Marry a prostitute? It was commanded!

God commanded a prophet to marry a prostitute.  Can you believe that? 

Some say that Hosea married a prostitute.  Some say he didn’t marry at all and this is just an old fishing story.  I think we need to examine the facts to get to the bottom of things.  I also think God used Hosea to get a message across through prophesy like he has done so many times.   If we turn to the scriptures we see early on in Hosea beginning in verse 2 what God told him.  “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. (Hsa. 1;2)  This book of Hosea is certainly different isn’t it?  It is pretty strange that God would tell a prophet to “take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.”  It certainly caught my attention.  We know the land God is speaking of. It is Israel.

So God is going to make a comparison and use something called a similitude.

The word similitude isn’t a word I have kicked around much and I needed to seek the meaning so I include the dictionary meaning here for you.

Noah Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language gives the definition of Similititude as follows:

1. (n.) The quality of being similar or like; resemblance; likeness; similarity; as, similitude of substance. 2. (n.) The act of likening, or that which likens, one thing to another; fanciful or imaginative comparison; a simile. 3. (n.) That which is like or similar; a representation, semblance, or copy; a facsimile.

In chuck Smith’s commentary on Hosea he describes it this way, “A similitude is something that is similar to, by which you then draw a picture, something that you can see and then you draw from that a spiritual analogy”.[1]

So Hosea took Gomer as we see in verses 2-5 and Gomer conceived and bare a son named Jezreel.  I want to point out there is no evidence to suggest that Gomer was a prostitute prior to being with Hosea.  We do have the proof that she became a prostitute later.  So this is a situation where God knew the heart of Gomer and used her to get a message across.  Israel has been unfaithful and it is now that God is drawing a comparison between the unfaithfulness of his beloved people to the unfaithfulness of a marriage.  This is not the first time God has indicated His relationship with Israel is comparable to that of a marriage.

In his commentary, Chuck Smith said it this way, “I think it’s just that God told him to take this woman that God knew would be unfaithful in order that God might draw the similitude between this unfaithful wife of Hosea and the nation of Israel who had been unfaithful unto God.  For God had taken the nation of Israel as His bride, blessed her, heaped His love upon her, and yet she turned from God.”[2]

We know from reading the rest of the book that Hosea and Gomer had three children and they all carried names that hold prophetic meanings.  We also know that this marriage had all the issues that a very troubled marriage would have today.  We had Hosea the injured spouse and Gomer the immoral spouse.  Hosea’s marriage was a very visible example and message to Israel.

Hosea attempted many times in vain to save the marriage.  He tried to bar Gomer from the markets of the world as we see in Chapter 2, verse 6.  He tried to keep her home but she eventually ended up a prostitute in the markets and became a sex slave.  Hosea even pleaded with his son to try to talks some sense into his mother (2:2). It didn’t work and she continued to seek her pleasures at every opportunity she had.  Gomer was used, abused and well, you get the picture.  And she had become a sex slave for which Hosea bought her back for 15 pieces of silver and homer and half of barley (3:2).  He had to buy her as a slave.  We never get to see the ending of this and whether the marriage was saved or ended in ruins.  I think there is a point to this as well because we haven’t seen the ending to this adulterous relationship the Israel carries on.  But we will.

We know the end is drawing near.

In Hosea 8:7 we see, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”  And in verse 8, “Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.” So Israel would be for a while swallowed up among the nations.

Through the message of Hosea’s marriage God wanted to teach Israel and us about the anguish in His heart when His people commit spiritual adultery and become prostitutes to another god.

The story will have a happy ending because God’s bride will return to him as we see in Hosea 3:5, “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.”  And we also see in Chapter 14, verses 4 through 7, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.”  Therefor God’s wife will be restored.  The Bible says in Zechariah, “They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.”  Chuck Smith said, “And in that day when they look upon Him whom they have pierced and they recognize that Jesus indeed is God’s promised Messiah and they open their hearts to receive Him, there’s gonna be such a glorious reunion as they in love and repentance reach out to God and he in love reaches out to them and restores them.”[3]

And together they live happily ever after…  Amen.

“The Tubthumper”