The Gospel Story of the Prophet Hosea (this post is in process and incomplete at this time)
The Gospel Story of the Prophet Hosea.
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.” (Flannery O’Conner).
Street Theater. If the biblical world was a classroom, God’s prophets were the visual aids. As the Lord’s mouthpieces, they were often called upon to be symbols of His messages. Since they were instructed to be dramatic illustrations of the word of the Lord that help the people to read God’s mind, the people not only heard the word, but they also literally saw the word. So prophets were often asked to make spectacles of themselves. Sometimes they went from being mouthpieces to megaphones in their actions. They were often held up for ridicule, mockery and rejection. Because prophets were obedient to a fairly unpredictable God, they were often dismissed as cranks and eccentrics and not taken seriously. Prophets were often instructed to be living object lessons, so they had to learn how to swallow their pride and embrace public humiliation. Sometimes prophets did things that should be glossed over in Sunday School if not totally ignored. At times we have to wince when we read of a prophet’s antics, and we want to file it under “Do not try this at home.” We can often take a light-hearted approach to their street theater. In such cases we can take to heart G. K. Chesterton’s words, “He who has the Faith has the fun.” But other times their performance art does not even approach comic relief. It is difficult and painful and definitely not fun. All this translates into God’s biblical prophets being spiritual live wires, engaging personalities, and real characters ready for anything. The prophets may have struggled at times with accepting God’s instructions and thought twice about what God wanted them to do for Him. But in the end they all settled into being holy fools for the Kingdom.
Hosea, the Book. The book of Hosea is the first of the Hebrew Bible’s minor prophets… minor in the sense of fewer words and thus shorter, not minor in the sense of being less significant. It was the first book in Scripture since the ketubah, the marriage ceremony on Mt. Sinai, to use the picturesque imagery of marriage to describe the Lord’s covenant relationship with His chosen people. Most of the content of the book is in poetic form, offering many word pictures in trying to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Lord… a promiscuous wife, an indifferent mother, a stubborn heifer, an illegitimate child, an ungrateful son, a silly dove, and wild grapes grown in the wilderness.
Hosea, the Prophet. Not much is known about the background of the prophet Hosea, except that he is living and ministering in Northern Israel between the dates 753-687 BC. Hosea must have proven himself before the Lord, for God specially chose him for a difficult and seemingly foolish task. God commanded Hosea to be a living parable. Hosea has been called by some a prophet of love. But this parable was not primarily about human love. Hosea was a parable that fleshed out God’s covenant love and unending mercy. Unfortunately for Hosea, God chose a rather unprecedented way to remind His people of His unlimited compassion. The Lord instructed Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman and raise a family with her. God wanted to see children from their marital union, and He wanted Hosea to remain faithful to her despite her further sexual adventures after walking down the aisle. Some scholars claim that Hosea was asked by God to marry a temple prostitute from the fertility cult of Baal. Others say he was to go to your common whore on the street corner and choose to marry her. Still others say that the Lord was asking Hosea to marry someone who would surely become promiscuous after their marriage. How’s that for a surprising assignment from a holy Lord, from the God who ordained marriage and considered it sacred? Also, could there be anything more foolish to the public eye than marrying a woman who will undoubtedly remain promiscuous, raising a family with her, and remaining faithful to her? Ever the obedient servant, that’s just what Hosea did. Gomer, the sexually active, was unsurprisingly unfaithful to Hosea, but as instructed by the Lord, Hosea remained faithful to Gomer. This was indeed a difficult object lesson to act out in reality. Imagine the shame and humiliation. Marrying Gomer was a definitely a fool’s errand.
“When the Lord Yahweh first spoke through Hosea, He said to him, ‘Go and take a promiscuous woman and have children who come from her unfaithfulness. This will represent how the land of Israel has abandoned Me and become a prostitute to other masters.” (Hosea 1:2).
Spiritual Adultery. But what was God’s point in this publicly visual aid? Why did God put Hosea through this strange marriage? God wanted to teach the Israelites a monumental lesson, what turned out to be a gospel lesson about His love. The Lord wanted Hosea’s marital union with Gomer to provide a graphic picture of the covenant relationship between the Lord and His people Israel. Ever since the ketubah, the marriage ceremony on Mt. Sinai, Yahweh has considered Himself to be the divine husband of Israel. But now My wife has become unfaithful to Me, says the Lord. They are prostituting themselves after other gods. As the Message puts it, “This whole country has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to Me, the Lord Yahweh!” (Hosea 1:2). My chosen people have violated our covenant of faithfulness, our sacred marriage vows, says the Lord. They have become spiritually promiscuous and are uniting themselves with other gods! And yet, and yet, Yahweh declares. I will pursue my people in faithfulness, because I love them anyway. I will be faithful when my people are at their worst. Yes, my prophet Hosea is a picture of how I love my people, says the Lord. Hosea forgave Gomer even after she slept with other men after their marriage and produced more children. And that is a vivid picture, is it not, of how I will forgive my chosen people even after their wayward unfaithfulness. I will take them back into my love. “And it shall be, in that day,’ says the Lord, ‘that you will call me, my husband, and no longer call me, my master… I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” (Hosea 2:16,19,20).
Let us return! Hosea’s call to repentance in ch. 6 is poignant and points to our life in Christ. “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up… Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord, His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth… For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” (6:1,3,6). Jesus repeated these words about mercy more than once as He underlined the importance of those words in Hosea. (Matt. 9:13, 12:7).
