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Hosea 3:1—5 February 7, 2021 I Don't Know About You—I Use the Word LOVE to Describe My Feelings for Far Too Many Things

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Hosea 3:1—5 February 7, 2021 I Don't Know About You—I Use the Word LOVE to Describe My Feelings for Far Too Many Things Hosea 3:1—5 February 7, 2021 I don’t know about you—I use the word LOVE to describe my feelings for far too many things. I say things like “I LOVE— - Sleeping Late - Christmas - Reading - Quiet Evenings - Family Nights - Rain We often regard LOVE—I think—as word we say to express our appreciation for something. But that understanding falls short of the sort of LOVE we see in Hosea 3 today. A pastor from the last century, James Montgomery Boice called this chapter we are studying today, “The Greatest Chapter in the Bible.” You might not expect that sentiment here in the hinterlands of the Old Testament. Why would he say that? Because, we see two things that DO NOT go together— Infinite, unchanging LOVE from God FOR 1 Unworthy, flighty people. For Spiritual prostitutes. Our God does not FALL into love—he sets his love on people not because they deserve it or because he is lonely or because of something lacking in him—our God loves because that is who he is. And he never stops showing his love even in the face of our offenses. Hosea 3 will show us this contradiction—and the key to understanding this passage might be summarized like this: PROP: Bind yourself to the GOD who loves you. “And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.” 1 PRAY 1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ho 3:1–5. 2 1. Go Again— Chapter 3 is when this story gets personal for Hosea. In the prior two chapters we hear a more impersonal reporting of what the Lord said to Hosea. [2] When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” [3] So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Hosea 1:2–3 Notice the difference between that and the first verse of chapter 3, And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, The ‘he’s’ are replaced with “I’s.” This account just got a whole lot more personal and gut-wrenching. What is the call? “Go again”….and what? “Love a woman.” This is an invitation for Hosea experience trauma. Those old wounds are opened right back up for Hosea. He had loved this woman once and she was gone. Not gone because she died. But 3 gone because she chose to play the whore and run after other lovers. It wasn’t as if she committed adultery once or twice and came back groveling on her knees to Hosea. She ran off and didn’t look back. And Hosea hears the voice of the Lord saying, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, This is not a woman who struggles with adultery. No, her identity is tied up with her adultery. She is no longer known as Hosea’s wife, but an adulteress. And so, Hosea has to go and find her to get her back. Where is she? She was up on the auction block. Being sold to the highest bidder. Vs. 2 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. He bought her. Hosea gives tantalizingly few details here, but imagine! To go and love this woman, to go and love Gomer he had to go and buy her. This she was put upon the auction block and means one of two things— 4 1. She had fallen into such debilitating debt that she had to sell herself as a slave to get out of debt. 2. She was owned by her pimp and he had no more use for her and so he went to sell her so that he could get something out of her. Either way. This is humiliating for both Gomer and Hosea. She would have been stripped naked and exposed to the leering eyes of any and all potential buyers and those who just wanted to leer. Here, in the center of town, Hosea comes. We can only what imagine the humiliation for Gomer. Standing in front of all the community naked, exposed with nowhere to hide. I can imagine that standing there before her community she closed her eyes to try and dull the pain. And then bidding starts…. 5 Shekels. 6 Shekels. That voice sounds familiar. It couldn’t be. 7 shekels. 8 shekels. It couldn’t be. Impossible. 9 shekels 5 10 shekels And her pulse quickens. Would he come? After what I have done? 11 shekels 12 shekels Maybe at this point, she hazards a glance at into that face she knew so well. That face that she BOTH craved to see BUT also was terrified to see. That face she ran from. That face that she spat on. That face that she tried to put out of her mind…. 13 shekels 14 shekels That face. Those tender eyes. That sad smile. Hosea. And the price is set, for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley Hosea had bought his wife back. She who had put herself in innumerable other men who were content to use her, now was in the arms of the only man who probably ever loved her. What would he say? 6 Do you realize how embarrassing this is for me? Everyone is here—my reputation is ruined? No. And what does he say? Vs. 3, 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you. Do you see what he says? I will love you as mine, not because I bought you back but because I have taken you back. I am asking you to give yourself to me as I give myself to you again. What I ask of you—to give yourself only to me; I give to you—I give myself entirely to you. She was his not by means of money but by means of love. “Hosea owned his wife. She was his property. He could do anything he wished with her. If he had wanted to kill her out of spite, he could have done it. People might have called him a fool to waste his money on a worthless woman. She might have suffered far more as a slave to some beautiful woman where she would have been obliged to fetch and serve and carry and watch and never enter into 7 the kind of pleasures that brought her to her state in her first place. Still, Hosea could have killed Gomer if he had wanted to. Yet he did not, because at this point Hosea’s love, which is an illustration of God’s love for us, burned brightest. Instead of seeking vengeance, he put Gomer’s clothes on her, led her away into the anonymity of the crowd, and claimed that love from her that was now his right. Moreover, as he did so, he promised no less from himself.” James Montgomery Boice Hosea— Came to Gomer when she was enslaved. Paid the price for Gomer when she was up for sale. Saw her exposed and knew her for she was. Called to Gomer to bring her to himself. Clothed Gomer to cover her nakedness. Promised to have her and hold her and love her. Welcomed her back home. Hosea and Gomer renew their vows. Why? Why did Hosea do all of this? Vs. 2— 8 “And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” Because Hosea is enacting God’s love for a faithless people. How faithless were the people? God had set his love upon them and they spent their love not for the God that had brought them up out of slavery but they were busy loving raisin cakes. God is committed to them and they are committed to their—raisin cakes. Raisin cakes! How strange is that? Raisin cakes? Why did Hosea go and love Gomer again? Look again at vs. 2, “And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 9 Here we see a picture of God as the loving husband of Israel.
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