1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hosea’s Wife and Children
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (ESV)
Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished
2:1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts.
12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said,
‘These are my wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
The Lord‘s Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” (ESV)
Summer is officially here!
Welcome to the Minor Prophets True North!
Make sure you read Pastor Ben’s blog to give you the background of Hosea: http://www.churchforhighschoolers.com/blog/hosea/
And enjoy the first couple of chapters!
Looking forward to a great night of welcoming the freshmen!
1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
When I read this chapter for the first time, I got confused. The Israelites were told to avoid marriages that would cause them to stumble or to commit idolatry. But here the Lord commands Hosea to marry a woman of whoredom. This is so that the Lord may show how He has been faithful to Israel, while she has abandoned Him. Gomer is a symbol or representation of the nation of Israel. The whole book of Hosea has this theme throughout it. Whenever I think of how I am like Gomer and how the Lord is still faithful to me I get both convicted and grateful. I am convicted that I am so unfaithful to the Lord who saved me, but I am also thankful that the Lord who saved me is forgiving and faithful to me!
2:19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
2:20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Here we see the Lord’s mercy and His love for His people. Even though Israel fought God and disgraced Him and blasphemed His Holy Name, He still forgave them. Here the Lord says that He will betroth His people, and I am reminded of the marriage celebration of Christ and His bride the church (Revelation 19:5-9). As Christians we have the hope (that is not a cross-your-fingers hope as Pastor Mike says) that we will be with God forever in heaven, just as He promised His people in the Old Testament that He will betroth them and that they will know Him. These couple of verses have really convicted me because I realize how similar I am to Israel, and how the Lord is still faithful to me! I am praying that the Lord will continually sanctify me and help me not to be like unfaithful Israel, and raise me up to be a man after His own heart!
Nice Cameron! Like the explanation!
The story about Hosea and Gomer is cool. God told Hosea to marry Gomer. Gomer was not faithful to Hosea at all! She kept leaving him. Hosea would forgive Gomer and take her back in. This was like God and the people of the time. The people would dishonor God and disobey Him but when they asked for forgiveness God would forgive them and take them back in just like Hosea did for Gomer. I am so thankful that God forgives us for disobeying His Word!!!
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
This is one of the strangest stories in the entire Bible! God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute to be a picture to all of Israel what they were doing to God. Time and again God saved Israel from their enemies and time and again the Israelites rejected God and ran after the world and other gods. Their treasure was this world. They wanted the things of this world and the gods of this world more than they wanted the God of the universe who created them.
It is so easy for me to judge them and think, “How stupid can they be??” But the truth is I really do the same thing. When I desire the things of this world over God I am making the world my god and playing the prostitute. God demands 100% devotion. God demands that I be 100% sold out for him. He is not going to accept anything less. I want my treasure to be God. I want to store up my treasure in heaven and not on earth. I don’t want to be like Gomer.
Great comment! 100% all the way!!
Hos 1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
Then: God orders Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife to illuminate the sin He hates as an eternal warning for all men.
Always: We are here for God’s purposes and will have trials that God allows for His purposes, sometimes from Him directly. We must obey even when it hurts for a lifetime here on earth. And He does restore us!
Now: Seek him first and live to please Him even when we don’t enjoy the process – like having to do homework when you see no purpose. Ro 8:28 for our good and His pleasure!
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
What an awesome illustration of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness! Just like Gomer is continually unfaithful to Hosea, I have been continually unfaithful to my Savior. One thing that makes me excited is thinking about the day when I will no longer be unfaithful to the Lord. At the end of this life, when I am called to my eternal home, I will be forever united with my Lord and will never sin again. How grateful I am that the Lord continues to love me despite my sin against him. As I remember this picture of his incredible forgiveness, may I live today fighting against my sin. One day I will be sinless, but I pray that the Lord would enable me to live with faithfulness today!
GREAT comment, Kates! From the sentiments to the prayer at the end–absolutely beautiful, and I join you in having this heart.
And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
This verse struck me as well! What wonderful news! This also brings to mind after reading -Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished- If God is for us, who can be against us? It reminds us how ALL POWERFUL our wonderful GOD is and what a big deal sin really is, and how important repentance is. See you tonight!
Great Comment Katie! I cant wait to be sinless in heaven too!!!!!!!! :D
Beautiful picture Slushie! :D
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
We do not deserve anything God gives us He sent His son to die for us, He controls our breaths and heartbeats. Even the small things we may not think about God controls and it is so great to remind myself that even though we do not deserve anything God gave us everything. Eternal life with Him and a son to die and take the punishment for our sins!! There is no more powerful a love then that. We are not Gods people because we were separated from God, yet he sent his son and made us his people. We had no mercy and He gave us mercy. As I go into summer I want to remind myself of how great and amazing God is and how everything in life is from Him! Lets have this be the best summer ever!
MARANATHA!!!!
great comment josh
Hosea, Chapter 2:
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
Before I was saved, I claimed to be a believer–FOR 12 YEARS. I enjoyed much success and many good gifts and blessings, and in my ignorant pride, I believed I was achieving it on my own, or because I’d won favor from the world, and I was even so bold as to believe and make claim that God Himself was pleased with me. After all, the blessings and provision were POURING IN!
God indeed DID give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. But I chased after my work, my sales afforts and my clients, myself, my sports, my anything and everything that had nothing to do with God, and I was giving everything BUT God the credit for such. I pursued them alright, but as in these verses, I did not overtake them or ultimately find them. God turned me over to all of it–to the gods and idolatry I’d grown to love and live for. And I forgot all about my God: my Maker, Whom I would come to know ultimately as my Savior.
God did to me just as He describes in these verses. I went through a series of years where He ripped and stripped me of all that I’d chosen above Him. And I was so stubborn and thick-headed in nature, that even as it was happening, I CONTINUED to chase after it all, STILL running toward my sins with my back to the Lord.
Until I became as I was born: just naked before the Lord, with nothing else to hide behind. And all I was left with was the realization that I was WRONG and SINFUL, a WRETCH who so deperately needed a Savior. And I came to a FULL repentance–no more of this lethal compartmentalized child’s play I’d been deceiving myself with. I died to myself that day, and I received the faith-the mercy and the invitation to be His people. Oh, PRAISE You, Father! You pulled this burning stick from the fire and You SAVED me. Of COURSE my life is Yours, for You to do with as YOU please!
