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 (Hosea 1:2).
" + "History is replete with marriages of convenience, those alliances which benefitted a given family's or families' political, economic, or social Shechem and Dinah; David and Michal; Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter; Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine; Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; and Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette are examples. In each case either one of the forenamed or a related third party (family) profitted from the match in lands or possessions, titles, etc. Such marriages are not only to be found in ancient times or the Medieval, Romantic, or Victorian periods; rather, they continue to this day: many such matches are settled upon because they seem right.
" + "Well, one can call God's ordinance that Hosea wed a harlot a great many things, but a marriage of convenience is certainly not one of them. Indeed, Hosea's union with Gomer exemplifies a marriage of inconvenience. Yet, Hosea's married life and the fruit of this union are much more than the tawdry pecadilloes of an ancient prophet. Rather, Hosea's marriage right down to the names of his children prophesy the Word of The Husband to Israel, His adulterous wife. God commands Hosea to live out in his life the turbulent love story of the Lord God and His chosen people.
" + "In order to understand Hosea, we must start at the beginning. The sovereign, eternal God ventured through the dim mist of eternity and freely chose to create something out of nothing. He fashioned the world and the things that dwell herein. The climax of this gracious act of creation was God's formation of man. But not only this: after God formed man, He joined himself to man. Scripture informs us that God breathed the breath of life into mans nostrils and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). This is important because it reveals to us that in order for man to live, God had to freely give man His Life (ruah); in the beginning God sacrificed some of His own essence that man might be a living soul. This sacrifice on God's part was not contingent upon the choices man might make, but Who God was, is, and ever shall be — love.
" + "From the first, God's marriage to man was one of inconvenience. Yet, God eternally desired, willed, and purposed (and still does, of course) the ultimate good of His Chosen People even at His own expense. He kept sending his wayward wife love letters via His prophets, signs, and wonders even when his betrothed, Israel, flat—out rejected such. And, this loving, gracious, and merciful God afforded one of His prophets the honor of enjoying life from His perspective, that is, the opportunity to thrive in a marriage of inconvenience. God gave Hosea the opportunity to model unconditional love.
" + "How often — when we encounter situations or people that we deem to unfair or unjust — do we reject them and give up on them? In judgment, we withhold the mercy God continues to shower upon us in spite of ourselves. We stubbornly refuse to operate in love. In our own living we sense this; deep within all of us the God indwelling us cries out against, even groans against, the sin with which we continue to agree. How often do we meditate on the truth that God, Who is so much more, still desires to indwell us when we are so much less? We have God on the inside of us. How often do we let this Part of us take the lead in our lives. For, there are many Gomers in all of our lives. Certainly returning evil for evil is a tempting option, but it is not God's. Married to God as we, who are Christian, should be, we must recognize that the Godly life is not all peaches and cream, that God reveals God's glory in tribulation, that is, in those situations and turbulent relationships where only divine intervention can be of any assistance. No matter how inconvenient marriage to God may seem, such a union keeps us in peace — not the absence of conflict, but wholeness; because marriage to God is the only union that profits a man, woman, or child anything. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all!
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