Greetings to you all greatly beloved of God and welcome to another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We bless the name of the Lord God for the gift of life and for His benefits on us each new day. Praise be to God!
In our today’s episode 584, we shall be concluding chapter 1 of the Book of Hosea titled:
What You Need To Know About Hosea’s Family And Ministry – Concluded
In our previous post, we have given you a brief background concerning the life of Prophet Hosea. This post will focus more on the symbolically written message of this great man of God.
Remember in verse 1 that Hosea served God under the following Kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah who were all kings of Judah, and Jeroboam II son of Jehoash, who was king of Israel.
Then in verse 2, we read that when the Lord first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to Hosea, “Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her. In the same way my people have left me and become unfaithful.
Looking at the symbolic and figurative statement in the above verse, we will discover that the verse was only a pictorial illustration of Israel’s unfaithfulness using Hosea’s marital life as an illustration.
As a matter of facts, this has led to so many interpretations as to what was intended in this chapter. But I am going to share with you the two most prevalent interpretations of this statement.
The first school of thought is that of predicting the future for Hosea’s marital life. In other words, Hosea did not marry a prostitute. Rather, he got married to a normal woman and some months or years into their marriage, the wife became unfaithful to him.
The second school of thought is that the command was for Hosea to marry someone already known as a prostitute. I want to agree more with this interpretation, because it’s in line with what Jesus Christ and His Apostles taught us in the new testament.
In either case, the focus of this chapter has been explained in verse 2, which means the people of Israel had already abandoned God completely and were worshipping strange gods.
Hosea’s story is a beautiful story painting a picture of the way Christ loves us in our unworthiness, as lost sinners.
The Bible says that:
But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly! And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. Romans 5:8 (The Passion Translation)
In fulfilment of what was said about Hosea’s marital life, he got married to a prostitute called Gomer and she had three children.
If you pay close attention to how the Bible describes her giving birth in verse 3, the Bible says Gomer conceived and bore him (Hosea) a son.
However, in verses 6 and 8, the Bible did not mention Hosea to be responsible for the remaining two children. The Bible simply says: “And she conceived again and bore a daughter.”
While verse 8 says: “…she conceived and bore a son…”
Notice the word “him” was omitted in verses 6 and 8.
What does this imply?
It implies that Hosea was not the father of the remaining two children. Gomer was truly an unfaithful wife, who having given birth to her first child could no longer control her propensity to sleep with other men and got pregnant in the process, which resulted in the birth of the remaining two children.
As a matter of facts, Gomer left her matrimonial home and ran after another man after her first issue with Hosea. This was the reason Hosea was instructed in chapter 3 verse 1 to go and buy her back, which he did having spent fifteen pieces of silver and 150kg of barley.
Verses 4 to 8 provide us with the names and meanings of the names of the three children.
All the three names have symbolic interpretations describing the relationship between God and the people of Israel.
The first son was named Jezreel, which in Hebrew transliteration means “God sows” but the usage in Hosea’s context means to punish. The king of Israel would be punished for his sins.
The second child (a daughter), was named Lo-Ruhamah is named to denote the ruined condition of the kingdom of Israel. In Hebrew transliteration, it means, “no mercy.”
The third child (another son) was named Lo-Ammi, which symbolizes the alienation of the people of Israel from God. In Hebrew, it simply means “not my people.”
Gomer fell into the sin of adultery because it was already in her nature and she could not help it.
The same thing applies to every human being before salvation.
We did not become sinners because we commit sins. Rather, we commit sins because we’re sinners. That was why God decided to help us in dealing with that problem by removing the nature of sin and replacing it with His own nature.
No wonder Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Meaning that we need to be re-born by God so that the nature of sin we inherited from Adam will be replaced with the nature of God brokered to us in Christ Jesus.
John 3:6 implies that being born by our physical parents put us under the captivity of the flesh and we will continue to produce the fruit of carnality, but the moment we are born by the Spirit of God, we will produce the fruit of the Spirit. That is the meaning of “that which is born of the flesh is of the flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Through our faith in Christ, we were purchased back and re-united with God, just like how Hosea bought back his wife. Hosea paid Silver and Barley, but Christ made the payment for our sins with His own blood.
Wow! What a loving Father.
If you are reading this and you are still cheating on your wife or husband or you are still indulging in one sin or the other, then you are making mockery of the finished work of Christ. You need to allow God to give you a spiritual rebirth so that you can have God’s nature, because God’s nature does not fornicate. God’s nature does not lie. God’s nature does not curse people. God’s nature does not cheat in any way. God’s nature does not hold grudge, bitterness, envy etc.
As a matter of facts, what is still hindering some people from receiving breakthrough is because of all or some of these impedimenta. They hinder thought process. In short, sin is a destroyer.
Why not have a rethink and allow God to change the way you think – otherwise called “repentance”
Repentance helps you to have a rethink and with the help of the Holy Spirit, helps to change your thought process and channel it to things that have eternal benefits. Remember, as a man thinketh, so is he. Christ is knocking at the door of your heart. Repent now and receive Him by faith, before it is too late!
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let’s pray:
The Bible says, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly…John 10:10b, I declare by the authority in the name of Jesus, because you believe, eternal Life is your portion. I declare, no one on this platform will die or perish. You will live long and be in good health and enjoy unlimited wealth, in Jesus name.
Again, I want to pray with some families on this platform: your home will not scatter. None of your children will be wayward. Every internal and external force of darkness, every evil stronghold, planning to sow discord into your family, be exposed, be pulled down and rendered powerless, in Jesus name.
I declare, God’s riches are forever flowing into your life, and you will always enjoy Divine providence and surplus, in Jesus name.
Please, read the following Bible chapters for today: Ezekiel Chapters 35 – 42 with Psalms 130 – 132
I call you blessed now and always.
Friday November 06, 2020 (DDMI)