More of Hosea, chapter 2:
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
How absolutely, unimaginably beautiful and powerful. God knew ME before all time began, but it wasn’t until two years ago that I came to know HIM. I knew ABOUT Him, and I knew OF Him, but now I KNOW Him, know Him. On the very intimate level He beckoned and redeemed me to. AB-so-LUTE-ly MIND-BLOWING…
Thank You, Jesus…and so I live my life NOW to tell anyone and everyone all about it, and how God desires THEIR bethrotal, as WELL…
Wow, that is a very powerful testimony Stacy. I’m really glad that God has redeemed you in that way and it’s awesome the power He has to save. Great comment!!
Me, too, Dominic. Me, too…so so grateful…our God is MIGHTY to save.
I am so grateful that God brought you back to him!
Oh, ME, TOO, girl! ME, TOO…
SO awesome Stacy! :D
Yes, He IS, sister! SO AWESOME, is right!
Amazing testimony!! Thank you for sharing, truly wonderful to see how He works in others lives :D
Wow! These chapters are absolutely packed!
9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
God HATES hypocrisy. So often people try talk like they are close to God even though their actions show they are far away. God makes the truth crystal clear to these hypocrites. You are not my people, and I am not your God. I wonder how many “Christians” or even people in True North that God would say that to right now.
This verse also reminded me of a verse we looked at in 1 Peter 2:10 – “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Even though I did not deserve God’s mercy, I have received it! Through Christ, I am now a part of the people of God.
ELLO… I read… ITS SUMMER!!!
I like verse 13,”And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.”
I like this verse because it tells how the LORD feels when we make idols. We are in a relationship with GOD and when we commit the sin of idolatry then we are cheating on GOD and saying HE isn’t good enough and that HE isn’t worth anything. This is completely wrong. GOD has done everything and HE is completely worth making sacrifices in this life. HE died for us. The one who created everything died for us, the KING died for what HE created. I don’t deserve GOD dieing for me and neither does anyone else. GOD has done everything for me and I need to pray that I don’t make idols in my life.
CYA
Hosea 1:9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
Hm the first time i read this i was really confused, bur bye reading some other comments it made more since too me. this reminds me of matthew 7:21-”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Cuz God is saying call me “not my people” for he never new them. Action speaks louder then words. For the people that say they kno him but do they act lke they are saved everyday and to the actions of it and have a relastionship with him.
2:23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
My favorite part in this verse is..I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” because for all of us we were in the drakness but now whos a christian is in the life living for Jesus Christ. For i thought before i was a christian this year, i was a christian just cuz my family was, i didnt have a relastionship with him. i was just for the worldy things n thats not good cuz i was in the darkness. I knew of Jesus but that was about it, if i had died Jesus would have said what Matthew 7:21 says. But when i came to TN i new i wasnt a christian and i gave my life to God, ready for heaven and so blessed to have TN as brothers&sisters in Christ.
MARANATHA! :]
mm another beautiful testimony. :)
1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
Hosea was commanded by the Lord to go out and marry a prostitute. God told him that as his wife’s lifestyle of whoredom, so is Israel by forsaking the only true God and turning to chase after meaningless idols. The Israelites sought after what was pleasing to their eyes and whatever sounded good to them. In the same way, Gomer was a prostitute who sought after whatever was pleasing to the eyes, and she was willing to freely indulge in sexual immorality for the sake of gaining wealth. Gomer is set to be the example to Hosea of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.
I want my faithfulness to God to be burning bright at all times. I don’t want to go though phases in my life like Gomer or the Israelites. Gomer goes through many different men, then back to Hosea, then many different men, and back to Hosea. And the same type of cycle is true for the Israelites. When you look at the book of Judges, a cycle is seen. It starts with Sinning, the Israelites falling into temptations. Then this leads to Slavery, another nation taking captivity over the Israelites. This is followed by Sorrow, where the Israelites acknowledge their mistakes and turn to God in repentance. Last comes Salvation, where God rescues them from their enemies as they have returned to him. Yet it isn’t really the end, for the cycle repeats itself over and over again. I don’t want to be someone who leaves pursuing after God to seek after the things of this world. God has been so faithful to me, and I seek to have the same faithfulness to him. While today it may not be statues of bronze or small idols of gold, but there are many things today that are there to lure me away from God. Yet I need to always stay focused on him! I need seek after him with all that I am all the days of my life!
Just an ending note, I’m leaving in just a little bit for San Francisco. I won’t be back till later Sunday evening, so I may not be able to post, depending on if I can find access to a computer. But regardless, I will definitely still be reading through these Minor Prophets!
Enjoy your trip to San Francisco, Steffen. It is good we will still be connected by God’s Word every day while you are gone, and we are hoping God provides a way for you to hop online and post; He uses your blogs as great encouragement to us (I know ME, specifically!). We’ll miss you, bud…
i read…
9And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
some people who say they know God, really dont. theres a verse in the Bible when Jesus tells some people to get away from Him, because He never knew them. they were never believers. they said they were but it did not show through their actions. this needs turned the other way around to our lifes. are our actions showing who we are really, or are they just like the non believers who do whatever sinful thing they want…?
So true! If we call ourselves christians, we need to act like them! Good Comment! :)
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
I totally agree with Katie. Just like Israel was unfaithful to her husband, I sometimes do not obey the Lord but he is forgiving. I need to be reminded of this daily because I sometimes wil forget. This summer I want to strive to be obedient and faithful like the Lord is to me.
MARANATHA
(8 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.)
I really enjoyed reading this verse because it’s talking about how God is ALWAYS faithful. We humans aren’t always faithful. But God proves it in the bible many times that he is…
Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
Psalm 117
Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.
Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
1 Kings 8:20
The LORD has kept the PROMISE he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Not only do I see his faithfulness when I read the bible. But I have seen God faithful many times in my life as well. God always keeps his promises! I like how here in Hosea 1&2, even though all those people were unfaithful to God, He STILL remained faithful to them. When people say that the Lord is not a loving God because “he lets bad things happen” it bothers me. Yes God does allow bad things to happen, but all things again work out for him and his plan. Just because God doesn’t do it YOUR way doesn’t mean he isn’t doing it the right way. Whenever I want something I need to realize that God makes all things work together for HIS glory and I need to let go.
