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—

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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

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—

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

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?

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

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—

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,

Here we see a picture of God as the loving husband of Israel. He has never stopped loving her and she is running after raisin cakes. Raisin cakes?

She has a misplaced love.

Remember, we have said that in Hosea God presents himself as the loving husband of the nation of Israel and they have been as Gomer to him, and worse.

Other portions of scripture say the same thing—

“For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; Isaiah 54:5

Other places call God—

- King - Father - General - Shepherd

But it is important to see what Hosea shows us about God as husband.

How would God respond to a people who play the whore if he were only known to us as—

- King: Anger - Father: Punishment - General: Court Martial - Shepherd: Rolling of the eyes

But husband? Why Husband?

God wants us to see that his love is peculiar. Not what you expect. Unique. Singular.

We run out of ways to describe his love. And our only response is

PROP: Bind yourself to the GOD who loves you.

God wants us to see that his love for us is deeper than any human relationship that any of us have—even deeper than a spouse. And the measure of his peculiar love is this:

He loves despite our faithlessness.

Hosea goes to love again.

But this story is NOT about Hosea. If he were here he would be distressed if we looked at him and say—oh how he loved! He would say—my story points to a greater story.

Love again.

2. Return Again—

4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.

In other words, they would not listen to the voice or story of Hosea. They would be destroyed and left without a way to worship God.

They ran whoring after other gods with their raisin cakes and God let them go. They had run to the embrace of other gods and their promise of—

Freedom Life Happiness Security Prosperity Fulfillment Companionship Blessing

They had run after those gods—thinking they would find what they wanted—but instead they just found devastation.

That is what happens. False gods—idols—allure us with pledges of those things that we want. Or we think we want. Idols promise—

Promise FREEDOM but give SLAVERY.

Promise LIFE but give DEATH. Promise HAPPINESS but give DESPAIR. Promise SECURITY but give PERIL. Promise PROSPERITY but give BANKRUPTCY. Promise FULFILLMENT but give EMPTINESS. Promise COMPANIONSHIP but give ISOLATION. Promise BLESSING but give CURSING.

And that is what happened to Israel. They had run after false gods and the real god had warned them and removed his hand of protection and they were ground into powder.

They had loved their raisin cakes.

Seems stupid.

Right? That is the point. God holding out his hands of love toward the people and they say—thanks but I would rather have these raisin cakes. OR if I follow you will I have to give up these raisin cakes?

We have raisin cakes too.

Israel was not the only people who struggled with idolatry. We do too.

An idol is anything that becomes more important to us than God. Now, we are good at justifying ourselves. We might say—God—is the most important thing to me.

But does your life reflect that?

Are there raisin cakes you are holding onto that you won’t give up? There are ways we protect our idols. OR our raisin cakes. Do you love your raisin cakes? Or your God?

This is going to be reflected in your life. Do you love other things?

Raisin cakes that you think will give you—

Freedom Life Happiness Security Prosperity Fulfillment Companionship Blessing

Things like:

Money Leisure Relationships Vacations Alcohol Drugs

Things like these seem so alluring. Sometimes they seem to be just the thing we want. And all the while we can’t tell but we are turning away from the God who loves us we move from

Binding ourselves to God who loves us to various idols that will use us.

And we turn from God to the raisin cakes of—

Money Leisure Relationships Vacations Alcohol Drugs

Here is where we need to be honest and ask ourselves the question—is there something or someone else that we are binding ourselves to?

Some Warning signs—

- You love something more than God. - Surrounding yourself with people who will agree with you? - Isolating yourself from people who have concern for you? - Say a lot, “You don’t understand.”

Some of us need to understand that we are loving the raisin cakes of than our God. And some of us need to realize that now and turn aside from those idols. The Lord is calling to you.

Listen!

Romans 1 has a refrain to those that the Lord calls to—

God gave them up. God gave them up. God gave them up.

If you don’t respond you may lose the ability to hear. You will get what you want but you will find not the hope and pleasure you sought but death and devastation.

Is that you?

We need to hear the voice of the Lord this morning.

The greatest love expressed in this passage is not Hosea for the adulterer Gomer but God’s love for us.

Vs. 5,

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.”

Something changed here.

The people of God once didn’t think he was worth a raisin cake— NOW in the latter days they would come in the fear of the LORD and to his goodness.

How does a people go from wandering away to come to?

By means of David.

David was dead in Hosea’s day he is remains dead in our day some 3000 years later. Hosea and his original readers heard the name “David” and they would have known that there was a promise that a king would arise from the line of David and redeem the people of God.

They knew he would be king.

But they were not clear on the way that he would gain that authority. He would express that peculiar love of God by pursuing a people loved by and loving others, playing the whore. A people content to spend their love on the raisin cakes of—

Freedom Life Happiness Security Prosperity Fulfillment

Companionship Blessing

This David would come to the auction block. He would see his people naked and vulnerable enslaved to their passions and lusts. He would see them in their chains owned by their transgressions and sin with no way out.

He did not offer money.

His method of payment would be more costly.

We were all up on another auction block—

The stakes were higher. His people had rebelled against an eternal God. Their punishment was not that they would merely be enslaved for their lifetime, but rather they were sentenced to death, forever.

And so.

This David would not cry out

15 shekels

He would be stripped naked and offered up NOT on an auction block but offered up just the same he would be offered up on a Roman cross. He would be offered naked and exposed and given in payment for a whoring people.

The reason this David would be crowned and enthroned king is because he showed he had authority because of how much he loved. He loved his people enough to take their place and suffer their punishment.

He was treated like a prostitute—so we might be treated like an heir. He was treated like a sinner—so we might be treated like….. He paid the price for us—when no one else could, or would if they could. He sees us naked and exposed for who we are—and loves us to still. He calls us sons and daughters—because he loves us. He clothed us with his righteousness—because he loves us. He promises himself to us—never to leave us for forsake us. He will bring us home.

Why? Love.

His love.

PROP: Bind yourself to the GOD who loves you.

ONLY place to be.

- No one has sinned too much. Come to him

Christians

- Do you love your God more than your raisin cakes?

PROP: Bind yourself to the GOD who loves you.

PRAY

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, [21] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20–21