The Zone Gathering

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the book of Obadiah. Last week, Sarah Owen blogged about the book of Jude. (Which means everything I write now will be embarrassingly pathetic).

But I want to start back at the beginning of the minor prophets and focus on some of those strange little books for a while. Today, we will look at Hosea.

Hosea lived sometime around 750 BC during a turbulent time in Israel’s history. Actually, most of the prophets lived during turbulent times in Israel’s history. Several kings had been killed, and the Northern Kingdom was on the brink of falling to the Assyrian Empire.

Hosea means “Salvation” or “Deliverance,” and his book tells two stories: the story of Hosea and his wife Gomer and the story of God and his people Israel. Hosea’s life mirrored the relationship between God and Israel. It is definitely a strange book. One of my favorite verses in Hosea is found in Hosea 4:11, “Alcohol and prostitution have robbed My people of their brains.”

The Plot: The story begins right away in Hosea 1:2, “When the Lord began speaking to Israel through Hosea, He said to him, ‘Go and marry a prostitute, so some of her children will be born to you of other men. This will illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me, openly committing adultery by worshiping other gods.’”

So God told Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer. She had 3 children: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi. It is certainly a book filled with unfortunate names. I am not sure how the kids got out of first grade if they had to learn how to spell those names. But if the names were not bad enough, consider what they meant: Jezreel referred to a city in Northern Israel where a bloody coup took place (see 2 Kings 9). Lo-ruhamah meant “No mercy” (I guess that would be a good name for a wrestler or defensive lineman). And Lo-ammi meant “Not my people.” These names reflected God’s attitude towards his people who, like Gomer, had been unfaithful to their first love.

Then, Gomer evidently got a little carried away in the marketplace one day and started flirting with some old clients. She ran off after other men, leaving Hosea a single dad at home with the kids. Eventually, Hosea redeemed her (at a cost of 15 pieces of silver, some barley, and some wine) and brought her back to his home.

The Message: God demonstrated, through Hosea’s life, the relationship between Himself and His people. Israel had abandoned her love for God and chased after foreign gods. However, God remained faithful and like Hosea, promised to redeem His people and draw them back to Himself. His grace was sufficient.

So what does this mean for us today?

First, our lives can be powerful sermons. God wanted to make Hosea a living example, or an “illustration” as Hosea 1:2 says. He used Hosea to put skin on what many of the other prophets were trying to say about Israel’s unfaithfulness and God’s abundant, never-ending grace. Are we willing to be used by God? Even if it puts us in uncomfortable situations with unlovable people? If God were using your life as a sermon, what message would you be preaching?

Hosea includes special instructions for leaders. in Chapter 5, He holds the priests and leaders of Israel responsible for the leading the people away from God. In Hosea 6:6, He tells them, “I want you to be merciful. I don’t want your sacrifices. I want you to know God, that’s more important than burnt offerings.” As leaders, our first priority must be to know God. That is more important than our serving our group, casting vision, facilitating a discussion, or preparing a lesson. We must know God. If that is not our primary pursuit, then where would we be leading people?

Hosea is not a book of doom and gloom. It contains God’s word of hope. In Hosea 10:12, we learn what repentance looks like: “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.” Hosea 12:6 says, “So now come back to your God! Act on the principles of law and justice, and always live in confident dependence on your God.”

Like Obadiah, Hosea ends with the promise of God’s faithfulness. He promises to “heal you of your idolatry and faithlessness” (Hosea 14:4) and to be a “refreshing dew from heaven” (v.5). He promises Israel that he is “like a tree that is always green, giving My fruit to you all through the year” (v. 8).

The Bible is the story of God pursuing people who keep running from him. We see the chase continue right up to the last book of the Bible. In Revelation 2:4, God scolds the church at Ephesus for leaving their “first love.” His chase continues with you. Let’s take a moment to thank God for his faithfulness, especially for his faithfulness in the times that we have been unfaithful. And let’s make the pursuit of God the first priority of our lives.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2005 at 9:05 am and is filed under Bible Drills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.