We need to be faithful to God as he always is to us. I can’t wait for the day I enter the gates and forever can be faithful to him.
Praying everyday for Maranatha!
Great comment, Katie!
Awesome comment, Katie!!! I love all those verses you found and I love the pattern of God’s faithfulness throughout the Bible!
What a great comment Katie!
I love how God brought other Scripture references to your heart in your time in His Word today. His Word continues to support in such strength, with all the layering He gives us from one book to the next…AWESOME! Thanks, Katie :)
holy cow that’s long
great comment!
SO pumped to be starting the minor prophets! First stop: Hosea!
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
Woah. Right off the bat we see God telling Hosea to marry a prostitute to symbolize the unfaithfulness Israel has shown to God. Then, his daughter’s name is No Mercy to say that God will not have mercy on Israel. But doesn’t it say in v. 10 that they will be called “Children of the living God?”
God is an angry, jealous God and He will punish sin, as we see here by His rejection of Israel. But He also offers a promise of hope: a future salvation on the cross that will cause all who believe it and who return to God to become “Children of the living God” once more. I see in this passage that God is just and will not show infinite mercy, but if we were to return to Him, stay faithful to Him, and sanctify ourselves through the cross, then He would gladly accept us into His kingdom.
8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
This is so prevalent today too. God is amazing and gracious, and He gives us everything we need: food, water, friends, etc. But what does most of the world do? Spit on that gift by claiming they earned it and it had nothing to do with God. The “whore” used to describe Israel in this chapter has all these riches and luxuries, but when God takes them away, she still refuses and turns to someone else to give her what she wants. I need to help people realize that if they are living a nice life in comfort, it is God’s gift and it is the way He shows them that they should follow God. If they are not living a nice life, then that is God’s way of snapping them out of their complacency and showing them their weakness that requires the intervention of God.
18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Amazing how the Lord had mercy despite the ways that the people were cheating on Him. It reminds me of how God is often the one making all the effort in our relationship with Him-He wants us to follow His teaching and in this case will even have mercy so that we can come back to Him. In response to this, what do we do? I know I can fall into not responding to this great gift from God, and it is sad to think that even knowing the effort He gives, we sometimes don’t give any effort back. He reaches out when we don’t deserve it, but how much better it would be if we didn’t need to be bailed out in the first place for our own cheating.
Great to see you on here, Josh! And great to see you at graduation yesterday!
JOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My V4L brother it is awesome to see you on SOTD! keep it up!
1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
hosea was given a very strange command, and one that would not be easy to follow, but he did it because the Lord told him to, and this tells me to obey Gods laws and commandments no matter what they are
c u all later
So true Trevor, I think this command would have been confusing and counter-intuitive. Also very dificult to carry out. Reminds me of when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son! Abraham obeyed!!! That blows me away! Trusting God enough to obey a direct command from Him that seems to contradict God’s character. But God sees the bigger picture and this is just another emaple of why we need to trust God even (and especially) we dont understand.
ok so it is great to be in the Minor Prophets and it is great to be in summer…These two chapter really showed that God has a problem when we are looking for “love” somewhere other than him. The Israilites are basical prostituting themselves out to whichever “god” they think will give them the best things. While we in America and in True North are not prostituting ourselves out to the “god” that gives us what we want we do tend to follow the things that we can get the most out of. I know many people who go to church when it profits them and don’t go when they find something “better”. We need to remember that it is God who is the giver of all good things, and from him all good comes…so let’s searve God and not look elsewhere for “love”.
My first note here is…WOW its so cool to have to scroll down SO far to reacha spot where I can comment because so many people have commented and not just small things, totally full heartfelt comments! It really encouraged me. :)
Ok..I really liked:
Hosea 2:23 “and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
After two chapters of verses filled with confusing information, the end of the 2nd chapter is what brought it all together for me. When I was reading the first chapter and even most of the second one, I was flustered and wondering why God was saying these things. But in the end, He wants us to learn a lesson, not follow the ways of the “wife of whoredom”, and he will show us mercy and love. To me, when I first started reading this chapter I was confused as to what I could possibly get from verses saying, name your child “No Mercy”, because I will not show mercy to her people..but in the end, there’s a point, and in my mind, I had to walk through the pain and abnormal loneliness talked about in the first chapter, for the end of chapter two to REALLY stick into my heart. Wow…powerful!
9And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
It breaks my heart when I see people who say they are Christians an then when they are with other friends who arnt they will do bad things and give a bad name to Christians. It is better if they didnt even say they are a christian.
Wow…thats all I can say. This sotd was amazing today. I cant believe i havent read this before. I love the way that God lays down the law here. He basically says follow me or you will have nothing. The israelites were given everything by God. They escaped Egypt because of him, the were given the promise land, they are called God’s chosen people. They were given everything yet they turned there back on God. If they can do it, we can too. Watch out because the loves of this world are nothing compared to the loves of the heavenly kind. God is soooo good to all of us and we must not take it for granted like the people of israel. Some people say they need to see something spectacular to believe in God. The Israelites saw the red sea parted for them to walk through. I cant even imagine anything greater than that. They saw all of that and instead of praising God, they praised money, greed, and sexual desire. The sad thing is that I see the United States turning more and more into israel everyday. Our founders were divinely inspired. If God didnt give our founders the strength to fight, we would have never beat the British. Our bill of rights is not built upon rights that man gives man, but rights that God gives man. The president back then was spreading Gods word. Now the president wants to take the words “In God We Trust” off the money. Dont let the greed of this world suck you up and take you away from the lord. That is the message of these chapters. If your God is money, you are not God’s people.
Awesome Comment Zach! Your totally right! The world is definatley heading Isreals way, and its up to us to remain strong in the Lord! :)
God thinks of His people who run after the world and other idols as prostitutes. I never think of myself or of my brothers and sisters in Christ as prostitutes, but when we are like Israel, running after our own desires and loving anything more than we love God, then we are acting like prostitutes. Worse than that–we are prostitutes who are actually married to God at the same time. So unfaithful. I want to be more aware of times when I commit sins that make me like a harlot in the eyes of God.
