As I read the Bible, I keep in mind that it is recounting historical events. The lessons learned from these historical events apply universally. This is especially true when we see some of the same failures taking place today that we read about in the Bible. The hard lessons that the children Israel eventually learned are the same lessons that we need to learn today. Unfortunately, the children of Israel repeated their mistakes over and over, and we are facing some of the same mistakes they did. When I say “we”, I am talking about this nation.
When I started writing this, I just wanted to give an overview of Hosea’s story and how it relates to today. But, before I finished, I realized that it had become too long for what I normally like to release. So, I thought it would be better if I wrote an introduction, and then laid each point out clearly in subsequent blogs. Hopefully, I will accomplish that!
Being a prophet for God in ancient Israel meant that sometimes God would tell you to do some uncomfortable things in order to get His point across. That is what happened in the life of Hosea. The book of Hosea opens up telling us:
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.” (Hos. 1:2 ESV)
So, Hosea goes and marries Gomer, and has 3 children with her. Being a child of a prophet must have been a difficult thing because your name was usually some kind of judgment. Hosea’s kids were no exception:
- Jezreel (a son) – meaning “God will disperse”
- Loruhamah (a daughter) – meaning “unpitied” or “not favored”
- Loammi (a son) – meaning “not My people”
Sometime after that, Gomer left Hosea, preferring the life of an adulteress. But, God knew that Hosea loved his wife, so He instructed him to go and get her back.
So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. (Hos. 3:2 ESV)
The first 3 chapters of Hosea tell the story of the prophet and his wife, and allude to how it relates to all of Israel as well. The remainder of the book goes into detail as to how this object lesson relates to the nation. How did Israel get to the point where God needed to show them this lesson?
Maybe a more important question for this blog is how does this relate to us today? Where are we individually and as a nation?
There are many examples of progressions in the Bible. You’ll see that the nation of Israel didn’t just begin to “commit great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” It started small, and progressively built up to the point that the Lord was calling their actions “great whoredom.” I call this:
The Downward Steps to a Fallen Israel
Step 4. – Got Involved in Worldly Things
Step 7. – Began to Worship Idols
With each step down, the children of Israel walked further from God, and it became easier to take the next step. Over the next several blog posts, I will look at each of these steps 1 at a time and explain how I think they relate not just to the “there and then”, but to the “here and now”.
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