A. Anyone who ever doubts the LOVE of God needs to read the book of Hosea.
1. The entire book of Hosea is an ANALOGY that depicts God both as a loving husband and father.
a. This is a story about Hosea and his wife, Gomer.
b. The story of Hosea and his wife is paralleled to God and Israel (also known as Ephraim), the Northern Kingdom.
2. Hosea represents God, and his wife Gomer represents the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
a. Gomer sinned against her husband many times, turning to other LOVERS. Yet, Hosea kept taking
her back because of his LOVE for her.
b. In comparison, God loved ISRAEL with all of His heart.
COMMENT:
He blessed them time and again. But Israel turned away from God toward IDOLATRY. Their LOVE and ALLEGIANCE were now directed toward another god. Israel’s LOVER was now BAAL, the god of FERTILITY. The people of Israel, as part of their PAGAN PRACTICE of BAAL WORSHIP, were engaging in all kinds of SEXUAL SINS and IMMORALITY. They were growing farther and farther apart from God and His word.
Yet, God still loved the NATION of Israel and He begged the people to come back to Him. And if only Israel will REPENT of their WICKED WAYS, God will completely RESTORE the position they once had and enjoyed. Our Father in Heaven is a FORGIVING and PATIENT God.
B. We do not know any more about the Prophet Hosea except what is written in this PROPHECY.
1. His father is name “Beeri”. And that is all we know of him.
2. The prophecy was written around 750-735 BC.
3. The reason Hosea writes this PROPHECY is because Israel did not LISTEN to the MESSAGE of
DOOM that Amos PREACHED, which we studied last week.
a. It’s hard to believe, but they had become even more corrupt SOCIALLY and RELIGIOUSLY.
b. They had FORSAKEN God and turned to IDOLS, thus committing SPIRITUAL ADULTERY.
4. HOSEA means “SALVATION.” Hosea is the same name as “JOSHUA”, which is also the given name of JESUS.
C. The message of Hosea is a simple one: “Israel, God loves you and He wants you to come back to Him.”
COMMENT;
As Hosea deals with his own SORROW of losing his WIFE to other LOVERS, he allows God to use his HEARTBREAK to PLEAD with the nation of Israel to turn from their LOVE for and ALLEGIANCE to the god BAAL and come back to Yahweh.
Through the Prophet Amos they were told that God is preparing the powerful nation of Assyria to DESTROY them, but Hosea pleads, “But that’s not what God wants. He LOVES you, Israel! He wants you to REPENT and RETURN to Him. Even though you turned to the god BAAL and are committing SPIRITUAL ADULTERY and SINNING against Him, the Lord God with outstretched arms is ready to take you back.”
MESSAGE:
I. GOD AS A LOVING HUSBAND- chapters 1-3
A. “Hosea and Gomer”
1. Hosea 1:2-3 (READ and COMMENT)
a. The NIV gives the impression that Gomer was an adulterous woman before Hosea took her to be
his WIFE.
b. Although the Hebrew is not absolutely clear on this point, many other translations state that Hosea was to take a wife “of harlotry”—one who was reared in the environment of the
IMMORAL PRACTICES so prevalent among BAAL WORSHIPPERS.
COMMENT:
Most scholars believe that since the RELATIONSHIP of Hosea and Gomer parallels that of God and Israel, then Gomer was PURE and CHASTE when Hosea MARRIED her, even as Israel was PURE when God ESPOUSED her. But both Gomer and Israel succumbed to the surrounding IMMORALITY turning to other LOVERS.
2. Gomer born three children to Hosea- 1:4-8
a. First child was a son. God said to name him “JEZREEL”- v. 4
COMMENT:
Jezreel means “God will scatter.” God is saying, “I will scatter my people.”
b. Second child was a daughter. God said to name her “LO-RUHAMAH”- v. 6. (Mark will you pronounce that name for me?)
COMMENT:
The daughter’s name means, “Have not obtained mercy.” Since Israel has refused to repent and return to the Lord, God will show NO MERCY.
c. Third child was also a son. God said to name him “LO-AMMI”- v. 9.
COMMENT:
This name means, “Not my people.” Because of Israel’s wickedness and idolatry, they are NO LONGER considered God’s people and He is NO LONGER their God.
3. Let me share with you the LOVE STORY of Hosea and Gomer:
ILLUSTRATION:
Hosea as a young man met and fell in love with a young woman named Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. They soon became HUSBAND and WIFE and had three children; two sons and a
daughter.