Su true, Melissa. And pretty confronting, huh…?
20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Wow! This is such a crazy book in the bible! Hosea has so much trust and faith in the lord that he will do pretty much anything! Anyways, I chose this verse because it talks about having faith in God. I think that the most common quesion from non-christians is, why would you believe in God since your believing in something you cant see. Im not gunna lie, if someone told me they believed something absolutley crazy, but never saw it happen, Im not sure I would believe them. But with God its a whole lot different. We have a lot of proof about God, one of the biggest proofs is the bible. The bible is sooo old and has barely ever changed! Believing in God takes trust and faith. Being a christian I not only have faith that God is God, but I also have faith and trust that He is always with me, and that when I die, im going to be with Him in heaven. When it comes to God you need to have faith, but I can assure you that in the end, it will definatley pay off! :)
Hosea 2:13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.
Here in Hosea, the people are living life up to its fullest, sinning every possible sin and not caring what God thinks of it. The adulterous behavior that they explain applies literally to the woman, but also figuratively to the nation as a whole. They forsake their morals which God had given them, and they chase after their sinful desires hoping to achieve a happiness they don’t think comes from God. They went after their lovers and sinful desires and completely forgot about their God. In the midst of all this sin, their obedience turns so greatly from God that they even start to worship the things of the world. Lovers are the Baals. When it says that she burned offerings to the Baals, it probably means that she was so into the sin of the world, she was worshipping the world and the things it had to offer.
Although times are different now, there are still things we can apply from these readings from the minor prophets. In or world today, there still is sin and sinful desires of the flesh. These desires are of the world, and are not from God. We may find ourselves thinking so much about the wants and desires of this world, that our desires become greed, and our greed becomes worship. We don’t necessarily need to be bowing down to these objects in a shrine to be worshipping them, it can be done just by how much we really think about and desire these things. It is very easy t fall into temptation, and it is shown here in Hosea just how much easier it is to give into sin. I pray that I will not love the things of this world. A love of earthly possessions can turn into a worship of them. I pray that the things this world has to offer will not sway me from my faith and that I will hold strong to my faith even when the world is drifting away from our God.
Wow! I have learned a lot in these past few minutes!
1: 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I WILL NOT SAVE THEM BY BOW OR BY SWORD OR BY WAR OR BY HORSES OR BY HORSEMEN.
The capitalized part, prophesy no??
2: 6 Therefor I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
AAH! This is so scary!! Ok, so here’s what I have learned: God will leave us to our idols. Which is right, because we have forsaken Him, so why should He stay with us when we left Him in the first place? But then, God gets jealous and he strips us of all our idols because He wants us back – I believe this is where our trials come from, because He just wants us back. Then, when we have repented of all our sins, He welcomes us back. Yes?
It’s so mind boggling that God can love us so much! That proves to me that I need to love others as much as He loves me, at least as much like Him that is humanly possible, because we can never be perfect but we can strive for it.
I would like to thank God for bringing me to this realization. Now that I think about it, this cycle happens over and over again, be it either on large or small degrees. I think God is doing that right now with me, but on a large degree. It’s hard being stripped of all this worldly stuff, but I just need to keep my eyes on God and I need to TRUST. He knows what He’s doing.
Great comment! Definitely, I’m going through a similar process, trusting in Him is KEY! Way to open up! :D
SUCH an intense chapter!
It breaks my heart to see Gomer go through alll these men…it KILLS. It makes me so sad for Hosea…that poor man. BUT God gives Him a command and he does it. Now, if I was Hosea, and God told me to marry a prostitute, I would definitely be not willing. I mean, wow, what a hard task for this man to do, and think about all that others must have said about him for marrying one! BUT he obeys anyways…wow and I can’t even obey nicely with my ma. TSK TSK! Hosea is a good example of obedience to the Lord, no matter what the cost may be. I pray that I may be obedient to Him in all circumstances so that I may not commit adultery with sin. May God cleanse me and make me new by His son’s blood! Maranatha.
lol. Name change again!!!
Awesome comment too! Obedience is not always easy
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
The implication in these verses is that by this point in their marriage, Gomer is fully unfaithful to Hosea. She conceives a child, but it is not Hosea’s. Likewise, Israel has grown unfaithful to God to the point of being no longer related to Him. Thus Hosea is to name his child Not My People as a symbol of Israel’s separation from God. Seeing God’s intense reaction to sin in these chapters really brings home how much sin displeases Him. It’s scary to think that at one time my sin kept me separated from God. I was not one of his people. I’m so grateful that I have been saved by grace through faith and that I can now have a relationship with God. But I want to always keep in mind how much my sin still displeases the Lord. I want to be faithful to God and obey and please Him who has given me more than I deserve.
Graduated from Dana yesterday! wow, can’t believe it’s over. Shout to Dan Blankenship and John Karlsson for yesterday!
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
This applies to us to, we were not God’s people when we lived in a lifestyle of sin and when we didn’t love God. God gave us this grace though and with His unfailing love, He allowed us to be His people. He could of just thrown us alway (metaphorically) so that He just didn’t have to deal with us anymore. He could have wiped out mankind, if He wanted or wants to. God shows His love when He is gracious to people, when He doesn’t express His wrath. When God releashes His wrath, He is still being fair with us.
Congratulations on graduating KJ! That is exciting!
i really liked verses 14-23. The title of the section of scripture is “The Lord’s Mercy on Israel.” Those verses really show us God’s great mercy. even though the people of Israel were sinniing constantly and following other gods, God still showed mercy to them and withheld his wrath towards them. I am extremely thankful for God’s overflowing mercy. But we shouldn’t take it for granted, because one day God will have no mercy for those who sin.
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Wow this chapter is intense. God is SO faithful, yet I am not! That is so convicting to see that just like Gomer is unfaithful, I am unfaithful to God when I sin and think I can do things on my own and how I want, yet God is still there and forgives me when I repent! Praise God for His faithfulness to me!! That is also so encouraging to know that! His faithfulness should not be an excuse to sin either! Because of His love for me, I should be loving Him by obeying Him!
