Hosea 3 is a short chapter. In the opening verses: God directs Hosea to go after and find his wife who had abandoned him for an adulterous lifestyle. Hosea was to seek her out and take her to himself in LOVE just as the Lord loves Israel, even though they abandoned Him and gave themselves over to false gods and raisin cakes. Now the "raisin cake" imagery is a provocative picture for a Jewish person. Raisins were aphrodisiacs (sp?)...so the picture here is that they had forsaken the true God for some type of false worship involving sexual immorality.
V.2-3 is the explanation of how Hosea went and redeemed his adulterous wife by purchasing her freedom. NOW GET THIS...she was living a life of adultery and was enslaved to someone else...and her husband, while she was unfaithful to him, bought her freedom. (Sounds like Romans 5:8) to me...
V.4 is a parallel to the imagery of Gomer's situation. It is a picture of Israel's prostitution and v.5 is a picture of their repentence and redemption. In v.5, Israel approaches God in fear and He restores them with love. Though not explicit, I imagine (and it would be a good literary parallel) that it is implied that Gomer was afraid when she was redeemed by Hosea, but he handles her with love.
Like Gomer, we have all left our first love along the way. God provides a life for us that is so good, yet we choose to pursue our own course, for our own reasons. In doing so, we suffer in amazing ways. Yet, God has purchased redemption and He restores us in love...because He is.
Proverbs 6:30-31 is my takeaway today. "Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; but when he is found out, he must repay sevenfold; he must give all the substance of his house." In this proverb we see that there is understanding in the heart of men toward those who commit wrong. Understanding does not, however, translate to a free pass. There are always consequences for bad conduct. God is a just and righteous God. We too are oriented toward righteousness and justice as core values. Some would equate the conduct of a criminal stealing from them as not being a big deal. They would go on to release this person from all obligation in some sort of pious response. Such is not the biblical model. Nothing is overlooked. Nothing is "swept under the rug." Even our own sin was not dismissed, but was punished in full in the body of Jesus Christ so that the justice of God would be satisfied.
One application that comes to mind...is that we cripple those around us when we do not hold them accountable and responsible for their bad actions. God expects more...and we are like Him when we do too.
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2 comments:
Thank you for the message... I completely meant to get on line yesterday. It is a crazy thought that he (Hosea) was forced to marry her and she was unfaithful, but he then to go after her when she clearly was not interested in one relationship. I, too would be fearful to come back home, she seemed to be running toward her sin and away from the one who wanted her to be pure. One would think, doesn't he get it? But instead he brings her back home. I imagine that is how God feels about us. It seems so simple, stay close to my side and follow my instructions... but instead we run and try to hide our sins by running. God comfronts us and we have to do it all over again... I know it seems silly but I fall more and more in love with God everytime I am in his word. :) Thanks for spending your quiet time with me.
Doesn't sound silly to me. I know what you mean!
Grace,
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