Author: missionspaul

Hosea go love Gomer again. That was the command. It was to demonstrate the love God had for the Israelites despite an important aspect that we may overlook: the raisin cake!

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3 v 1)

What a strange thing to add as a complaint: they love the sacred raisin cakes.

There’s nothing wrong with the raisin cake itself. In 2 Samuel 6:19 David hands out the raisin cakes to the people after the celebration of the ark being back in its rightful place. They are mentioned in a few other places and also in a mourning kind of way of what has been lost, in Isaiah 16:7, “Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth” Those must have been great raisin cakes in Kir Hareseth!

But why does tell Hosea He has a problem with them?

This seems not only micro-managing over something so harmless it just reads a little weird. I mean how do you preach against raisin cakes? But the NIV helps because they include a word before the raisin cakes that some of the other translations and that is ‘sacred’. So what may be the problem here?

“Hosea go and love Gomer again as an example of my love for my people even though they eat the sacred raisin cakes.”

• They are a luxurious item: they love wine (4:10) and they build palaces (8:14) and they eat raisin cakes!
  • Love the temptations of materialism and you will drift from the Lord. Focus on your belly or what you have or even what you don’t have that others have, it will distract you. It will become so important to you that your love for God will diminish.
• They are a sacred item: they are ‘sacred’ raisin cakes. They could have been eaten at the altars of foreign gods.
  • Love these and you love other altars not the true altar. It is symbolic of God’s people trying to compromise in loving God and loving their cultural practices equally. This is not the abandoning of God per se but worshipping Him through other altars also, it is idol worship.
• They are a distraction item: It signifies wilful rejection of God.
  • The people were focusing on dried fruit when they could have given themselves to the God of everything, He owns all the fruit! They settle for second best.

Materialism, Idolatry, distraction combined with complacency, pride and self-centredness meant they turned their back on the One who provides.

But still He loves them!

That is the lesson of the sacred raisin cakes!

Can you imagine the pain of this husband, Hosea? Maybe some reading this can do more than imagine, perhaps they are experiencing the pain of betrayal every day. The pain was personal but her sin was public and it demeaned all that Hosea believed in as a prophet and a servant of God.

If Hosea had divorced Gomer we would have been so sympathetic wouldn’t we?

“The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.” (Hosea 3 v 1)

What? Again?! Surely not again?

We can hear this kind of cry. Why? Because we have said something similar before. Except it is usually, ‘never again’ and over far less painful circumstances.

Who is Gomer to you?

Who have you cut off or walked away from? Who has made you look a fool?

Are we not so thankful that God is an again-God with His love for us?

Is this a call for us also to do the same as He does for us?

Hosea’s love was God’s love for Israel. God’s love is to be the love for our own ‘Gomer’.

And if we lack this love then we must ask the Spirit for His help.

God will answer.

No matter how difficult it is today never doubt whether God will move to you.

God will step towards you and into the situation.

“In that day I will respond,” declares the Lord—“I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2 v 21-23)

He will provide.

There is no limit for He holds everything. Protect your heart. Don’t fall into the thinking that you are entitled and that you deserve something from Him and this world. If we got everything we deserved we wouldn’t be here for we should have judgment!

He has stepped in before and He will do it again.

Do you remember the names of Hosea’s children?

Do you feel condemned? (Jezreel) He will step in and plant you; repurpose you and open the door of hope to you. This is the promise of resurrection. He will raise you up again.

Do you feel unloved? (Lo-Ruhamah) Then the promise is that of love. He will step in and demonstrate His love to you.

Do you feel distant from God? (Lo-Ammi) Then the promise is of knowing you are called a child of God and that you belong to Him.

All 3 children given prophetic names of judgment are turned around because God steps in and restores their identities.

And we shout ‘You are my God!’

When God steps in everything changes.

It doesn’t matter who you have become or what you have done. You can even be the famous prostitute of the Old Testament. You can start all over. This is the gospel. This is the good message heard 7 centuries before Jesus Christ came to fulfil the prophecy.

“In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master. I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.  I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” (Hosea 2 v 16-20)

• I will betroth you … I will betroth you … I will betroth you. Three times.

Hosea says to Gomer and the Lord says to His people and the Spirit speaks to us today:

I will bring you back to the beginning again! I will take us back to the place of our engagement. My righteousness will fill the betrothal and I will have dealt with the justice of your waywardness. Our betrothal will be full of love and compassion for one another.

The Spirit is still doing this today. This is the word for today. Everyone can begin again.

• I will remove the idolatry from your life.

Though it did not happen during this time of the Minor Prophets such as Hosea it did through the work of Jesus Christ. And it does today. In Christ our lives can be completely changed. Total transformation from how we have lived because everyone can begin again.

• I will make a covenant.

