Introduction

I don't know if there could be a happier human experience than a wedding. There are few events that rival the hope and promise anticipated on that day. A beautiful bride marches in, beaming with expectation. A handsome groom proudly steps forward to take her outstretched hand. Emotion soars as they exchange vows of faithfulness. The minister speaks weighty words, like "love, honor, and cherish, until death do us part." The "I do's" are said and the guests all come to the reception and wish the new couple well. They've "only just begun" on a journey that has the promise of a lifetime of happiness and companionship. Even in Bible times it was that way. The Hebrew word "Beulah" meant both "happy" and "married."

If a wedding represents the highest of the peaks of human emotional experience, then certainly its opposite, divorce, must represent the lowest of the valleys. It happens too often. A couple starts out believing they are so right for one another and they end up thinking they were so wrong.

There is no nice, clean, painless way to end a marriage. When two become one, the surgery that is supposed to divide them hurts and always leaves scars. It has been compared to trying to pull apart two pieces of cardboard that have been glued together. It's messy. Lives are torn and left hanging in shreds. Divorces, too, are usually preceded by those horror stories that no one would have dreamed possible back on the happy day of the wedding.

None of the horror stories we might tell, though, can surpass the agony of the one we are about to consider. You won't find love more tender, marriage more painful, or divorce messier than what is described in the Old Testament book of Hosea.

Hosea was an Old Testament prophet who, because he obeyed the command of God, ended up sharing his house and his name with a prostitute. That's right. The woman God told him to marry was unfaithful to him again and again. His agony, because he really loved her, goes beyond words. Ultimately, a divorce took place with all its hope-dashing ugliness. Then, ironically, Hosea went after his fallen bride and brought her home. That isn't the whole story, though.

What makes Hosea's story something more than just another number in the ancient divorce statistics of a backslidden Israel is that his marriage was symbolic. It represented the marriage of God to the nation of Israel. In that way, through the very human misery of Hosea, God gives man a glimpse of how He feels when his people are unfaithful to Him.

Let's go to our Bibles. Turn to Hosea with me where we will consider the story. We might call it, "The Prophet And The Prostitute." It is one of the strangest accounts in the Bible.

Hosea isn't put together like a romance novel. Without some background, wading into its 14 chapters is a bit disorienting. To add to the difficulty, Hosea didn't carefully develop a plot. He didn't describe the characters for us. Rather, as one writer put it, "His pen pours out words like the throbbing sobs of a broken heart."

It would be best for you to study the entire book. We aren't going to do that in this message, however. Rather, I'll do my best to give you a summary.

I. First, Some Background.

Hosea preached to the ten northern tribes of Israel during the divided kingdom period. 200 years before, under the leadership of a rebel named Jeroboam, those tribes had withdrawn from the nation and set up an independent country with the Golden Calf as it's official god. They made political alliances with the nations around them. As they did, they adopted their idols into their worship. The voice of Jehovah became just one in a crowd of many so-called deities. God called this apostasy "harlotry" or "prostitution." He spoke of his relationship to Israel as a marriage. He was the husband - Israel was the unfaithful wife.

During this time, Israel experienced temporary prosperity. Due to the foreign alliances, she was momentarily immune to hostile invasion. Much like a real-life prostitute, she received her furs and diamonds for awhile. She was falsely secure, distracted, and prosperous. It was the perfect seedbed for moral decadence.

Among the idols of Israel in those days were the Baal gods. Worship to these so-called gods was sensual and perverted. Morality in Israel in that time, 750 years before Christ, was a joke with most people.

Into that escalating apostasy God sent the prophets. These were rugged men whose lives were devoted fully to turning back the tide of wickedness before it was too late. Each man contributed his own unique character to his message. Each man's austere lifestyle revealed the seriousness of God's call. Hosea was one of those men.

II. Let's Look At The Story.

We find first,

A. A Message.

(Read v. 1-2)

Hosea was probably a young man when that message came. He was ordered to marry a prostitute or a woman who would become a prostitute. We aren't told what he thought about that, only that he obeyed.

The purpose of this strange command was specific. God wanted to create a real life, heartbreaking object lesson, a kind of street theater, that would illustrate Israel's unfaithfulness. It would speak in terms that couldn't be misunderstood.

Imagine the scandal such a thing would create today. "Famous minister marries convicted Las Vegas Prostitute." Israel must have wondered what in the world was going on when the wedding announcement hit the papers. That's just what God wanted them to do. When they asked about it, Hosea could tell them in plain language what was going on. It doesn't take words for someone who has seen or felt the agony of unfaithfulness to quickly understand.

(Read v. 3a)

The next six verses describe Gomer's children. The second chapter tells us that at least two of them were not fathered by Hosea. It is possible that none of them were.

