Her name means: "Completion"
Her character: Though a married woman, she carried on
numerous love affairs, crediting her lovers for the gifts her husband had given
her.
Her sorrow: To have become the symbol of spiritual
adultery—a picture of Israel's unfaithfulness to God.
Her
joy: That her husband continued to love her despite her
unfaithfulness.
Key Scriptures: Hosea 1-3
Her Story
The man stood at the door, craning his neck and peering through the
half-light. His limbs felt stiff and cold, despite the desert heat that still
warmed the narrow street. Other than a stray dog curled in a knot against the
wall of a neighboring house, he saw nothing. It was too late for a woman to be
walking the streets alone. But, then, she wouldn't be alone, would she?
He didn't want to go inside yet, to listen to the absence of her chatter, to
lie down on the empty bed. By noon tomorrow, the news of her betrayal would fill
every gossip-hungry soul in town like swill in a pig's belly. Hosea, the man who
would steer the nation with his prophecies, couldn't even control his own wife.
He felt grief and fury like a storm breaking inside him. He had meant to
guard his heart; he had never intended to give himself so completely. His pain
was the worse for loving her so well. For Gomer had squandered his gifts, mocked
his tenderness, and allowed herself to be seduced by other lovers.
Hadn't God warned him and instructed him to "go, take to yourself an
adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of
the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord"? He had named his children
"Jezreel" (God Scatters), "Lo-Ruhamah" (Not Loved), and "Lo-Ammi" (Not My
People). Each successive child measured the growing rift between husband and
wife. Hosea wondered whether he had even fathered the last two.
The word of the Lord that had filled Hosea's mouth now troubled his soul,
rushing back with appalling force. So this was how God felt about his own
people—bitterly betrayed, cut to the heart, disgusted, outraged. His tender
love, his every gift meant nothing to a people enamored with Canaanite gods.
Israel's leading men were the worst whores of all—virtuosos when it came to
playing the harlot, cheating the poor and imploring idols to bless them with
peace and riches.
But peace was elusive. Six kings had ruled the northern kingdom during a
period of just twenty-five years. Four were murdered by their successors and one
was captured in battle. All the while, Assyria perched like a vulture at its
borders.
If only Israel would learn its lesson and turn back to the Lord before it was
too late—if only Gomer would turn back. Hosea wanted to shout in her face, shake
her awake to her sin. Enough of patience. Enough of tenderness. She had ignored
his threats, shrugging them off as so many flies on a donkey. What choice had he
now? He would strip and shame her, punishing her unfaithfulness.
In the midst of his bitter grief, he heard the voice of God, strong and
clear: "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another
and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they
turn to other gods."
So Hosea took back the wife he couldn't stop loving. And the word of the Lord
transformed Lo-Ruhamah into Ruhamah (Loved) and Lo-Ammi into Ammi (My
People).
The story of Gomer and Hosea portrays God's jealousy for his people. For the
first time, a prophet dared to speak of God as husband and Israel as his bride.
But this is a tangled love story, one in which God's heart is repeatedly broken.
Despite his pleas, regardless of his threats, Israel would not turn back to him
until after the northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria a few years later.
Still, the knit-together lives of Hosea and Gomer were a living reminder to
the Israelites of both God's judgment and his love. Hosea's beautiful words
still move us as we think about the church today, about our own unfaithfulness
and God's forgiveness: "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in
righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the
earth."
No longer Lo-Ruhamah, we are Ruhamah (Loved), and no longer Lo-Ammi but Ammi
(My People). For our Maker has become our Husband, the one who hates our sin but
loves us still.
Her Promise
A tempestuous marriage. A wife who will not remain faithful to the husband
who loves her. A husband who not only remains faithful, but loving. Children
whose paternity is in doubt. All these are the elements not of a soap opera but
of a wonderful picture of God's love and faithfulness to his often unloving and
unfaithful people. The promises portrayed in the life of Gomer apply not only to
the people of Israel but to the people of today. God loves us and remains
faithful to us. Even when we abandon him and turn away, he waits with arms open.
He only asks our repentance and his blessings will again overflow.
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