Gomer was reared in an UNGODLY environment. Sometime after they were married, Gomer, possibly through the influence of her family, left Hosea and committed ADULTERY with several men; SELLING herself in PROSTITUTION for GOLD, SILVER and other LUXURIES.
Undoubtedly when Gomer first married Hosea she was a beautiful and desirous woman. After being used by one man after another, she LOST her BEAUTY. And even more tragic, she LOST her HUSBAND. Gomer had NOTHING!
By this time all that she was USEFUL for was SLAVERY. Because she allowed herself to be PULLED AWAY from her husband in search of PLEASURE and RICHES, she found her being sold on the SLAVE MARKET.
ILLUSTRATION (cont):
Hosea all this time was HEARTBROKEN. He LOVED his WIFE. Undoubtedly he tried to PERSUADE her to LEAVE her LOVERS and come back to him, but she REFUSED. Finally, when she found herself REJECTED by others and SOLD into SLAVERY, she wanted to RETURN
to Hosea.
What man in his right mind would take back a WIFE that left him and PROSTITUTED herself, going from one LOVER to the next? It would take a MAN who deeply LOVES his WIFE. Hosea was such a man. He went and BOUGHT BACK his wife for 15 pieces of silver, and
about 10 BUSHELS of BARLEY.
He said to his wife in chapter 3:3- “You are to live with me. No longer are you to be a prostitute, or to be intimate with any man.” Until Gomer proved herself she would not be a WIFE to Hosea. Yet, Hosea brought her back to be with him because he LOVED her.
B. “God and Israel” (Although the story of Hosea and Gomer had a HAPPY ENDING, it was not so
for God and Israel.)
1. In chapter 2 we see how Israel, like Gomer, had PROSTITUTED herself.
a. God tells of Israel’s SPIRITUAL ADULTERY and how she will be PUNISHED for her SINS.
b. However, even now if Israel REPENTS and RETURNS to God, she will be RESTORED to the position she once had an enjoyed.
2. Israel at one time was FAITHFUL to God, but no more.
a. She LEFT God for a new LOVER—Baal, the fertility god, bearing children of WICKEDNESS
—followers of BAAL.
b. God said, “I will not show my love to her children, because they are children of adultery”- 2:4.
3. Soon Israel began following after many gods.
a. In fact, she would take the MATERIAL BLESSINGS that God had LAVISHED on her, and
OFFER them to BAAL.
b. God said, “…she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and
went after her lovers, but Me she forgot”- 2:13b
COMMENT:
Because Israel has turned to other gods, she will LOSE everything with which the Lord God has BLESSED her. God will no longer have FELLOWSHIP with her, and she will soon LEARN that BAAL and the HEATHEN NATIONS with which Israel had aligned can DO NOTHING to PROTECT her and SUPPORT her.
c. God was her BLESSING! God was her PROTECTION! God was her SALVATION!
COMMENT:
Out of His LOVE for Israel, God tried everything to get her BACK. He sent PROPHETS to urge her to REPENT. He sent CALAMITIES and ARMIES to WARN her. He took away BLESSINGS that He had given her. No matter how much God PLEADED, Israel chose Baal.
d. So as was promised through the prophet Amos, God was sending the massive Assyrian army to DEFEAT Israel and take her into CAPTIVITY.
4. But even as God prepares to PUNISH Israel, His thoughts go back to a time when the nation of Israel was just starting—when he was just an INFANT.
II. GOD AS A LOVING FATHER- chapter 11
A. The Father’s loving care. Hosea 11:1-4 (READ)
1. God reminds Israel of how much He LOVED them, even from INFANCY.
COMMENT:
“He patiently taught his children how to walk. He took them up into His arms and held them TIGHTLY. He SPOON FED them. Surrounding Israel with LOVE, God REMOVED
their BURDENS and HEALED their MALADIES.”
2. Doesn’t that sound like a LOVING FATHER to you?
ILLUSTRATION:
Have you ever watched new fathers as they take care of their little ones? Here’s this big, husky, rough-looking fellow who looks and acts like he can BEAT UP the world, gently holding his little baby in his arms. If the new DAD doesn’t notice you WATCHING . . . you can actually
HEAR him talk BABY-TALK: “Goo-goo, gah-gah. Do you love Da Da?”
