Hosea 2:1-13 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. (2) Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; (3) Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. (4) And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. (5) For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. (6) Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. (7) And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. (8) For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. (9) Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. (10) And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. (11) I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. (12) And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. (13) And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the LORD.

The prophet Hosea preached to the people of the kingdom of Israel about the same time frame that Isaiah prophesied. Hosea was told by God to marry a wife of whoredoms – a harlot and his marriage was to be an example of how Israel behaved toward God. Sadly, Hosea’s wife, Gomer, cheated on him and ran off. However, we see Jesus Christ pictured in the Book of Hosea chapter 3 as Hosea pays a price and redeems his unfaithful wife, just as Jesus Christ paid the price for His unfaithful people. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins – He did not deserve such a death because He was without sin, but Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross to pay to penalty that each man and woman should have to pay for their sins. We deserve death, Jesus Christ did not. He died so that we can live.

Hosea 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

Hosea had three children by Gomer and in chapter 1 we are told that their names are: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi. Turn to Hosea 1:6 and then 9.

Hosea 1:6 And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

Hosea 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Names in the Bible are very important and they often tell a story on their own. Here we see in Hosea 1 that the first child is Jezreel which means “God will scatter.” Jezreel is the name of a city and is also and area of land that is going to be a part of the Battle of Armageddon. Jezreel is a name associated with battles and death and this name given by God points out that God will scatter and not restore the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. The second child is named Lo-ruhamah which means “not having obtained mercy, not pitied.” Furthermore, looking at the name Lo-ruhamah, we come to realize that the name implies that this child never knew a father’s pity which points that Hosea may not have been the physical father. Hosea’s wife was unfaithful to him, just as God’s people have committed spiritual adultery against Him by worshiping idols and false gods.

When you read through the minor prophets, you see the idolatry and spiritual adultery that Israel and Judah chose to indulge in. They continued to pay God lip service and go through the outward motions of their worship, but inwardly they were deep into adultery. They may have felt they were very sincere in their worship and they likely justified their actions. But that does not change the fact that their actions were wrong, no matter how sincere they may have been. Sincerity without truth is wrong. You can sincerely believe you are boarding an airplane to California, when the plane is actually flying to Florida. It does not matter how sincerely you believe it, the truth is that airplane is flying to Florida.

The third child born was a son, whom God directed be named “Lo-ammi.” His name means “not my people” which means for Hosea this son was not his, and God is telling the nation of Israel that they are not His people. Why? Because they have turned away from Him. But we know that Israel will be God’s people again, read verses 10 and 11.

Hosea 1:10-11 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. (11) Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Let us continue to chapter 2 verse one.

Hosea 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

In the last two verses of the preceding chapter we saw that (1) Israel will experience a great increase in population; (2) in the nation there will be a great turning to God; (3) the northern and southern kingdoms will reunite so that the twelve tribes will again form a single nation; (4) they will appoint themselves one head, who will be the Messiah (McGee). Please note that in verse one here the children are called Ammi and Ruhamah – Ammi meaning “my people” and Ruhamah meaning “pitied.” God is not done with the Israelites yet, despite their unfaithfulness to Him.

Hosea 2:2,3 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; (3) Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

God is telling the children to go to their mother, Gomer, and plead for her to come back to Hosea. Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, despite his love for her. Likewise, Israel was unfaithful to God, despite His love for them. Gomer had a husband that loved her and took care of her and she still ran back to her old ways of prostitution. Israel had God who loved them and took care of them and they still ran back to idolatry. J. Vernon McGee wrote: The greatest sin in all of the world is not murder or theft or lying… But judging from what the Scriptures teaches, the worst sin one can commit is to become unfaithful to one who loves you. Applying this to our own lives, what is the greatest sin a Christian can commit? Many people feel that it is murder or lying or even coveting, but the greatest sin unfaithfulness to God who has redeemed you and who loves you. There is no greater sin than that, my friend.

In verses 3 and 4, we see that God will judge the nation of Israel for their sin and no mercy on them if they refuse to repent. The whole nation is in idolatry or spiritual adultery.

Hosea 3:1-3

God tells Hosea to go get Gomer back! Prostitutes of that time would have sold themselves into slavery and Homer went after her and bought her back. Fifteen pieces of silver is half the replacement price of a slave (Ex. 21:32) which shows how low Gomer had fallen. Hosea went and redeemed Gomer, he paid the price necessary to bring her home. What do we see here? The love that God has for the world. Gomer was not really even worth the fifteen pieces of silver and we, as sinners, are not worth the price God paid for us.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

1Pe 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  (19)  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

God gave up His only begotten Son to pay our redemption price. God’s wrath was inflicted upon His only begotten Son so that people today do not have to feel God’s wrath. Jesus Christ had to suffer and die on the cross so that people can be redeemed. Why? Because we were lost sinners, sold and in bondage to sin. That is why Christ gave up His life for the world, so that we can come to Him as sinners and repent and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. What a wonderful picture we see here in the Old Testament book of Hosea about our Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. A person that has not repented of their sins and fully trusted in Jesus Christ can come to Him no matter how awful or bad their sins are. Jesus Christ created all things and all people and everything belongs to Him. However, He will not force anyone to come to Him – they must choose to come and that is another aspect of God’s love. Before salvation, we were walking contrary to Him and were only focused on our wants and desires. Our love and affection was only directed to our favorite person: us! While the world was enjoying its sin and staying far away from God: Paul wrote:

Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And there is that phrase again, “but God.” Despite our unlovable condition, God still loved us and loved us so much that He gave His only begotten son. Again, God’s love is unconditional – He still loves us even when we are behaving at our lowest behavior. In Hosea 14:4, God declares: I will love them freely. Charles Spurgeon wrote: When God says, “I will love them freely,” He means that no prayers, no tears, no good works, no alms are an inducement to Him to love men. Not only nothing in themselves, but nothing anywhere else was the cause of His love to them, not even the blood of Christ. Not even the groans and tears of His beloved son. These are the fruits of His love, not the cause of it. He does not love because Christ died, but Christ died because the Father loved. Remember that this fountain of love has its spring in itself, not in you, nor in me, but only in the Father’s own gracious, infinite heart of goodness.

Just because one person does “more” for God than another, does not mean God loves that person more. That person may receive more rewards or crowns, but God does not love that person more. If He did, then His love would be conditional. Just as Hosea pleaded with Gomer to return to him, God pleads for His people to return to Him. The Israelites had been unfaithful to God and because of what Hosea went through with Gomer, he was able to walk through Israel tearfully telling them, “You have left God, please repent and come back to Him. I, Hosea, somewhat know how God feels because I feel the same way. You have broken the heart of God.” Now God could have cast Israel away. God could have destroyed His people, but God loves His people and he made a covenant with them and He kept it, even if they did not.