He will bring us to the place of laying down in safety. Whether from the beasts or the sword He will remove the threat to our peace. So no matter what happens around us within us is perfect peace and assurance that He is with us. We no longer have to fight our corner. Everything changes because of His covenant because everyone can begin again.

• I will remove the fear and create the relationship.

What does Hosea want from Gomer? What does the Lord want from Israel? What is the Spirit saying to us today? The formalities are gone. This is not religion but relationship. This is not business proposal this is intimacy. From this moment you don’t come back home and fearfully serve me as a slave. The Prodigal story tells us the Father wants more than that. He restores to a place of deep love. Why? Because everyone can begin again!

Hosea surely is now going to divorce Gomer? It seems not! Even though he has forgotten him:-

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achora door of hope. There she will respondas in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt”. (Hosea 2 v 14-15)

His response is he is going to allure her. This is a powerful response to his wife who had been allured by sin. Hosea is moving in purity towards his wife. Her Saviour (the meaning of Hosea) will attract her to himself. She will want his saving work before he is finished. She will no longer forget him.

• Are we still allured by Jesus? Do we still long for Him?

He will lead her into the wilderness. Not necessarily literally but into a solitary place just for the two of them. Alone. Away from the other men.

• Do you feel the call to come away with Jesus and to be still, on retreat with Him?

He will speak tenderly to her. Literally this means ‘to speak to her heart’. She needs to hear His words directly to the core of her being to soften it, to comfort it and to change it.

• What are you hearing from the Lord? What is He saying to you?

He will give back what has been taken. He had caused the ruining of her vineyards but now He will restore them. He will give back. He will make her prosper again.

• What has been stolen from you?

He will fill her with hope. The Valley of Achor was the last place to become a door of hope. It was a place of failure as the whole of Israel knew. The place where Achan and his family were judged and killed as punishment for trying to deceive everyone by keeping the spoils of war leading to Joshua’s army experiencing an embarrassing failure for God took His hand off them. In the place of no hope He gives hope.

• Where is your valley of Achor? See the door of hope.

He expects her to respond as in the early days. Her response to sin will be nothing compared to her response to Him. He will restore the passing years. She will respond like she used to. Her first love will be restored, where she first met Him and loved Him. Some translations say she will respond by singing.

• Are praises flowing from you today?

He is wooing you. He will win you back wherever you are.

Hosea wants her home. Even when she wanders away everything she gets comes from her husband even though she doesn’t see it. What will it take to bring her home?

God wants to be the husband to His people but they have turned their backs on Him and abused His blessings. They are hypocritical because they have continued on the one hand with their festivals and celebrations to Him and yet at the same time worshipping Baal. So what will God do? He will move towards them in power!

“I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewellery, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the Lord.” (Hosea 2 v 12-13)

There we have it. The painful reality. “… but me she forgot.” Hosea was really feeling this message personally and it cut deep into his heart. Gomer had forgotten him. Have you ever felt forgotten? How do you explain such a feeling? It is death inside. It is over. She is not returning. Does she think of the good times that you once had? Or are they forgotten too? Has she deleted every photo from her phone? Are you not anywhere in her mind or sight? To be forgotten means someone or thing has replaced you. But to be forgotten also means your friends will want you to forget her.

That is something Hosea will not do.

This is something God has not done over you and me either. Though we have forgotten Him by many distraction of life He remains focused in His love for us. We have lost our first love for Jesus and it shows in many ways but He is steadfast in His love for us.

Thank you Jesus, our perfect Hosea/Saviour!

Hosea wanted Gomer home and God wanted Israel home too, back in relationship with Him. She/they had taken Hosea’s/God’s blessings and used them for herself/and for Baal worship.

God gives blessings and He can take them away also. In His desire for our closeness He will allow the full impact of sin, which is shame, to come upon us. It is the oldest story. Adam hid from God because of shame and it led him to be afraid of God’s presence which led him to try and take control by blaming Eve. What Adam needed was a Saviour.

Hosea decides he is not going to provide/bless Gomer any longer. God in His desire for His people decides that to continue to bless them so that they abuse the blessing is not working. So He decides to withdraw.

“Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her naked body. So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands. I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.” (Hosea 2 v 9-11)

There is nothing more shameful than a spouse having been found out and exposed for their sin. Well, there is actually.

The shame of a follower of God who once had intimacy with Him but because of sin loses everything. I know so many. But even then they do not turn back to their Saviour.

God stopped all their joyous celebrations which turned out being worship to Baal. He would destroy the harvests of Israel so that they had nothing to celebrate with.

God gives and He can take away and He is God.

Hosea was no push-over and neither is God. God will not be mocked.

He gives and He takes away and all along He does this because of His love for us.