(Read v. 3b-9)

Each name chosen for Gomer's children had a meaning to Israel. Each birth announcement called attention to Israel's disgrace. The names of the children are almost unbelievable. The firstborn was "Jezreel." He was named after a valley in northern Israel that had been the site of a terrible disaster. Some who have studied this have concluded that the boy's name would have meant something like "punishment" or "retribution" to Israel.

The second child, a girl, was named "Lo-ruhamah." The meaning of her name is clear. It meant "no more mercy."

"Lo-ammi" was the name of the third child, a son. His name meant, "not my people."

Imagine Hosea walking through the streets of Samaria, the Capitol City. Some passersby stop and stare at him and his family.

"Hey, isn't that Hosea, the prophet of Jehovah, the guy who married that prostitute? Look! He has his kids with him! I've heard they're not really his."

"Hey, Hosea! What did you name your kids?"

"I didn't name them, God named them. This one, the firstborn, is named "Punishment." And this one, the middle child, is called "No More Mercy." And last, but not least, this little guy is called "Not My People."

Strange, isn't it? But that is the way God did it! Each name symbolized a part of God's message to Israel. In God's national "marriage" to Israel, she had been unfaithful to Him. She had gone courting other gods. She had had "children" out of wedlock. And those children were headed for disaster. God's judgement was about to fall on a people who had rejected Him. Disaster would come upon them. There would be no mercy, though they would call out to Him. Ultimately, there would be a divorce and the ten northern tribes of Israel would no longer be His people. What a potent message for then and now!

To what lengths does God go to get His message across to people? Doesn't this story answer that question? But hey, this is just a sampler of the ways God has tried to get His message across to people.

Did they listen? No, they didn't. Ultimately, the ten northern tribes would be overrun by their enemies, never again to be called God's people.

Exactly like in Hosea's day, there is a judgment that awaits 20th century people who have turned their backs on God. God goes to great lengths to get his message across to them. But ultimately, if they don't listen, the message is the same: punishment, no more mercy, not my people. If there is anyone here in this room who has drifted away from God and into something or someone who has taken the place of God in their affections, the message is this: You are being spared right now because of God's mercy. Ultimately, though, if you don't turn around, that mercy will run out.

The second part of Hosea's story we could call

B. A Desertion.

If you read through chapter 2 and 3, you learn that finally Israel, and her type, Gomer, deserted their husbands altogether. What happened to Hosea during that time, what anguish and humiliation he suffered, are not recorded. It only takes a little imagination, though, to enter into his heartache and the corresponding heartache of God.

Chapter 2 is written from the vantage of a husband who has forgiven his wife for her unfaithfulness again and again, only to ultimately be deserted by her. The end of the rope has been reached. A divorce is in progress.

(Read 2:1-2a)

Some Hebrew scholars have pointed out that these words in verse 2 are similar to the words used in the Jewish formula for divorce in that day. While Hosea never comes out and says that God divorced Israel, Jeremiah some time later would say it.

"And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also." (Jer. 3:8)

If you look closely to the words in verse 1, you will notice that Hosea used the positive forms of the children's names there. He addresses "Ammi" and "Ruhamah." The negative "Lo" is dropped. The words mean "mercy" and "my people." Hosea was probably addressing a small, faithful few who still lived in Israel and had not turned to idols. They were told to contend with their mother, Israel, who was about to be divorced. The words that follow are those of a jealous and frustrated husband.

(Read v. 2b-13)

With the divorce was going to be the withdrawal of all the blessings the husband had lavished on his wife. She would be left destitute with no place to turn once her lovers got their fill of her and deserted her.

I can't help but mention something here. So often, when adultery takes place in modern life and one partner runs off with someone else, the situation eventually runs its course and the unfaithful person is left deserted by their lover. Why? Because it wasn't really founded upon love. There was no commitment, or if there was, it was shallow and false.

If you're tempted by adultery, you need to stop and look at your situation. You need to ask yourself a question. If this person would desert a mate for you, or they would violate your marriage covenant for their own selfish desires, what will keep them from being unfaithful to you when the spark is gone? (And the spark does die down.) What goes around usually comes around. Hear what I say!

Can you imagine the emotion that must have filled Hosea's heart as he delivered this message to Israel? Remember, all the while he was delivering the message to God's unfaithful wife, he was experiencing the unfaithfulness of his own wife. Gomer had left him, too. He had gotten a divorce, too. He longed to see his children, too.