Great comment Haley! God’s grace is not an excuse to sin, it is the strength not to…
Hosea is such a great book! It amazes me how this woman was continuously sinning and was still provided with her basic needs. This woman never thanked God for what he was giving her, but she thought it was her lovers who were giving it all to her. She was living in a lot of sin, and everyone sins, but like Pastor Ben said, God hates sin! When we commit sin, it is like we are committing adultery against God. Now that is serious and we will get punished for our sins so we need to surround ourselves with God’s Word and strive to be more and more how God wants us to be! :)
awesome to see so many people on already!! Good start for Summer!
These chapters reminded me of the verse I commented on yesterday’s SOTD.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done”
These people were living for themselves, “forsaking the Lord”, and just like the passage said, he gave them up to what they wanted to do.
He said I am not your God, and wanted nothing to do with them.
THat’s really kindof a scary thought. If we don’t come to God, and serve God, he will desert us.
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
This is a good verse showing how when we were sinning greatly, we were not God’s people, but we can become one of Gods people when we repent and he shows us grace
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
These verses reminds me of what happens when someone is saved. God removes our sin and casts it to the depths of the sea, no longer to be remembered, and then you are forgiven, becoming a child of God who knows the Lord and strives for righteousness.
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” (ESV)
This verse really stood out to me this morning being the last verse it shows this beautiful picture of Gods love. He is always faithful even when we are faithless. After all the punishment for turning from him he will call them to his side. This prophecy speaks of Isreal however, it shows the steadfast love and compassion of a loving God that in the end has such great and wonderful things planned for those who are called by him because his love covers over all of our sin.
It is also amazing to me to see the stark contrast that God uses with Hosea. Here we see one of the most radical stories in the scriptures showing us the perversion of Isreal, really the perversion of sin. God commands his prophet Hosea to marry the whore Gomar to show the relationship between God and Isreal. God is angry at Isreal and therefore we see the naming of each of there children as Gods response to Israel. And after pronouncing harsh judgement upon them he still loves them.
This is so much like our sinful nature and our lives. The God we serve is both judge and savior. He will punish us for our sins but if we turn to him and proclaim that he is our God then he will love us with an unending love and on that day will give us eternal life in his kingdom.
Give thanks to the LORD our God and King his love endures forever!
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
God has such unconditional love for us it’s amazing!! I read the notes in my study bible for this passage and these two chapters are apparently a metaphor or parable for the relationship between God and His people. We are unfaithful and we fail, sometimes even wrongfully taking advantage of His wonderful gifts, however, He never fails. He makes all the promises and fulfills them, He has the never ending perfect love for us that I am eternally grateful for!! It reminds me of that one line in “Cannons,” ‘I’m so unworthy but still you love me, forever my heart will sing of how great You are.’ That is how us Christians should react to God everyday. Sometimes when I pray I forget to acknowledge all that God has done for me in the past month, week, or day. I just ask ask ask, and I do receive. But it is very important for me to remember what God has done, is doing, and will do! i should be praising Him constantly and every day, especially now it’s summer and I don’t have the “busy excuse.”
MARANATHA.
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
These verses were convicting to me. I sometimes give other things the credit for my success in life rather than God who gives every good gift. It is so foolish to think that good things in my life are only the result of activities (like sports) and personal achievements when it is God that even gives me the ability to accomplish and do things! He is the ultimate provider, so instead of worshiping things in this life that give me happiness and good things(like friends, surfing, or even obedience/righteousness), I need to thank God and out of my thankfulness worship and live for Him!
Great comment Hunter! God does deserve all the glory and sometimes I too forget that. Have fun surfing and giving God the glory in Oahu! :]
Dude! Way to post from Oahu! You win today’s award for posting from the coolest location!
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
This is a great verse. Although GOD spends most of this chapter telling how angry he is at israel, in the end he gives hope. He says that he redeem the israelites and and they will be his people once again. GOD is a jealous GOD, and his wrath is terrible, but he has given us a way to escape his wrath; JESUS. This verse makes me think how amazing it is that we have JESUS who took GOD’s wrath for us, and makes me want to serve him better.
This was an very interesting chapter. God told Hosea to marry someone who definitely was not considered godly by any standards; a prostitute named Gomer. Gomer kept leaving Hosea to go “hang out” with other men and other things. But over and over again, Hosea took Gomer back in, even though Gomer didn’t deserve it. When we sin, we go against God. But God is always willing to take us back in, no matter how much of a mess we are in. Our God is so merciful to us!!!
God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good!!!!
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
WOW! Intense chapter. Throughout we see a cycle in the old testament. The people fall away. God sends someone to tell them to repent. Something bad happens, people turn to God. God saves them. Over and over again we see this. And I personally think: ‘God just saved you why do you keep falling away?!?’ But if you think about it. My life is similar. God has given and blessed me with so many things and then I sin. Sadly, (going back to winter Revival) my heart is like a great white shark. I will keep sinning, but I need to sin less. I cannot be sinless(except in heaven) but I can sin less. Praise the Lord for being there to help me and Israel even when we sin over and over again. God is so patient and loving and it is amazing that He still puts up with me even after all the dumb things I have done. Praise the Lord who is glorious!!! :]
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
How horrible it would be to have “No Mercy” or “Not My People” as your name! But it shows that God is serious about how much He hates sin and people being on the fence! So many people think that they can be kind of lukewarm about their devotion to God, who to them is basically a loving grandfather. I wish they would read this passage! God HATES sin! And he HATES half-hearted “Christians”! He is not the master of their life, they are. However, though Israel (and I!) was so undeserving of mercy, God states this at the end of chapter 2:
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’
It is by God’s grace ONLY that I can call myself a follower of Him. I deserve no mercy, I don’t deserve to be a child of God, and I don’t at all deserve to call Him my God. Yet I can through Jesus Christ. This verse is pointing to the amazingness of Christ’s work on the Cross. He spent two chapters telling me how worthless and unlovable I am, and then he says “oh ya but actually I am going to love you anyways”. That is amazing, and I will never (and should never) get tired of hearing that!
“And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God” (v. 10). God, speaking through his prophet Hosea, states that at one point God will, in essence, forsake his people. However, though God’s wrath is shown, ultimately, His love for His people prompts Him to restore them and lead them back to God’s lovingkindness which can be shown through the symbolism of Hosea and his family.
