Hosea 1: You Want Me To Do What?!

You never know what you're going to get into when you are called to be a prophet of the Lord.  In Hosea's case, I'm sure he was dumbfounded at the instructions he received.

"Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord" (vs. 2).  These were Hosea's directions - to take a prostitute home as his wife.  (I'm sure it went swimmingly when he introduced her to his parents and fellow prophets!)

Can you imagine receiving such a call from the Lord?  And I thought Isaiah had it bad when he was told to walk around naked for a few years!  Anyway, the terms of Hosea's odd ministry went on.  Not only was his marriage to be an enactment of Israel's relationship with the Lord, but even the prophet's children had a part to play in his strange mission.  Hosea was given three children by Gomer, his prostitute-wife.  Each had a name with a special meaning:

• Jezreel, a son, whose name means "God sows" and was a throwback to the sins of Jehu, king of Israel, that he committed in Jezreel (vs. 4).  Jezreel was a sign by the prophet that the blood Jehu spilled would be repaid upon his house and the kingdom would be taken from its hands.

• Lo-ruhamah, a daughter, whose name means, "Not pitied" (vs. 6).  Through Hosea's daughter, God is saying that He refuses to pity His people Israel.  While God will show mercy to Judah, the northern kingdom will not receive any.

• Lo-ammi, a son, whose name means "Not my people" (vs. 9).  God spells it out clearly in case the people had missed His point: "You are not my people and I am not your God."

While the final verses of the opening chapter reveal that this separation is not a permanent state of affairs, the Lord still has in mind a coming punishment for His wayward people.