Hosea 2.2-13
Unfaithfulness – Fresh Start?
‘Hello’ magazine I believe is a very popular magazine with some women. It is bought primarily for the photographs and not its intellectual content I believe. Usually it is full of photo shoots of the rich and famous and their ‘loving’ relationships with their ‘latest’ love. Some of the tabloid press however are more likely to be full of the end of those relationships. Unfortunately it would appear that we live in a society where every sordid detail of a relationship is now paraded before the public. There appears to be no such thing anymore as privacy or modesty. Turn with me now to Hosea chapter 2 verses 2-13 – this passage reads almost like a tabloid report of the breakdown of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer. It is recorded for us in the form of poetry and it makes it a little difficult to read and understand – but behind the poetry important truths are being laid before the people of Israel. Remember, Hosea’s marriage is a symbol of the relationship between God and His people.
Verses 2-3 God pleads with His people.
Hosea gathers his children around him and in addressing them about their mother God is addressing His people about themselves. It is a desperate picture, one we are almost embarrassed to eavesdrop on. Look at verse 2 – these are difficult words for a father to speak to his children about their mother. You can hear the pain, the frustration and even the anger of Hosea in these words. But please note that he does not speak these words in order to make his children hate their mother but rather in desperation to make their mother come to her senses and to return to him. God speaks these words to His people in order that they too might come to their senses and return to the Covenant relationship with Him. Hosea desperately wants Gomer
back because he loves her despite all of her unfaithfulness and speaking to his children shows that he will go to great lengths to win her back. Demonstrating again for the people of Israel, and us, the lengths that God is willing to go to in order that we might come home to Him. However, I want you to note that the second part of verse 2 deals with reality if Gomer is to return to their marriage. It is not an unconditional return. Hosea’s love, just as God’s love, is unconditional for Gomer but she must leave her adulterous ways in order to return to their marriage bed.
Gomer had to remove the make up (the look of adultery) from her face. These cosmetics were a sign and a symbol to all that she was a prostitute and available to whomever could afford to buy her. Hosea points out that she must remove the make up as a sign that she is giving up that way of life. The second part of the verse also speaks about the removal of the jewellery which again was a sign of her unfaithfulness. In essence there had to be a change of her outward appearance as a sign that she had changed her ways. There was to be a difference in Gomer’s appearance when she came back and this was to signify her repentance of the past ways. Friends, I wonder how many of us fully take on board that coming back to God in Christ must lead to a change in appearance. It means leaving old ways, old habits, old clothes and putting on the new garments of Christ. It means removing the cosmetics of adultery and the jewellery of unfaithfulness. For some of you that will mean leaving certain relationships behind and breaking from patterns of behaviour and places. Just as Gomer could not keep the cosmetics and jewellery of prostitution neither can you keep the cosmetics and jewellery of your past sinful lives. Why? Because they will always be attractive to you and entice you back, as they did Gomer, the people of Israel.
In verse 3 Hosea speaks even harsher words to his wife through the children. A dire warning to Gomer of impending public shame. Gomer was willing to appear naked before her lovers but here Hosea warns her that he will expose her nakedness (her shame) before all if she does not repent of the way of life that she is presently living. Hosea says that she has cheapened herself by her way of life but if needs be he will cheapen her even further. He was willing to do this in order that he might win her back. The result of this action in the life of Gomer, and Israel, would be like living in a desert. Gomer, and Israel, would experience a deep thirst in her life. A thirst that would never be quenched by anything or anyone. Friends, how true is that for many people? Even in here this morning there will be people whose souls feel like a desert wasteland. Hosea warns Gomer, God warns Israel, that such will be her experience if she does not repent of her sin. Be warned the same will be true for us.
Verses 4-8 God’s appeal to Israel.
These verses paint the devastating picture of unfaithfulness and God’s addressing of it. The verses show the folly of the people of God and the distance they have gone from God. It shows how far the relationship has broken down and how obstinate the people had become in their spiritual adultery and idolatry. There are warnings here we all need to heed in our lives.
