Men, can you imagine your wife becoming a prostitute while she is still married to you? And then to have time with her, you have to go “purchase” her on the market like the other men have?
This is what Hosea is instructed to do. His wife Gomer has acted the prostitute. She is dancing and selling her services to other lovers. But God tells Hosea to go “buy her” for awhile.
So he goes and purchases her, his wife, for 15 shekels of silver and some barley. This was costly and bought her for many days. And according to the terms of the service agreement, she could not have other lovers. She was a purchased prostitute.
This is like the love of God. He had every right to claim her as his own but his people chose their own way. And he literally bought them back and wooed him to himself.
Then is says a few interesting things:
“For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol” (v. 4).
Wow. That’s a verse that basically says they will live many days as atheists or agnostics. They don’t hav the LORD (the ephod, the sacrifices or the king) and they don’t have their idols (the prince, the secret stones or idols).
Then the next verse is even more interesting.
“Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days” (v. 5).
This is very interesting. They will come to “David their king.”. This was written years after David had died. This is a reference to the Messiah. In the last day “they will seek the LORD their God and David their king.”
We see that this happened in the first century. The people did turn to God en masse and sought out Jesus, who was David, their king (Mt 1). But then there was the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Jewish people kept their Jewish faith for 2000 years, but when they came back to the holy land and formed a nation in 1948, we see that many had lost their faith. Even today. They are without gods or the LORD.
I think once again we will see this verse. In fact, we are starting to see this verse fulfilled. The Jewish people are once again turning “to the LORD their God and David their king” (Jesus).
How do I now? I’m watching this unfold. I watch the YouTube challenge Tree of Life Ministries Israel https://youtu.be/kWl7f7XjPz0 and amazing things are happening. The Jewish people are beginning to find their Messiah. We are seeing this verse unfold. Will you stop now and say a prayer for more?
The love of God is a beautiful thing. He loved his people immensely even when they didn’t just commit adultery, but became full on prostitutes. And he brought them back. He never stopped loving them. This is covenant love. And it’s his love for us.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 Jn 3:1)
