“So you think Hosea was a real person?” a group of incredulous classmates asked a young pastor friend. When he agreed that he did, snickers ensued. A senior colleague came to his side saying, “So do I.” Put me in the “So do I” category.
Hosea’s story is so unusual some think it must be an allegory. Why would God tell a preacher to go and redeem his wayward spouse? The first two chapters tell us the sad story of Hosea marrying Gomer who subsequently became unfaithful to him. The names of their children may even put their paternity in question. It appears then she ran off, left him, and fell into a sad state of slavery. When Hosea saw her on the auction block, he took all of his money and the remaining food in the house and purchased her. His redeeming love vividly portrays God’s redemptive kindness to the Israelites.
This story is our story. We may want to be heroic Hosea. But in the story, it turns out, like the Israelites,we are more like Gomer. Our hearts are idol-making factories. We rightly sing, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” Paul captured it in Romans 5:6-8, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. . . . But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
What did Gomer do when Hosea purchased her back from slavery? Hosea entered a new covenant of faithfulness with her. In the same way, God offers forgiveness and faithfulness to us. Let us abandon our idols and return to seek the Lord today. This is what real persons do in response to our real God. We could live happily ever after. Will we? Return.