A Churning Heart of Love. Yahweh continues to agonize over His chosen people, and seems to come to a decision to be faithful despite their unfaithfulness: “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? My heart churns within me; my sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst.” (Hosea 11:8-9).
The Story Continues. Gomer was later sold into sexual slavery after leaving Hosea, and he in his unwavering faithfulness decided to redeem her, to buy her out of that slavery, have her return into his house, and renew their marriage. What a picture of the gospel of Redemption. We don’t know Gomer’s response to Hosea’s amazing patience and forgiveness. We do know that Hosea goes on in his prophetic role to announce the Lord’s judgment on both Israel and Judah. But the final chapter is hopeful for those who repent of their unfaithfulness. “Yahweh says, ‘Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever… Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them.” (Hosea 14:4,9). Hosea was an obedient fool for love. It seems that God is playing the holy fool for love for our sake as well. Jesus on the Cross, the holy Fool of love to redeem our very souls.
Spiritual Lust. Are there salacious gods we lust after instead of keeping our vows with our spiritual Spouse? Israel revealed its spiritual adultery by worshipping other gods, through corruption and injustice, through violence, and a ruthless and arrogant oppression of the poor. Are they our gods as well, gods like, Power and Influence? Money and Things? Ego and Self? Success and Fame? Sex and Identity? Pleasure and Amusement? Knowledge for its own sake? Praise be to God, who is faithful to us even when we, like Gomer, are unfaithful to Him. Great is His faithfulness.
A Hundred Years Later… “Then later, I passed by again and looked upon you. And behold, I saw that your time had come – you were now old enough for love and a lover. So I spread the wings (‘kanaph’) of My garment over you and covered your nakedness and shame. I gave you My sacred promise. I, Lord Yahweh, made a divine covenant of marriage with you, saying, ‘You will be Mine,’ and I took you as My own.” (Ezekiel 16:8).
Kanaph: The Hebrew word for “wings” used over 100 times in the Hebrew Bible which has a variety of meanings, often giving us a picture of God in action or revealing for us aspects of God’s character… the literal wings of a bird; the corners of a prayer shawl; the outer extremities of a garment; the outstretched wings of angels; the protective presence God as a refuge and shelter; the glorious rays coming out of the sun; the sudden swooping presence of judgment; the strength of God to rescue and deliver from danger.
Tallit: The square or rectangular garment with four corners that is used as a prayer shawl for faithful Jews and many Christians who want to follow the daily practice of Jesus. Per the commandment above, the tallit is required to have a knotted tassel, or fringe, hanging from each of the four corners. The tallit was usually white and made of wool or cotton linen. The four corners of the garment represented the four extremities of the earth, and point to God’s complete sovereignty over the world, His universal Kingship. The four dimensions of height, width, length and depth also reminds us of God’s eternal and unlimited love for us. The four corners of the tallit were called “wings” because when someone who is wearing a tallit raises his arms in prayer, the appearance is one of bird in flight.
Spreading the Wings of a Garment. There was an ancient Near East tradition adopted by the Hebrews regarding how a man was to propose marriage to a woman. He would pick up the corners, the “wings,” of his robe or outer garment and drape them over his intended spouse. Covering a woman with the edges or hem of his garment was an announcement similar to an engagement ring in modern times. The pious Jew would go one step further and didn’t use just any garment… He would take the wings of his tallit, his prayer shawl, and spread them over his betrothed to communicate his seriousness and the holiness of his intentions. Once a man covered his intended bride with his tallit, they were considered as good as married, promised to a future together as man and wife. This symbolic act revealed that this was a man who would protect his intended bride, would provide for her, and would remain faithful to her all their days.
Ezekiel 16. Over 100 years after Hosea, the Lord once again provided a graphic example of the completely broken relationship between His chosen people and Himself. The context of this passage above is even more dramatic when seen in its context. This particular chapter came down through Jewish history as one of the most notorious passages in all of Scripture. It was so scandalous and shameful to the Jews that rabbi’s would not allow it to be translated or even read in public! Ezekiel in this Word from Yahweh goes into graphic detail, using vivid if not vulgar sexual language, to shock those in Jerusalem into a much-needed turnaround. The Lord wanted to explain in this poetic allegory, which became an extended metaphor, the realities of their betrayal to the divine Covenant established with them long ago. Ezekiel is reminding the people of Jerusalem of their abominations before Him, the despicable and disgusting acts of spiritual unfaithfulness after being blessed so profoundly down through their history. Ezekiel didn’t hold anything back as he described their chasing after pagan gods, sacrificing their children to the fire, participating in ritual prostitution, engaging in sexual perversions, and turning a blind eye in their laziness and pride to the needs of the poor. Ezekiel confronted them with how Yahweh called them out of the land of Canaan, how He graciously took pity on them in their humble state, and then initiated a ‘ketubah,’ a spiritual marriage covenant on Mt. Sinai with them which promised faithfulness and love and trust between them. It was at this time in Ezekiel’s poetic allegory of 16:1-14 that the poignant picture of Yahweh taking the corners of his prayer shawl and covering them in His marriage proposal. As the faithful husband to Israel, He then showered her with blessings, lavishing one undeserved gift upon her after another. Isn’t it amazing that, despite this spiritual unraveling of the Chosen People, the Lord Yahweh nonetheless seemed to be wooing Israel back to Him in this shameful passage, openly expressing His desire for her to return home to Him? Grace, pure grace.