Hosea Chapters 1 through 3

“HIS (Hosea) is a parenthesis of mercy in a passage of threatening. It relates to a people to whom the Lord was united by bonds of covenant love, who had, nevertheless, been faithless and rebellious. Strangely enough, it begins with a "therefore"; and the logic of it lies in the immutable resolve of the unchanging God never to renounce his covenant, nor utterly to cast away his chosen; as, also, in his unchangeable determination to win them to himself (Charles H. Spurgeon).”

      Hosea chapters 1-3 record the relationship between Hosea and Gomer.  Verse contains the introductory material to the book and verse two begins the account of Hosea and Gomer.

      Gomer was a prostitute.  God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute.[1]  There exist many theories about Gomer’s background as a prostitute.  No one really knows what kind of a prostitute that she was.  It is possible that Gomer was an average prostitute.  It is possible that she sold her body in order to pay bills and to survive.  The other theory states that Gomer was a prostitute in the temple of Baal.  She offered her body to her god in the highest form of worship through sexual gratification.[2]   A third theory exists concerning Gomer’s prostitution.  This theory claims that Gomer was morally pure prior to her marriage to Hosea but verse two is God providing insight to Hosea about what his wife will do.  Some people hold to this theory because Israel was pure before their “marriage” with God.  They also claim that this view fits more with Gomer’s discontent with Hosea in chapter two.  Finally, marrying a prostitute contradicts Biblical morality.

      These arguments should all focus on the word “whoredom.”  The Greek word for “whoredom” is “zanuwn.”[3]  It occurs in ten different verses of the Old Testamant.[4]  Genesis 28:34 refers to an actual prostitute.  II Kings, Ezekiel, and Nahum refer to sins committed in connection to idol worship.  Therefore, the actuality of Gomer in accordance with Scripture was probably either that of a common prostitute or a temple prostitute prior to marrying Hosea.

      The phrase “children of whoredoms” may refer Loruhamah and/or  Loammi.  It is thought that at least one, if not both, of these children were not Hosea’s biological children but were products of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea.

      Hosea married a woman by the name of Gomer.  Gomer’s name means “completion.”  She is the daughter of a man named Diblaim, whose name means “a double clump of figs.”  “Diablaim’s name suggests sensual pleasure or the sweetness of it” according to John Philips.[5]

      After they married, Gomer delivered a son .  God instructed Hosea to name his son Jezreel.[6]  The names of Gomer’s children are a sermon in themselves to the Israelites.  Jezreel’s name means “may God scatter[7] or may God sow.”

      Gomer’s second child was a girl.  God instructed Hosea to name her Lo-ruhamah.   This names means “not beloved”[8] and “had not obtained mercy.”[9]   Used in this manner as a name, Lo-ruhamah manes “she who never knew a father’s lover” or “unpitied.”[10]  It is for this reason that some speculate that this was not Hosea’s biological daughter but was a product of Gomer’s unfaithfulness.

      Gomer bore a third child.  She gave birth to a boy and God instructed Hosea to name him Lo-ammi.  Lo-ammi means “not my people” or “no kin of mine.”[11]  Therefore, some believe that Lo-ammi was not Hosea’s biological son but another product of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea.  Therefore, through this name, Hosea was publically denouncing any relationship to Lo-ammi just as he did with Lo-ruhamah.

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[1] Note:  The fact that God did not command Hosea to marry a specific woman by name shows that God never violates man’s free will.  He desires for use to make our own choices but He desires that we consult Him before making those choices or even allow Him to instruct us on what would be the best choice.

[2] Note:  This is what angered Moses when he came down from Sinai and broke the first set of the Ten Commandments.  The Israelites were partaking in immoral sexual acts, i.e. adultery, fornication, maybe even sodomy, in their worship to the golden calf (Exodus 32:16-25).

[3] Note:  It is number 02183.  It is pronounced zaw-noon’.  It means “literally: adultery; figuratively: idolatry.”

[4]  Genesis 38:24 “And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.”

 II Kings 9:22 “And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?”

 Ezekiel 23:11 “And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.”

 Ezekiel 23:29 “And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.”

 Hosea 1:2 “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. 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.”

 Hosea 2:2 “Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;”

 Hosea 2:4” And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.”

 Hosea 4:12 “My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.”

 Hosea 5:4 “They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.”

 Nahum 3:4 “Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.”

[5] John Philips, Exploring the Minor Prophets (USA: Kregel Publications, 1998), 40.

[6] Hosea 1:4-5.  For fulfillment, see II Kings 10:11; 15:10, 12, & 29.

[7] Note:  See also Jeremiah 31:10.

[8] Romans 9:25 “As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”

[9] I Peter 2:10 “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

[10] Note:  in everyday life, Hosea called Lo-ruhamah simply Ruhamah, which means “pitied one.”  See Hosea 2:1.

[11] Note:  In everyday life, Hosea called Lo-Ammi simply Ammi which means “mine.”  See Hosea 2:1.