Hosea, a prophet of the Lord, was told by God to marry a prostitute. The exact words are (in the New King James version), “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry.” It is the weirdest thing. Here is a man who is in God’s service, held to follow God’s law and speaking with God’s voice, but God wants him to marry a woman who would have been seen as “unclean” and certainly not what his mother and father were hoping for. It must have caused quite a stir, a nice Jewish boy raised in the temple, marrying a whore.
Nevertheless, desiring to please God more than men, Hosea marries a harlot and his wife has children that the Bible says are not Hosea’s. She even leaves him at one point and returns to prostitution. It seemingly turns from bad to worse when God sends Hosea after his unfaithful wife, after she betrays him and returns to a life of prostitution. Hosea, at God’s command, goes to find his wife who is “loved by a lover and is committing adultery”. Hosea buys her back for fifteen shekels of silver. He purchases the woman who betrayed him at a slave auction.
What is God saying in this story? God said that He so loved the world that He gave His son that whoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Hosea tells the story of what God means by “whoever”. “Whoever” is not limited to those who read their Bible or who make it to church on Sunday. “Whoever” is not limited to those who have managed to stay out of trouble or . . . insert what you like. “Whoever” is Gomer, Hosea’s wife, the harlot who marries a Godly man, leaves him and commits adultery and ends up a slave, sold on the block for fifteen shekels. This is a picture of God’s heart: He comes after us to where we are lost in sin and bondage, even sin and bondage of our own choosing. He seeks us out as we are being sold on the block as slaves. He will pay the price for us and take us home with Him and make us His children, His heirs.
In fact, He has paid the price. That is His amazing love!
No matter where you are, no matter what you have done, no matter how low you feel, Your heavenly Father is nearby. He is looking for you. His arms are open.
