When a woman commits adultery on her husband and she becomes pregnant by another man, is it her first husband that has the responsibility of caring for the child, or the man with whom she had adultery? It is the latter, not the former.
Israel was like a woman loved by her husband yet still practiced adultery. Worse, all the things lavished on her by her husband she said was given to her by her adulterous lover. She didn’t even accept, acknowledge or understand that the gifts, the finances, the protection and all that was good came from her husband, not her lover.
Yet it all came crashing down. The LORD, her first husband, removed all the good that he gave her so that she could see that it was not coming from her lover, but from him. He removed the financial blessing, he removed the festivals, the protection, the safety and more. He even refused to love the children of the adultery so that she could see what kind of “man” her lover was like.
It was the only way.
She will then chase after her lovers and discover that they are nowhere to be found when she needs money and provision and protection. It will be a harsh wake up call.
But one day, like the prodigal son, she will “come to her senses.”. She will run back to her husband who was so good to her. The problem was that she still did not acknowledge that it was her husband who had provided for her.
So he took all the blessings away from her. In doing so it exposed who was the source of it all. And now, surprise, surprise, her lovers wanted nothing to do with her.
He in essence punished her. This isn’t a model to follow for a husband and a wife. This was a metaphor of the Lord and his children, Israel which was a very different relationship. All illustrations break down at some point, but the LORD was trying to make a point. He took away all their blessings so that Israel could truly see God for His kindness and love, and for them to see the true nature of their lovers who used them then disposed them.
And then the LORD goes on to say what he will do next. He will lure her in her unsightly condition and woo her again. He will speak to her with love that no one else will. She will once again be restored to her husband and will once again sing out of the joy of her heart when she realizes who is loving her. She will once again be safe, loved and cared for. She will be planted in the land and called married, loved, and “my people.”
Again, this is about Israel. He is saying that Israel prostituted themselves so much that the only way for them to wake up is for God to remove his blessings. When he did she eventually could see that her lovers didn’t care for her, she was a mess, and that Israel needed God. God was there waiting to speak tenderly to Israel, to love her back to wholeness, and to bless her again with great abundance.
Again, this is about Israel and God’s relationship with her and how he wooed her back to himself after her repeated adulteries. It really is a difficult but tender love story which is true whenever there is adultery.
It makes me think, does God have to drastic things to get my attention to show me that he really and truly loves me? He did. It was the cross. But how hard does he have to work sometime to get my attention again?