Yesterday I went for a walk along a lovely path and noticed a path to the side which was overgrown with nettles. The only way through that path was to get stung. I didn’t try it.

It reminded me of the grace from God. There are paths that in His wisdom He does not want us to go down so He blocks those paths even though we may be tempted to go down them. If you are feeling contained or trapped today it may well be the grace of God preventing you from walking away from His presence. Then today I read these verses:

“Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’ She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold—which they used for Baal.” (Hosea 2 v 6-8)

Hosea was gracious in that knowing the waywardness of Gomer he made sure that it would be difficult for her to go again. Hosea traced her paths and studied the way she took. What kind of husband does this? It is the one who longs for his wife to come back home.

But there was a previous grace. Another hidden grace. Gomer didn’t know of this grace when she was in the house of one of her lovers that Hosea had been to. Can you imagine Hosea getting to the house and leaving at the door the grain, the new wine and the oil, even the silver and the gold? This is outlandish grace. Some would say foolish grace. Unacknowledged grace!

Those who say this is not grace have not understood that this is what God has given to them as he did the people of Israel. He continued to bless them even though they turned His back on them and this prophecy is a final warning to them.

Even in our imperfection and our sinfulness, in our waywardness, God has always been there for us. When we were at our worst He chased us and provided for us. We took what He gave us for example, our wisdom and ability to create and innovate and we have used it against Him and for more sinful ways. Yet He has pursued us and has contained us. It is Grace upon Grace. Why?

He wants us home.

His Grace will do it.

Sadly there are many stories on social media of fathers who discover that their children are not theirs. Even after many years they find out by chance that their DNA does not match. Is there anything more devastating? 

Look at these verses.

“I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery. Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.” Hosea 2:4-5 

We don’t know whether Hosea knew all the time (though the prophecy starts with the assumption that these are his children) but certainly now after many years, the children are grown, he knows. Gomer has gone again. She has been unfaithful to their marriage vows. She has returned to prostitution and somehow Hosea has found out that the children he thought were his were a direct result of those early years of infidelity. “… they are the children of adultery”

Why does Hosea earlier plead with the children to stop their mother but then here (perhaps some time later) he condemns them?

Do you know those situations where the children side with the spouse who caused the trauma in the family and not the innocent spouse? Maybe his children were deceived and manipulated.

We can feel Hosea’s pain. Can we feel God’s?

God has watched His people claim to belong to Him and yet follow the gods of Baal and Asherah. This was blatant syncretism. They taught their children their ways. 

What was happening is still taking place and even more so in 2023. So we see ‘Christian Church-goers’ holding the Bible in one hand with its orthodox beliefs and practices and in another hand they hold the gospel of the world which says God is love so do what you want. Is that what we teach our children now? Do they become part of our adulteress ways before God?

And that might not be you. But perhaps we can look at what we are truly passionate about? Is it Jesus? Or is it the things that surround Jesus? Our buildings and programmes, our numbers and finance and our popularity? Individually where do you put your total trust? In God alone? Or do you feel you need to fight for your rights? 

Why did Gomer go after her lovers? It wasn’t for sex. It was for food, water, wool, linen, olive oil and drink. For sustenance, for clothing, for skin-care and for alcohol. Didn’t Hosea give her those things?

Why do we look to other provisions than continue to trust God for them? Are we really unlike Gomer?

That was one of my favourite choruses sang in church as a child. I must have sung it a million times! Living it has been the challenge. To turn from this world and keep my eyes on another world and importantly on Jesus is the call to us all.

Gomer had this same problem.

“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst.” (Hosea 2 v 2-3)

Hosea calls on the children (who are now adults probably) to help him with Gomer. She has gone again or it could be possible she never stopped committing adultery. “Go find you mother and do what you can to turn her around” is basically the message. What kind of man is this Hosea? Would not any other man just simply reject her completely after even one prostitution? But Hosea is not any other man. His name means Salvation. He is the prophet carrying a message told to get himself into this predicament so that He could proclaim God’s message to Israel from it.

The relationship has gone: she is not my wife and I am not her husband. We have nothing.

The provision was still there even though the relationship was gone. Gomer had a home, husband and family and even though she had so many blessings to change she kept drifting back to her old ways. Here comes the warning to the children that if Gomer didn’t stop it she would lose Hosea’s provision; she would not be clothed, she would have nothing left and she would be in a worst place than when he found her.

And like Gomer … Israel with their longing for other gods like Baal and Asherah are wandering away from God.

And like Israel … we with our ego’s and our eyes filled with ambition, desiring more and working hard to be noticed, being enticed with fame and fortune, reach out for the poisonous fruit to become someone. All the time we think we still have our relationship with God. But it is broken. It is distant now. And soon if we don’t stop it, we too will be broken.