The people of both the Northern Kingdom (Isreal) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) have been living in adultery with their God. Seeking prosperity in other gods such as Ba’al, the people have turned their backs on God and made themselves whores to the gods of creation. Through God’s justice, God sees the evil ways of His people and must judge them accordingly. This is shown in God’s statement: “And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord” (v. 13) Clearly, God is not doing this out of blind anger, but his righteous anger leads him to punish evil and purge out all unrighteous thinking in the midst of His people. Later, God redeems his people and will say “to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God’” (v. 23). Ultimately, God’s love for his people triumphs over their sin.
Let it not be forgotten, though, that God must punish sin. Hosea felt the pains of loving a whore through God’s commanded marriage for him with Gomer. Afterward, God allows Gomer to bear three children: Jezreel (literally God scatters), Lo-ruhamah (literally she has not obtained compassion), and Lo-ammi (literally not my people). Obviously, the names of Hosea’s three children displays God’s feelings towards His people. Calling them No Mercy and Not My People, God wants Hosea and the nations of Israel and Judah to see how God views their lives. It’s such a peculiar thing to read about the tribes of Israel being rescued, by God, from Egyptian rule, then allowed to overtake the nations, through God’s strength, in Canaan, and then whoring after other gods. As Gomer states, “These are my wages, which my lovers have given me” (v. 2:12) so do God’s people say that Ba’al have blessed them with their prosperity in agriculture forgetting that God is the source of all life and prosperity. Angered with their ways, God takes away all their prosperity to show who the true source is. Out of love and not blind fury, God leads His people to acknowledge God as the source of all. Redeeming His people, God allows the earth to give off her fruit so that God’s people may once again enjoy God’s love.
So, God may be a jealous God, but His jealousy is found complete in His love. Christians today, just like the Israelites then, praise other things for their success in life and forget that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Acknowledging their intelligence and hard-work, Christians attribute their success to other things and not God. However, as christians it should be clear that all life, not just spiritual, comes from a jealous and loving God.
Great comment Jonny! The fact that God goes from saying “Not my people” to “You are my people” is awesome! And it is applied to us in 1 Peter 2:10. I preached on this in the main service at the end of last year in a sermon called In & Out Praise. If you want to check it out click here:
http://www.compasschurch.org/hs/sermons/in-out-praise/video
Or you can download it from our iTunes podcast!
KILLER insight, Jonny! May God continue to increase your fear of Him, so that you can in turn continue to glean abd grow in wisdom from Him, His Spirit, and His Word. Excellent post, bud. THANK you.
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
They really need to know God. That why it is so important to tell non Christian about God.
i ment needed and between that and why put is
job 1:18-19, 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
I think we can learn a lot about the book of Job because when things get bad God is always with us. It’s jest like that verse no one can snatch it out of my father hand.
It’s actually … no one can snatch them out of my father hand
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
God lays out the plan to punish the Israelites. They have been cheating on God with idols, and God compares them to whores and prostitutes. God is going to punish them for doing exactly what He told them not to. BUT He also will have mercy on them. When they return to Him, He will give them mercy and forgive them. He will provide for them, He will show mercy to No Mercy, He will forgive and reeaccept Not My People. How amazing is that? Hosea’s children were representations of what would happen to Israel. The mother was Israel, a prostitute who left God for idols. And No Mercy was given to her, and she also bore Not My People. But God still forgives! As soon as they would come back from idols and come to Him and treat Him the way He deserves, He will show mercy and let them be His people. Today, the U.S like Israel have drifted from our core values and view of God. We are No Mercy and Not My People. And God’s wrath is not going to be pretty. This is why some serious REVIVAL needs to occur! Not just in Orange County & Lake Havasu, but throughout the country and the world! Instead of being an unfaithful idolator, God wants us to be His people. So let’s get to spreading the news!
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
God can give us mercy and he could take it away so we should give everything to God and he might give back but we should do that and not want a reward.
Nice to see you here on SOTD Riley! One sentance is low bar brother.
I read…
God gives us a great illustration of our lives in this chapter. He commands Hosea to marry a whore who persists on being unfaithful. But Hosea, was always faithful and forgave her continually. This is how God works! Even though we are sinful beings, God still loved us enough to die for us. While we praise God for forgiveness, let us not abuse it and keeps sinning remembering Hebrews 10:26.
I used a word in the Bible… not sure why it would bleep it out…
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
We are so lucky right now because we are in the grace period. We could do anything we want right now and God wouldn’t do anything right now. He’s saving all of His wrath and anger for the End Times, where He will have no mercy on those who have forsaken Him, us. We would be victims of God if it weren’t for Jesus! Praise Him because He was so faithful to God to sacrifice Himself! And praise God the Father for being so kind as to even thinking about making that sacrifice!!
It’s His kindness that leads to repentance…Romans 2: 4.
And, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” -II Peter 3: 8-9
“For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’”
Gomer was tricked by the deceitfulness of sin to believe that it would satisfy her and fulfill her desires. God tells us in verse 8, that He is the one who supplied all her needs. He will also supply all of our needs according to His grace, and in God only will we find true satisfaction. Sin and the fleeting pleasures this world has to offer will never fulfill us or meet our needs, and we will become a fool like Gomer if we ever even for a moment believe otherwise.
This is an awesome comment, Laura! This is probably one of the most bizarre Bible stories, and it was a little difficult for me to get past that and actually make the *meaning* connections. Your comment really helped me understand the passage!
So God has just told Hosea to marry prostitute. Okay… I think I see God’s reasoning here. The equivalent of marrying a prostitute is like the Lord having a relationship with Israel. Therefore Israel is the prostitute in this equation.
In the example of marriage, Christ died for us, and God chose to have mercy on us, and the whole equation looks like marriage too. Idolatry, though, is like adultery. So lusting, in turn, means desiring the sin rather than God.
Have I given my love not to God and rather to sin in any circumstance? I need to realize that when I sin, I am “cheating” on God. And as Pastor Ben put it, God is not “an emotional softie”. God hates sin, and I need come to terms with hating sin too.
Awesome Minor Prophets!!