The person who flippantly says while in the midst of willfully sinning, "Aw, what is it to God? He just wants to spoil my fun," needs to pay attention to this. Continued, willful sin is the equivalent of adultery in God's eyes! When one of God's people is tempted to sin, gives in, and then stays in that sin, even resisting God's call to come back, he or she is doing a serious thing! James put it this way in James 4:4:

"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

You and I may not be able to identify with the feelings of a God as big as the universe who is all-knowing. But we can identify with the anguish and pain of unfaithfulness in marriage. God is telling us through Hosea how He feels about our unfaithfulness. Imagine coming home and finding your mate in bed with someone else. That is how God feels when we are unfaithful to Him!

I've called the third part of Hosea's story,

C. Salvaging What Remained.

Gomer abandoned Hosea just as Israel abandoned God. She chased after gratification with her lovers just as Israel did. But she never found it. (I might add here that neither do people who desert God today find gratification for very long.)

Later on in Hosea his prophecies would compare Israel to "a broken cup that nobody wants." Age had come upon her. Her youthful charms had departed. She was no longer attractive to those who sought instant, sensual gratification. There was no one to care for her. She was void of the adornment her husbands had lavished upon her in her earlier years. Both Gomer and Israel were mere shadows of what they once had been.

I think that many women fear the loss of their youthful beauty more than anything else. Look at the growing cosmetic industry and try to tell me that its not so. God has given a hedge against failing beauty (and against the failing strength of manhood, too). It's called marriage. That institution is begun on vows to "love, honor, and cherish, until death." - security for those later years of failing beauty and strength. "No one else might love me then, but I know my wife will (or my husband will)."

Gomer and Israel, though, had taken those vows and crushed them in the dirt. They had trampled on them in their selfish haste to be gratified for the moment. Its a sad, sad story.

But right here we come to a big difference between God and man. Man would pull down the curtain on the whole, miserable story. God didn't.

(Read 3:1)

Hosea! Go get your wife! Bring her home!

Can you believe that? After all she had done? How much can God expect Hosea to do? How much can man expect God to do?

(Read v. 2)

The Living Bible says that Hosea bought her for "a couple of dollars and eight bushels of barley." That was the going price for a slave in that day. Gomer had been reduced to slavery in order to survive. She couldn't even sell her body anymore!

We'd see her today as a woman worn out, perhaps covered with tattoos, smelling of stale tobacco smoke, not having bathed in a week. A pitiful shell of what she once had been. This was Gomer, but remember, it was also Israel!

Keep a snapshot of that description in your mind for just a moment while we go back and look at a couple of the wedding pictures and make a comparison. Listen to Jeremiah's description of Israel when she was still faithful to God:

"Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord, remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your following after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, The first of His harvest..." (Jer. 2:2-3a)

And again in Ezekiel:

"I also clothed you with embroidered cloth, and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord God." (Ezek 16:10-14)

What a contrast! Riches to rags!

After the warnings of chapters 1 and 2, Israel was taken captive by the Assyrian army after a bloody war. 120 years later, Judah was also overrun and taken. After 70 more years what people who were not tortured or killed were forced to serve as slaves until a very small remnant of what was once the richest and most blessed nation in the world returned to the promised land. As a nation, they would never again regain their former splendor. The period that followed would be known as the Silent Period. There would be no more prophets until John the Baptist. There would be no revelations from God. That is what Hosea is predicting in verses 3 and 4.

(Read 3:3-4)

God preserved enough of them so that out of that bombed out shell of what was once a great nation, God could fulfill His promise to Abraham concerning the birth of Messiah.

Is that the end of the story? No. There is still one more thing. I call it

D. A Fulfillment.

(Read v. 5)

Hosea tells here of the calling once again of the nation that began with John the Baptist and the coming of Jesus.

I purposely skipped another mention of that back in chapter one. I wanted to save the best for you for last.

(Read 1:10-11)

This is a prophecy of the coming of the Church, the New Israel of God! The adding of the Gentiles is mentioned in verse 10 where it says, "Where it is said of them, 'You are not my people,' it will be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.'" The "one leader" would be Christ, the Messiah.

Conclusion

In this quick look at Hosea we might be tempted to question, "Just how much heartache can a man stand and still love?" A deeper look, though, reveals a more penetrating question: "Just how much heartache has god endured on the part of his people, yet he still loves?"

From Hosea we learn the extent to which God has gone to communicate with man. He wants a relationship with us. He loves us. Can we sit by and ignore Him?

We also see how He feels when we who have pledged ourselves to Him drift away. If you have ever felt unfaithfulness or can imaging how it would feel, you understand.

We learn also that it is continued rebellion on the part of the sinner that causes the ultimate divorce between God and man. God pleaded with Israel again and again before the divorce came. If you are away from Him, he pleads again for you. Won't you get right with Him? Won't you come back home? He awaits your decision.