Watch him as he spoon-feeds his little baby. He makes sure that he gets just the right amount of food on the spoon. He carefully and patiently feeds his baby. And when the baby spits the
food out all over him, it doesn’t faze Daddy. That baby can do no wrong.
When trying to teach his baby how to walk, you couldn’t ask for a more PATIENT man. Holding his baby’s hands he gently coaxes his little one to take a STEP and then another STEP and another. When the baby is ready to go SOLO, Dad never leaves his baby’s side. He is there to SWEEP the INFANT up into his arms whenever the baby STUMBLES or FALLS. When the baby CRIES, Dad HOLDS his bundle of joy TIGHTLY in his arms, WIPES away TEARS, gives
COMFORT, and promises to make everything ALL RIGHT.
3. That was God’s RELATIONSHIP with Israel—His CHILD. But now Israel has turned to another.
B. The Father’s reluctant discipline. Hosea 11:5-7
1. Because Israel has refused to REPENT, God OUTLINES what He will do to the NATION:
a. They will be in bondage once again, but this time it won’t be in Egypt but Assyria.
b. With SWORDS FLASHING the Assyrian Army will move in against the cities of Israel and
completely demolish them.
c. Many people will DIE, and the rest will be ENSLAVED by the Assyrian government.
2. Even as a PARENT who is ANGRY with a REBELLIOUS CHILD who refuses to OBEY, so is God
ANGRY with Israel.
COMMENT:
Our heavenly Father wants ALLEGIANCE, RESPECT, and OBEDIENCE from His children, just like any FATHER would. And like any father, DISCIPLINING His children is the LAST thing He wants to do.
God BEGGED His children to come back to Him. He sent one PROPHET after another to urge them to REPENT and return to their LOVING FATHER. God is saying, “I don’t want to PUNISH you. I don’t want to DESTROY you. I want you to come HOME. I want you to LOVE me once again.”
But as God said in v. 2, “The more I called Israel the further they went from me.” So God is now ready to EXECUTE His PUNISHMENT.
C. The Father’s change of heart. Hosea 11:8-11 (READ)
1. Is God FICKLE? One moment He says, “You turn away from Me and I’m going to POUND
you,” and the next He says, “I can’t do this to you!”
a. Parents, does that ever happen to you?
ILLUSTRATION:
One of your children does something that really UPSETS you. You have WARNED him time and again not to do it. You TOLD him what will happen if he did, but he went ahead and did it
anyway.
You send him to his room saying, “I’ll be there in a minute.” He’s sitting on the bed trembling because he knows that he did something he was told not to do, and you are UPSET!
You walk into the BEDROOM with a BELT in your hand. You say, “Son, didn’t I tell you not to do that?” With a break in his voice he says, “Ye...ye...yes sir!”
“Didn’t I tell you that you would get a SPANKING if you did it?” Big TEARS well up in his EYES and his LIPS begin to QUIVER as he nods his head “YES”.
Taking a deep breath you say, “Okay. Okay, I told you . . . I warned you . . . And . . . and . . . if you ever do it again, I’ll really SPANK you NEXT time. Do you hear me?”
b. Our Heavenly Father is just like that!
COMMENT:
He doesn’t want to DESTROY Israel. In fact, speaking through the prophet Hosea is just another way God is saying, “I WARNED you. And if you don’t straighten up, I’m really going
to PUNISH you.”
2. God is HEARTBROKEN at the thought of having to PUNISH Israel!
a. He says, “How can I GIVE UP on you? How can I HAND YOU OVER to Assyria? How
can I treat you like I did Admah and Zeboim?”
COMMENT:
These two nations were completely and utterly ANNIHILATED when God destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah- Deut. 29:23.
b. God merely wants Israel to REPENT and COME BACK to Him.
CONCLUSION:
A. Sadly, the children of Israel didn’t LISTEN.
1. The nation continued to SERVE Baal and never RETURNED to God. .
2. God PUNISHED them as He said by bringing the ASSYRIAN ARMY against Israel, which happened
about 13 to 28 years later after Hosea wrote these WORDS, in 722 BC.
3. How SENSELESS it was for the people of Israel to have to go through what they did.
B. Even in CAPTIVITY God pleads with them to RETURN to Him- Hosea 14:1-4 (READ)
COMMENT:
No matter how FAR we may wander from God, He is always there to accept us back if we only
REPENT and SEEK His FORGIVENESS.
