The very beginning of his work for the Lord depended upon his obedience to the Word of the Lord. His first action was to take unto himself a woman who is termed to be a wife of whoredoms. The Lord was placing Hosea in the same position which He felt that He was in. The LORD declared Himself to be a Husband to the people whom He delivered from Egypt. However, they broke covenant with Him. Jer. 31:32 Their actions as a wife forbade them from returning to the LORD, nevertheless, He called them to return unto Him. Jer. 3:1 In their waywardness the LORD gave them a bill of divorcement and put Israel away because of her backsliding caused by idolatry (harlotry). Judah (resident of Jerusalem and environs. Two tribes, Judah and Benjamin plus the Levites who were the priesthood). Judah failed to learn from her sisters doings and committed the same sin. Jer. 3:8.
The question now becomes, what exactly, was this woman which he was to find and marry? Was she a harlot or was she an Israelite who had committed idolatry with the rest of the nation.? Consider the emotions of the Lord in this matter. Israel had been commanded, when making peace with any land which they conquered to make certain that all idols were destroyed. Ex. 34:12-13 Jehovah alone was to be worshiped and He is a jealous God. An attribute of the Lord that is not often referred too. But, for a God who so strongly loves, it should be expected that His jealousy would be just as strong. The offense would come when Israel would fail to destroy the objects of heathen worship and they themselves begin to utilize them for their worship. It seems to be in the nature of mankind to substitute things spiritual with objects or practices which are not pleasing to the Lord. They did it in that day and it is being done in this day.
Ex. 34:14-17 The people of harlotry, both in that day and in the modern church, especially that of the immediate future, regardless of what deliverances are accomplished will turn again to their own ways. The church of compromise is the great harlot. Rev. 17:1-2 She will have amalgamated all the religions of the world into one religious order. As long as Moses was alive, Israel walked the straight and narrow but the Lord told him that after his death, they would go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land. Deut. 31:16.
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Because the land was filled with idolatry and was obnoxious to the Lord He placed Hosea in the same position that he might prophesy and know the feelings of the Lord. Hos. 1:2 Hosea was placed in the position of having to live in a family of idol worshipers. In Psalms one hundred six there is a thumbnail history of the children of Israel. Their deliverances and their down falls are listed. Among them is this, they mingled among the heathen and served their idols. Ps. 106:35-36 They went so far as to offer human sacrifices which were an abomination to the Lord. Ps. 106:37-38 By these works of worship they became defiled in the sight of the Lord. So much so, that the Lord allowed their enemies to rule over them and bring them into servitude. Ps. 106:39-42.
Hosea found a wife in a person name Gomer. As a true worshipper of the Lord it must have been repulsive to him to enter into a mixed marriage. Pathetically, many in this life could have been spared heartache and sorrow had they but waited for the Lord‚Ä choice and not married an unbeliever. The names are certainly significant. Gomer comes from a root word meaning, to end or bring to a completion or failure. Thus, we see that the emphases is placed on the destruction of the Northern Kingdom.
It also foretells the utter destruction of the false church, the harlot church, that church of all religions which is surfacing even now and will be utterly destroyed. The name Dibliam, means to double, or a double portion. Hos. 1:3 We find here a shadow of the last days, for Babylon, the harlot church is destined to receive a double portion. She will be rewarded according to the measure of her wickedness and that doubled. Rev. 18:6-9.
The first born of this marriage was a son whom the Lord named Jezreel, Meaning, God sown, or scattered. A hint of the coming complete scattering abroad of the ten tribes known as Israel. Also a promise that the Lord would punish Jehu for his bloody attack against Ahab and his force. Note the details in 2 Kings nine. Ahab was to be punished, of the Lord, with death because of the killing of the Lord’s prophets by Jezebel, his wife.
2 Kings 9:7 Hos. 1:4 He was also a sign that the nation of Israel, the ten tribes, would soon come to an end. They had so completely turned from the Lord and were worshipping the gods of others, that the Lord was about to bring them to a conclusion as a nation. As always with the Lord, He would come with mercy, and plead with those whom He was about to punish. An opportunity for repentance was extended to them through the prophets which were sent unto them. Because Israel had defiled the land with their abominations, He rejected them, afflicted them and delivered them in to the hands of the plunderers, until He has removed, cast them out of His sight. Forcibly He split Israel from the house of David for Israel had committed a great sin in not following the Lord and in idol worship. 2 Kings 17:20-23.