Verses 4-5 show how Israel had committed spiritual adultery and given birth to children out of wedlock, just as Gomer had done in her marriage. If you look at verse 5 you are told why they had chased after other gods, as Gomer had chased after other lovers. Many scholars reckon Gomer was a prostitute, and the text would support such a conclusion. What does a prostitute gain from her lifestyle? It certainly isn’t pleasure or intimacy or a loving/lasting relationship. It is for material gain that she sells herself. Gomer had chased after other lovers for the riches that, she thought, they would bring her. Israel had sought other gods because they believed from them they would gain wealth. Their spiritual adultery was based on selfishness – what is in it for me? Friends, nothing has changed today. You know Gomer had many lovers but her motivation was singular – material gain. She deluded herself that these many lovers could provide all the good things in life. The Canaanite gods were ‘fertility gods’ and Israel went after them because they believed that these false gods provided the harvest. Israel believed that the necessities of life came from Baal and the worship of this false god. Just as Gomer had gone chasing after other lovers so Israel has gone chasing after other gods. But the warning in the following verses is that this chasing would be fruitless.
Look at verses 6 and 6. Just as in verse 9 it begins with ‘therefore’ and speaks of what God will do in response to their spiritual adultery. God will block the path to such adultery and spiritual degradation. There will be no satisfaction in this way of life. She will ask and she will get no answer. She will seek and not find. She will knock and it will not be opened to her. So unlike the promises God gives us. There will no satisfaction in her way of life. In fact she will be continually frustrated and dissatisfied. Friends, listen to God here. There is no pleasure in sin. Living other than God’s way leads you to experience constant and continuous restlessness. Sin promises all sorts of pleasures and desires will be satisfied but it is a lie. Gomer found that out and so will you. You can chase all the lovers of this world you want but they will elude you and be thankful this morning that God loves so much that He blocks your path to them that you might come to your senses and come home to Him.
Then a remarkable thing appears to happen at the end of verse 7. It appears as if Gomer has come to her senses and has decided to return to Hosea, and the people of Israel to return to God. How like the Prodigal Son when he finds himself in the pigsty – and he comes to his senses and realises that event he hired hands are better off in his father’s house than he is at present. Friends this morning there are some of you and that is exactly where you are at this very moment. You have committed spiritual adultery and chased after other lovers, other gods and this morning your eyes are slowly opening to the situation in which you find yourself. This morning you realise, maybe for the first time, the place to be is with God in Christ. For some of you in here this morning you have been like Gomer. You entered into a relationship with God in Christ, you entered the marriage relationship with Christ, but you have played the harlot and slept with other gods and chased other lovers and God in His infinite mercy and love for you has blocked your path this morning. He blocked your path to other gods/lovers and frustrated everything you have done to chase after them. This morning you find yourself in a barren place with you spirit quenched and your heart aching with emptiness but this morning God’s Holy Spirit has shone the light of His grace into your soul and you know in your spirit that He has done this because He loves you. This morning these words of Gomer are ringing in your head and heart – they are the words you know to be true for you and this morning God calls you to come back.
Verse 8 God then tells the people of Israel how they have been unfaithful to Him. The have failed to acknowledge that all things come from God and instead has given credit and worship to Baal. Israel knew that it was God who had provided all their needs in the wilderness and brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey, with all rich provisions, but in their adultery they gave their praise and thanks to their lovers. Friends how many of you give credit for all the things in your life to God? How often have you thanked God for His bountiful blessings upon your life? We are quick to apportion the blame to God when things go wrong or illness comes but rarely do we hear ‘work of God’ when blessings come.