It is easy to forget how personally God takes our sin. It stirs Gods wrath for sure; But our sin also GREIVES God. I think sometimes He wants to shake some sense into us by giving us a very real and tangible picture of just how hurtful and damaging our sin really is. He does this by creating parallel relationships in people from the bible and also in our own lives as well. These lessons can be very painful, but it is nothing compared to the greif and anguish we cause the Holy Spirit when WE sin.
In this passage Hosea the Prophet, a man of God, is commanded to “take of a wife of whoredom”. You are right Trevor, I think this would be a confusing command from God and one difficult to carry out. Gomer treats Hosea terribly and we have compassion for Hosea. He certainly did not deserve that betrayal and pain inflicted upon him!
It is the same with us. God does NOT deserve to be treated with comtempt the way we treat Him when we sin. Weather our sin is what we would call ‘big’ or ‘small’; they are all BIG to the LORD. ALL sin is offensive to God.
I am just beggining a book called “Respectable Sins” (the title of course is an oxymoron). As I continue to grow in my sanctification, my prayer and desire is to see what God sees, to love and obey Him, and to greive for the things that greive God.
My first note here is…WOW its so cool to have to scroll down SO far to reacha spot where I can comment because so many people have commented and not just small things, totally full heartfelt comments! It really encouraged me.
Ok..I really liked:
Hosea 2:23 “and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
After two chapters of verses filled with confusing information, the end of the 2nd chapter is what brought it all together for me. When I was reading the first chapter and even most of the second one, I was flustered and wondering why God was saying these things. But in the end, He wants us to learn a lesson, not follow the ways of the “wife of whoredom”, and he will show us mercy and love. To me, when I first started reading this chapter I was confused as to what I could possibly get from verses saying, name your child “No Mercy”, because I will not show mercy to her people..but in the end, there’s a point, and in my mind, I had to walk through the pain and abnormal loneliness talked about in the first chapter, for the end of chapter two to REALLY stick into my heart. Wow…powerful!
Vs. 2-4
Hosea had faith in God and trusted His commands. The Lord used Hosea for His plan and he accepted God’s wishes. Hosea is such a great influence. We should all be a faithful as him and follow God’s commands like he did.
Hosea 1:2-3; When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
In the beginning of the book of Hosea, God commands Hosea to go and marry a prostitute and start a family. Hosea obey’s Him accordingly. As crazy as God’s commands might seem to us sometimes, we need to obey them just like Hosea did, even if it means doing something the world would be against.
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Just like pastor Ben wrote in his blog, Hosea really tells us about God! It is clear that the LORD is not the nice, good, convenient, ever-forgiving old man so many people today think of him as. While it is true that He is good and that He forgives sinners, this part of the Bible plainly shows other aspects of God: that He is righteous, just, and jealous of His people. He is obviously angry at and jealous towards the Israelites for substituting Him for blocks of wood and stone. They were worshipping idols (such as Baal) and not seeking the LORD.
Now, today I can look back on this and think of how stupid that must have been of the Israelites, bowing down to statues instead of worshipping the real God. But, as pastor Bobby and pastor Mike have pointed out before, it’s not the act of kneeling before a statue that constitutes idolatry. If that’s what it was, I doubt the Israelites would be into it. An idol is simply any thing (and really, it could be *any* thing you could think of) that I love more than God. The Israelites were not turning away from God because they loved statuary, but because they wanted to do whatever they wanted to do, and worshipping certain gods allowed them to do that. Just looking at the massive symbolism of Hosea, I can see that God hates idolatry and will punish it! I don’t want to fall into the same deception that the Israelites did. God, please do not let me put anything on the throne besides You, especially during this summer when it is so easy to!
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’
God’s love is so obvious through what He did/does for us. He sent His son to die a horrible death on the cross so we could be in eternity with Him, He didn’t have to but He did it out of love for us. Its so nice to think that we always have a faithful and loving God helping us through everything.
God obviously does not like when people commit sin. He took Hosea and commanded him to marry a whore and bore a sinful child. Hosea probably learned many things through this experience and he was part of a representation of how this land acted. God used him to show the land how dirty and sinful they were and Hosea obeyed. I think Hosea can be a good role model for us to understand that when God tells us to do something, we need to follow his instructions and do it no matter how bizarre it might be because God is our Leader and we need to obey Him.
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
When I first read this, I didn’t get it at all. Then I read Pastor Ben’s blog (which is a really good blog and I reconmend reading it) and I got it. This was a symbol of God’s faithfulness. His people were unfaithful and following their own passions in sin. But God still was faithful to them and loved them. But since He is a just God, He still had to punish them. I’m so thankful for a faithful God even when I’m not faithful!
!!!MARANATHA!!!
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ it is important that we have no idols in our lives. i need to work on not having any idols in my life.
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Israel totally rejected God and yet he was STILL faithful to them! God never ceases to amaze me! He is always faithful no matter what we do. He is always forgving. And he sent his son, out of complete love, to be killed for us so that we may live for him on earth and then live with him in heaven for eterninity! I know sometimes I put God off to the side and just put him as a second thought and that is totally not ok. God has so much mercy on me and I cannot take that for granit. He such a great God and even if he is forever forgiving, I need to make him number one and do what he wants me to do.
MARANATHA!!
9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
Ouch! Now that is definitely something I would never want to hear from God! Israel had totally rejected God, but what amazes me is that in the end he has compassion on them and then goes to call them “His people.” What a change! This just goes to show what a faithful, forgiving God we serve. Throughout the Bible it tells us of God’s attributes of faithfulness and forgiveness and that He is unchangeable. So obviously, He stays true to His word and in the end is faithful to the people who were completely faithless to Him! This can easily look a lot like my life. Every time I turn my back on God, He remains faithful. I am thanking my God that He is completely faithful and wonderful!
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
This is such an awesome verse. God had given us humans so much blessing and then we rejected Him so that we were no longer His people and He no longer our God. Yet so great is His love that He will call us again His people and forgive our sins even though we have rejected Him. LORD, thank you so much for your forgiveness and please help me to praise you for it everyday.
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
This connects directly with what happened on the cross and what follows. We, not God’s people, have becomes God’s people because he has made us right with the Father so we are now to be called children of God. How amazing!
