Hosea 1:1-5 - "The Prophet and the Prostitute"

Hosea 1:1-5

"The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel."

When we take our Bibles and turn to the book of the prophet Hosea, we are immediately brought face to face with the name that is actually the same as Joshua or Jesus, (Hoshea) signifying a Savior and a Deliverer. Here is a type of the LORD Jesus Christ as the Savior, the Friend of sinners, the One Who did not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners (Luke 5:32). And so when we look at Hosea as a type of Christ, we see the prophet commanded of the LORD to "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD" (v.2). In this, we behold a picture of how it is that God could love sinners such as we are, by His immeasurable Love for His elect people.

Our LORD chose His bride from Adam’s fallen, sinful race. It wasn’t anybody who was deserving of being chosen or had any merit in themselves. As the Scripture declares, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise… That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29). This is precisely what is pictured in Hosea going out and finding a bride among a sinful race, one who was a prostitute herself, and that he should love her.

We love Him because He first loved us. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10). It wasn’t that Gomer came seeking Hosea, saying, I want to marry you. No, it was Hosea that went out and sought her. And even after marrying her, she still went out seeking after her lovers, just as Israel sought after other false gods as lovers. And yet God did not destroy them, for "except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and… like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9).

So the LORD commanded Hosea, that he might see what God Himself was seeing, to go marry a prostitute from among the people. Israel, a divided nation, guilty of whoredom, worshiping golden calves, adopting idolatrous practices, a people who honored Him with their lips but their heart was far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). And yet in His faithfulness, He called Hosea as His prophet to go and preach to the people. Wherever the LORD calls a true preacher of the Gospel, it is God Who purposed to do His work, even when politically and spiritually the nation is in upheaval and apostate.

And as we look at the historic setting, Jeroboam the son of Joash reigned in Samaria, as recorded in 2 Kings 14:23–27, where the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, and yet He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam. God’s immeasurable mercy is seen again in not destroying the northern kingdom entirely. But Jeroboam still did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. And the foundation of that kingdom itself was marked by the massacre recorded in 2 Kings 10:11, when Jehu smote all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel.

So the LORD said, "Call his name Jezreel" (v. 4). Jezreel means "scattered". And Israel would be scattered in exile, conquered by the Assyrian army in 722 B.C. But all of this sets forth the truth that salvation is of the LORD from beginning to end. Ours is the sin, but His is the salvation. Christ said that of all that the Father gave Him, He should lose none (John 6:30). And the reason for His love is not found in the sinner but found in God Himself. This is God’s immeasurable love for His people, pictured in Hosea, fulfilled in Christ, Who came to save those sinners that the Father had given Him.

Even in the opening blows of judgment pronounced in Hosea 1:1–5, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s wrath never moves independently of His eternal purpose of grace. Israel’s unfaithfulness could not nullify the faithfulness of God; their rebellion could not overthrow His covenant made with Christ before the foundation of the world. The scattering of the nation of Israel was just, yet within that scattering the LORD preserved for Himself a people—a remnant according to the election of grace—hidden, upheld, and secured in His Son.

What men saw as the crumbling of a nation was, in reality, the unfolding of God's purpose that could not fail. Jezreel’s judgment would give way to Jezreel’s sowing; the God Who smites is the God Who heals. And in all of this, our eyes are drawn beyond Hosea’s day to Him Who is the true Israel, the faithful Son, the One in Whom the remnant is gathered, kept, and made one—our LORD Jesus Christ.

May we therefore bow in humble worship of the God of justice and grace. For even when His hand is heavy in judgment, His heart is steadfast in mercy toward those that He has chosen and Christ has redeemed. Even when He scatters, He does so only to plant anew; and even when all seems lost, His electing grace in Christ ensures that nothing is lost. “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). To Him be all glory. Amen.