Verses 9-13 God outlines the punishment that Israel will face for such spiritual adultery. Note in these verses how God states ‘my wine…my grain’ etc. Showing Israel that the things for which they worshipped Baal were in fact belonging to God and in His gift and not Baals. The punishment of verses 9-13 is unsparing but it is not unjust. The picture is of a bleak prospect as harvests failed and the land returned to wild. The implication is clear – if God removes His hand of blessing and provision from the land it will quickly become a desolate place. The result will be desolation for the land and decimation of the people. Israel has worshipped Baal when they should have been worshipping the true and living God (verse 11). The feasts given to cement their relationship with the living God they had turned into a time of adultery by worshipping Baal and so God will remove the opportunities for festivity by withholding the harvests. The withdrawal of all provisions would bring Israel to her senses and to the knowledge of God.
Israel had wilfully abandoned their knowledge of God’s provision in the past and sought to meet their needs in an alien faith and god. The result is physical and spiritual destitution which, thankfully, brings them back to clear-sighted knowledge of the provision of God. The Baals will be unable to help her because they are dead wood, dumb idols and false gods.
Verse 13 – you see when Gomer put on the cosmetics and jewellery of prostitution and went chasing after other lovers she had forgotten all about Hosea. It is not that she denied him she just forgot him. It is not that she didn’t know she was married and had children she just chose to forget them. Israel had done the same spiritually. She had forgotten God and the covenant and went chasing after other lovers/gods. It was the forgetting of the relationship and covenant that made it possible for Gomer to commit adultery and for Israel to commit spiritual adultery. It was not the forgetfulness of facts but of a relationship that was at the heart of all of this. And so it is in your life and my life when we go chasing after other lovers/gods and commit adultery in our lives – we forget our relationship with God at that moment. To forget God is to acknowledge that there is no longer an intimate personal relationship with God and that is at the heart of all spiritual adultery and idolatry. In warning to Israel, and us, God says in response to this He will block her paths (v8), take away his gifts (v9), expose her for all to see (v10), put a stop to the festivals (v11), ruin the crops (v12) and punish her infidelity (v13). Friends, do you see how seriously God takes spiritual adultery amongst His people. This punishment is comprehensive in its reach because spiritual adultery is comprehensive in its reach.
Hosea 2 verses 2-13 is a pretty uncompromising passage from the Word of God. “It doesn’t miss and hit the wall”, as we would say. Friends, this morning the application is very simple and clear – spiritual adultery leads to punishment from God. God punishes, not because He delights to do so, but because He desires that we might repent of our idolatry and return to the marriage relationship with Him.
This morning within this congregation there will be some of you who know that God has spoken to you this morning about your adultery and idolatry. Right at this moment you are chasing after other lovers and other gods and God warns you this morning that it will lead to devastation and decimation if you keep on that road. There is only restlessness, disappointment and punishment on that path. This morning God calls you to repent and come back. Just as Gomer had to remove the cosmetics and jewellery God calls you this morning to remove those relationships, those hobbies, those actions, whatever it is, that led you in the first place to chase other lovers/gods. Listen to God this morning – you have to remove the cosmetics and jewellery – get rid of them from your life and your home or you will go back. Just as the surgeon removes all the disease to bring healing so must you remove these from your life in order to be healed.
Some of you are just starting to put on your cosmetics and jewellery of adultery – you are starting down a road that will lead you away from God and the things of God. Learn from Gomer and Israel this morning and turn now before it is too late.
There may be some here this morning and right at this moment God has removed His hand of provision from your life and He has exposed your sin before others – He did so because He loves you and would not have you continue in the paths of sin and idolatry. Listen to His discipline this morning and come back to Him. As we use to sing from the BCP ‘do not harden your hearts’ but listen and repent. As the letter to the Hebrews says ‘God disciplines those He loves.’ I pray your eyes will be opened this morning by His disciplining to His grace awaiting you.
Finally there is a warning and a challenge to us all concerning the chasing after other gods who cannot bring life or blessing – no matter how much pleasure they promise. Heed the warning – spiritual adultery begins so easily but the consequences are devastating. The good news this morning is that God goes to amazing lengths, Calvary, to bring us back.
Amen.
