I just studied Hosea 2 and it challenges our understanding of God because it is the story of a broken relationship between God and Israel [Hosea 3:1] and God’s churning feelings of hurt and love. This is not the picture theology offers. I would encourage every believer to put themselves in this story in the place of Israel to remind themselves that the Spirit’s grief Paul spoke of is a real thing and is not poetic license [Ephesians 4:30]. “How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert!,” the Psalmist sympathetically winced [Psalm 78:40]. The Hebrew means that God was in pain!
We should be grateful God didn’t ask of us what He asked of Hosea: to marry a prostitute [Hosea 1:2]. The prophet would have first hand experience in God’s message for Israel. Israel’s interest in foreign gods and our Lord’s own pain brought Him to this. So Hosea was, himself, torn between letting his wife, Gomer, go when she left him for other men or God’s explicit instruction that at any cost get her back. Chapter 3:2 tells us the price for her ransom was 15 pieces of silver plus a homer and a half of barley. A homer went for 10 pieces of silver; so 1and 1/2 is worth an additional 15 pieces of silver [shekels] … or a total cost of 30 pieces of silver. This was the price of a slave [Exodus 21:32]. This was the price given Judas to betray our Lord [Matthew 26:15].
Hosea against parental wisdom, disparaged his wife to their three children claiming they were probably not his! That’s the voice of unutterable anguish. Notwithstanding, the name “Gomer,” means “to bring to completion.” The Psalmist used the verb to mean fulfillment: “to God who fulfills his purpose for me” [Psalm 57:2 ESV]. There is a demonstrable hint here of what God is thinking!
It seems sacrilegious to study this prophecy because I feel like I am engaging in gossip over another’s pain. Perhaps we insulate ourselves from any real discussion of this text by assuming the theological position that God is impassible, that because He cannot change [Malachi 3:6], he doesn’t really feel hurt. But that’s the point “I change not!” means that He still loves them! …and us!!
The second chapter is a love letter from God asking for another chance to reconcile with Israel whom He loves and wants to make happy and safe [Hosea 2:20-23]. God relates how He feels both in terms of His broken heart and His undying love. He wants to “start over” with a new covenant [Hosea 2:18]. He promises, “I have espoused you to me forever” [Hosea 2:19a; Revelation 21:2, 9].
Hosea [and God?] then mellows the tone of his words, almost as if to say apologetically to his children with a hug, “Yes, you are mine! And I will never disown you!” [That’s the voice of reconciliation [Hosea 2:23b]. We should all be awestruck with Hosea’s and God’s persistence. Divorce was never a solution!
The chapter ends with these words: “My God!” Remember Thomas in John 20:28? Just a glimpse of such love overwhelms our ability to respond. We have no words—no definition—for such a grace! Someday we, too, will stand in His presence and proclaim, “My God!” As the songwriter penned,
When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation,
To take me home, what joy will fill my heart!
Then I will bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!
