The Gospel of Hosea

When we speak of the Gospels (Good News) we speak of the four Evanglists— the stories of Jesus by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But the Good News is presented in other ways as well. The 2nd chapter of Acts is a great example of this. Some describe the Parable of the Prodigal Son (probably better called the Parable of the Prodigal Father) has been described as the Gospel in the Gospels.

But the Book of Hosea is really a good example of the Gospel presentation— the plan of God to redeem mankind. Truthfully, this is stated pretty explicitly.

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”  So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. -Hosea 1:2-3

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.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek[b] of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.  Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days. -Hosea 3:1-5

The story of God and Israel is compared (or acted out) in the marriage of Hosea and his wife Gomer. Hosea is, presumably, a good man and husband, while Gomer is sexually unfaithful.

A good story is not simply a one-to-one connection between its plot and character and its meaning. There is always some areas of question and doubt. I would like to deal with a couple of them. Arguably these are not necessarily the most interesting or the most relevant.

#1. Gender Roles. God is linked with the husband and the sexually unfaithful wife is linked with Israel. But why is that? Could it have been reversed. Hosea was male, but there were female prophets so it could have worked in reverse. God is usually imagined in masculine terms and metaphors, but that is not universally done (God described as a “mother hen” caring for her chicks is the most well-known example). One might suggest that it has to do with power dynamics. After all, when the “mother hen” metaphor is used, it still places the hen over the chicks. But I don’t think any of this is critical. Jesus is described as a servant after all.

I think the strength of the story is evident when one tries to reverse it. One can, after all, imagine a prophetess who married a sexually unfaithful man, and then the man starts taking mistresses and cheating on her whenever he gets a chance. One can imagine this prophetess being told to forgive him and take him back in with her. If anything, the problem is that it is way too easy to imagine. The unfaithful husband is a trope. I was listening to someone this last week joking about “the myth of the monogamous male.” In addition, polygynous marriages (one man with multiple wives) was a thing. Truthfully, I can’t find evidence that it was recognized as a good or healthy thing. But it did happen. That, in itself, can add complexity to marriage as a metaphor for the relationship between God and Mankind.

The story gains a parabolic aspect when the roles reverse. The man is the one who is singularly faithful. The woman is the one who is remarkably unfaithful (infidelity is certainly common for women but not to the point that it is often presumed as it is with men). And then the man is the one who pursues and restores. This is more common, culturally, with women. Most cultures, at least, women are encouraged to ‘stand by their men’ and look the other way at the moral failures of their spouses. For the reverse, this is more challenging. In the Gospels, when Joseph believes he has evidence that his betrothed has been sleeping around, he is described as taking the noble path— quietly end the relationship. Less generous responses would be considered the norm. There seems nothing in the story that suggests that it would be considered culturally noble for him to forgive and forget, restoring the relationship.

So does the story support a patriarchal power dynamic? Yes and no. The story does not support the patriarchal setting necessarily, but it utilizes the presumptions of those living in that setting to shock them into seeing themselves as being like a faithful wife. Additionally, they see God is the shockingly faithful husband, even when the circumstances justifies rejection or even vengeance.

#2. A very different question of this story comes from my youth. I was part of a fairly conservative Baptist church, and denomination. I remember people struggling with the story. The struggle is from verse 2 in the book. “How could God have told Hosea to marry a ‘promiscuous woman’?”

There are different nuances to this concern.

First, part of this comes from the presumption that God predetermines who we are to marry. There is little evidence of this in the Bible. Some would say that because God is sovereign, he must be the one who decides these things. This is despite the fact that sovereignty is not the same as control. The right to rule or control in no way an obligation to control. Delegation is a normal and healthy part of sovereignty. Strangely, one of the few places that seem to support that God chooses one’s spouse is the story of Hosea and Gomer. We know that God chose Gomer and Hosea. And we know that God chose Adam and Eve. Soon, the evidence dwindles. One could argue that the story of Isaac and Rebekah sounds a lot like foreordaining. However, for every part that seems to support this, there is another verse where individual freedom of choice is suggested.

I think the concern here is that people read this and think, “Well, if God requires a man to marry a “bad” woman, what does that say about what he may do with me or perhaps with my children?” I don’t think the story says much of anything about how God works. The passage says explicitly what he was asking of Hosea. Essentially, God was saying, “Hosea, you are a prophet, and as such he share my message to the people— with both word and deed. I have a particularly difficult but hopeful message to the people and to drive this home I am going to ask you to do something difficult.”

Second, some think that God would never ask a righteous follower of Him to marry someone who is unrighteous. This seems to by theology built from Christian High School “purity culture.” The fact is that every person you might marry (whether by divine mandate, established by family arrangement, or by personal choice) will be a sinner. That person will also have some desires (both sexual and otherwise) that will strain the marriage. This is simply true. Now, did Hosea KNOW that Gomer would be unfaithful? The story suggests that God to him what to expect up front. However, I do wonder whether verses 2 and 3 of chapter 1 are more about reflecting on God’s work in his life. Not sure. The story makes sense as a parable either way. Perhaps it works a bit better if Hosea did know what to expect. God knew what to expect with Israel, after all. But the pain of infidelity would be more visceral if it came as a surprise. No one enters into marriage perfect. Pointing to Gomer as being too bad to be wed is probably too out of touch with our own failures, struggles, and unworthiness.

Enjoy the book of Hosea. Don’t skip it. It is far more relevant to our own situation than we would like to admit. I hope it is clear that when we read Hosea, we should NEVER be reading it connecting ourselves with Hosea. We are absolutely to see ourselves as Gomer. We are a complex mix of good and bad— desired by God to be redeemed and perfected.

Oh yeah. Since this is a Missions website, be very careful in trying to apply this story to missions. As missionaries we are every bit the faithless wife— more so than anyone you are trying to reach.