A Life in Exile

The Lord God has been known to ask hard things of his people. I’ve questioned his ways more than once, but I think most of us would say Hosea is up there for some of the hardest tasks given by God. What did God ask him to do? Marry an adulterous woman who had children out of wedlock. Wow. That’s going above and beyond, right? What did Hosea do?

Hosea married Gomer.

No, not Gomer Pyle, but Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. We’re talking several thousand years ago. What was this all about? It was about proving a point. The first chapter of the book of Hosea lays out the scene and purpose of all this. During the time of the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah, God calls a man and gives him a special word to speak to his people.

After he marries Gomer, she gives birth to three children, and even their names were to play a part in God’s message to his people.

• Jezreel meant “God scatters.” Evidence that God would put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
• Lo-Ruhamah meant “not loved.” God said he would no longer show love to the house of Israel, but that he would show love to the house of Judah and save them.
• Lo-Ammi meant “not my people.” God proclaimed Israel no longer his people. He was not their God, because they had chosen to follow idols and foreign gods.

So, with this marriage to a very loose woman, God begins to show the world how his own people are treating the God who loved them and established an everlasting covenant with them. This is where we get to our focal passage for today’s lesson from the Old Testament.

Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, they will be called: Sons of the living God. (Hosea 1:10 CSB)

Undeserving Love

Throughout the Old Testament, we find example after example of how God acts on behalf of a chosen people. From his choice of Abraham and the establishment of the covenant, his wonders in Egypt and the bringing of the Israelites to the Promised Land, to the establishment of the throne of David, God is at work. Time after time, his people mess up, take matters into their own hands, carry idols with them into the Land, and fail in their loyalty to the Lord of all Creation. Like a wayward teenager, they run, suffer for their sin, and then come crying back to the Father who waits for their return. The Old Testament is the parable of the Prodigal Son on replay.

There is nothing we’ve done or can do to deserve the love God shows us. You can read all of Hosea to see that explained or jump over to the book of Romans. Don’t miss the cross in the middle, but for today, we’ll let Paul be our guide.

The words Paul wrote to the believers in Rome are all over this concept that we are sinners, doomed by the wages of our sin, but saved by the undeserved love of God through Christ. By the time you get to the ninth chapter, you’re on your knees in gratitude. However, if you still have some doubts about the justice of God in saving sinful man, Paul sets the record straight. And where does he go to prove his point? The book of Hosea.

On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction? And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory—on us, the ones he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As it also says in Hosea, I will call Not My People, My People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved. And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God. (Romans 9:20-26)

Gentiles included.

While Hosea refers to wayward Jews as a source of God’s undeserving love and mercy, Paul wants Jewish believers to know that Gentiles are also part of his sovereign plan to save mankind. Wayward Jews, who he referred to with the name of Hosea’s child, as Lo-Ammi, are in the same state as Gentiles. Yet, in his love for his creation, God the Father shows mercy to those who didn’t even seek him—Gentiles. Why? To make his power known.

Hosea’s whole story was about unmerited love. Gomer didn’t seek Hosea as a husband. He sought her out and pursued her. He went after her even when she left him for other lovers. She was not faithful in her devotion to a loving man, just as Israel and Judah were not faithful to their loving God. Not only that, but Gentiles, who were born and raised without any reference to the God of all Creation were pursued by him anyway. He wanted them to know what it meant to be truly loved, cared for, grafted into the covenantal relationship.

That’s what God showed mankind through the sending of his Son to live and pay the ultimate sacrifice to make a way for us to be a part of the marriage feast of the Lamb. That is love in action. That is agape love that eclipses all other forms of love and hate. Whether Jew or Gentile, rejoice today that you’re included in that love.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Learning from the Past post, click HERE, or start the series from the BEGINNING.