Wait, not done yet: Therefore, as children of God, we have been crucified along with Christ unto the world. As Children of God we must walk like children of God. Actually, a better phrasing of this would be we WILL act like Children of God becasue of the mighty work that God has done in us. Lord, let me walk in your statures all the days of my life. Amen.
Can we expect a part three? Check it?
I really liked this chapter! It was cool how God told Hosea to marry Gomez, even though she was going to be unfaithful to him! This is how Israel was to God. God was always forgiving to Israel, and was always ready to give them another chance but they kept taking advantage and turning to other false gods. I need to make sure that I have no other idols in my life that could cause me to turn away from God. God should take number one priority in my life!!
And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
There are so many fake christians. A lot of the time people can fool themselves into thinking that they are actually christians, This especially relates to me because before I became a christian I was convinced that I already was one. I know a lot of people who are like this. Sometimes it feels hard to evangelize to them, but when I read verses like this it encourages me and I get Fired up to tell them the non-watered down version of the gospel.
MARANATHA!
AMERICA!!!!
word
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
Even though Israel is making idols and worshipping false gods, God still has mercy on them!! God does not have to have mercy on them but he chooses to because he loves the Israelites and they are his chosen people!! God spares their lives and grants them mercy!!
I cant imagine how hard it is to see that from God’s perspective!! Having your own children, not paying any attention to you and giving all of it to false gods and idols!! But God still finds it in Him to have mercy on them and that is why God is God!!
MARANATHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
Poor kids. I feel sorry for them when they have no names like that. It is like naming your kid “Death”. But I geuss it was all apart of God’s plan.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
This made me think of how intense God actually is….and also remember that God never changes. I hate how our society has depicted God to bea kind and loving grandpa, where in actuality He is an endless power that can do anything.
3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
This chapter was intense! God was pouring out his wrath on the country of Israel. But the thing about Hosea that is so profound to me is the fact that he trusted God so much! I know the backround on this story–the fact that Gomer was a prostitute and he was a godly man and God chose him to marry her? That would be so hard if I was called to do something that extreme. He is a great example of a man whose full trust was in God. I need to be leaning more on God in EVERYTHING, and not just the times of desperate need!
13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
Most of chapter two is talking Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. At the end of the list, it basically says that the Israelites got so caught up in the things of this world that they forgot about the Lord. I don’t know about you, but that is definitely not something I would want to do. I need to make sure I never put anything above the Lord. Sure, there are some cool stuff on this earth that as long as I keep under control are fine, but God is far greater than anything I will experience here, and I need to remember that!
These 2 chapters were very strange but very meaning full. It shows us that God is a very forgiving God and it teaches us that we should not hold grudges against people but instead we should forgive like God forgave us.
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
This made me think (along with the help of Pastor Ben’s blog) that even though God doesn’t immediately punish us, he will still judge us. People think that if “what I’m doing is bad then why doesn’t God stop me now?” But these people need to realize that they are just storing up punishment for themselves. I pray that mainly I would have a heart for the wicked, realizing that God can save anyone so I should see them as someone who could be used for God’s glory and not someone who deserves Hell because they are mean.
I liked the contrast of Gods people and the people who weren’t because as I read this is made me realize more about how there is no middle ground with God. You are either on God’s team or satans and their is no maybes or I don’t knows. I remember listening to a sermon from Pastor Mike and he said if someone says they hope their going to heaven, then they really have no hope at all. If you really hope to go, you’ll react to the gospel and turn from your sin and put your hope in the Lord with 100% assurance of going to heaven. Its more than just hoping or wishing-its knowing.
My wife and I had such a great time with you whole family the other night at Kyle’s graduation party. It was cool to see what awesome works the Lord is doing in your family. So proud of you Laura. See you at TN and beach nights this summer.
Hosea 1 & 2
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
I like this whole picture in chapter 1 and 2 of being separated from God and in the end of chapter 2 where God shows mercy and calls back His children. Before we were called to Him we were His scattered seed without a shepherd. We did not live under the safety of God’s mercy and we were not a child of God. I love chapter 2 verses 21 thru 23 where God calls His children home to receive His mercy. I am so thankful that the Lord answered my cry and the cry’s of all His children that are called to serve and worship Him forever and ever. I am praying that many of God’s children will be called at REVIVAL X!
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
God has no tolerance for spiritual adultery among his people and I should not tolerate any idolatry and other loves in my life competing with the Lord. This chapter really made me think hard on the miracle of the salvation I have in Jesus Christ. I have done nothing to warrant the huge act of love God displays for us in the gospel. I wasn’t even neutral before he saved me. I was repulsive! If I think about adultery I feel just disgusted by the idea of it! It seems so awful that Hosea marries this prostitute Gomer, just messed up. And God came gave me life because of his mercy, he has forgiven me and made me one of his people. It is good to think on this today and remind myself that God has given me this life in Christ so that everyday I will live to obey and glorify his awesome name!
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
We do not deserve anything that God has provided for us and done for us. We are sinners and he loves us all, no matter what we do, his love is forever and doesn’t change. He loves us even when we sin and has mercy. I need to be like God and be more loving towards others, no matter what they do.
Stoked to be going through the Minor Prophets!
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’
Wow God is so unfathomable… when he reaches that point where any of us would be saying, okay, I’ve completely had enough, these people deserve no more forgiveness or mercy and I’m done, God reaches out and gives mercy, he loves and forgives, he proves himself to be everything that he says he is. He is so incredibly mind-boggling, and I want to be more like him!
>And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
>and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
>and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’
The ultimate end of the purposes of God for Israel is restoration. Even though she was unfaithful as a nation, the Lord continued to pursue her by every means. Sometimes we can get down on the church because there are so many hypocrites — almost to the point of giving up. That’s not what God did with His people. The best place to be is among God’s people, because His ultimate end for them is good. We should also be seeking this kind of good for the church. The church isn’t here to serve us, we are here to serve it. I’m going to be continually looking for more ways I can serve the church with this kind of committed, selfless love.
when we sin against God its like we are cheating on Him over and over again. this would anger me so i know it angers God. thankfuly if we are Chritians God forgives us and we actually truely love Him and will wage war to not cheat on Him. it is such a blessing that God gives us the power to war agianst sin. im sooo thankfull for that and it should never be taken for granted.
MARANATHA!!!!!!!!!!!.