marrying a prostitute might not be the safest step to take, such marriages were forbidden only to priests (Lev. 21:7).  Salmon married Rahab the harlot who became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestress of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:4-5).”

            For what it means I do believe that Gomer was a harlot when Hosea married her, for no other reason than so was Israel doing these kind of things when God married them at Mt. Sinai. I see a great deal of love in the heart of Hosea which in the case of this book represents the love that God has for all sinners which is why He sent His Son to die in our place.

5/30/2015 9:39 PM