John Brown :: Hosea 2

I. INTRODUCTION

A. This morning we continue with the love story of Hosea and Gomer.

1. I trust that you remember that the Lord instructed Hosea to love his wife with an unconditional love - even though she had turned to a life of prostitution.

2. We looked at his children whose names were Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi.

a) These names respectively meant "God will scatter", "He will not have compassion", and "You are not my people."

(1) Of course these names symbolized the inner turmoil of a messed up family, but on an even larger scale they reflected what was going on in the nation of Israel.

(a) God's people have also prostituted them selves and as a result the Lord would scatter them.

(b) They would suffer from their dis-fellowship with the Lord and:

(c) All this resulted because the no longer acted like or even wanted to be children of the Most High!

3. But the Lord was through with them and neither is Hosea through loving Gomer - his wife.

a) I don't know if you caught it in last weeks teaching, but as we ended chapter one - the Lord gave 4 prophecies concerning Israel.

(1) HOSE 1:10-11 (NASB) Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And it will come about that, in the place Where it is said to them, "You are not My people," It will be said to them, "You are the sons of the living God." 11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.

(a) #1 - Israel will experience a tremendous population increase.

(b) #2 - Many will return to the Lord as sons of the Living God!

(c) #3 - Judah and Israel - Northern and Southern kingdoms would unite to form a single nation.

(d) #4 - They will appoint for themselves one leader - who will be the Messiah!

(i) Now, through the lives of Hosea and Gomer - we will see how the Lord loves us, how He restores us, and how He will restore Israel.

(ii) And in doing so, we see yet the 5th prophecy concerning Israel - in the first verse.

II. HOSE 2:1-5 (NASB) Say to your brothers, "Ammi," and to your sisters, "Ruhamah." 2 "Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; and let her put away her harlotry from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts, 3 Lest I strip her naked and expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, make her like desert land, and slay her with thirst. 4 "Also, I will have no compassion on her children, because they are children of harlotry. 5 "For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'

A. Notice that the "Lo" has been dropped from Loammi, and Loruhamah.

1. This turns the meaning from negative to positive! So the Lord is saying, "Say to your brothers, my people' and to your sisters, pitied'".

2. Hosea is asking his children to go and beg their mother to come home and be a mom and a good wife!

a) But in essence, the Lord is asking those left of His people - who loved him, to plead with the Nations of Israel and Judah to come home and quit worshipping other Gods! (Sleeping around)

b) IF, Gomer refused every act of mercy and love from Hosea, he would have no choice but to leave her in the hell she had created.

(1) You can see from verse 5 that she had become completely dependant upon her lovers for her very existence.

(a) And who know - perhaps Hosea was a simple man who could not provide her with the silks or perfumes or the luxuries she as willing to sell her soul for.

(b) satan is very good at "luring" people into his trap with the luxuries of this world!

III. HOSE 2:6-7 (NASB) "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths. 7 "And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; and she will seek them, but will not find [them.] Then she will say, 'I will go back to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now!'

A. Satan's promises are always over-inflated!

1. He always paints his world as brighter, bigger and more beautiful, but once he has his victim trapped - he reveals it for what it is - empty, cold and desolate!

a) Do doubt Gomer thought prostitution was the way to get the things she wanted.

b) Who knows, maybe she felt trapped by the constraints of being a mother and a wife - what woman doesn't at times.

c) Perhaps it seemed glamorous and even exciting for a time - but there was no way it could be blessed because it was wrong. Sin can never be blessed!

2. We need to know, if we chose a path of sin and dis-fellowship with the Lord, it can never be blessed.

a) Satan may allow a brief time of enjoyment and even prosperity, but that is all part of the entrapment. But it is only a matter of time before he reveals his real plan!

(1) We too will soon lose our path, we may pursue our "loves" but we will never quite attain them.

(a) And all the while our "husband" and "father" will be waiting for us to return to Him!

IV. HOSE 2:8-13 (NASB) "For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and lavished on her silver and gold, [which] they used for Baal. 9 "Therefore, I will take back my grain at harvest time and my new wine in its season. I will also take away my wool and my flax [given] to cover her nakedness. 10 "And then I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her out of my hand. 11 "I will also put an end to all her gaiety, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festal assemblies. 12 "And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, of which she said, 'These are my wages which my lovers have given me.' and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will devour them. 13 "And I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers, so that she forgot me," declares the LORD.

A. If we apply this to Hosea, it almost seems as though he loved Gomer so much that he went to her lover or lover(s), and made sure she was taken care of financially even while she was in her deepest sin! Without her knowing about it!

1. But how long could he do that if she would not repent!

B. From the Lord's perspective, He has created it all!

1. And yet, often He stands by and watches His people use His blessings to worship themselves and the gods of this world, thinking that it is theirs and that somehow they have earned the right to do with it as they please!

2. For Israel and Judah, that was about to end. There wouldn't be much "bounty" in Assyrian slavery!

a) Likewise there isn't much "bounty" in the slavery of sin.

V. CONCLUSION

A. HOSE 2:14-23 (NASB) "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her. 15 "Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 "And it will come about in that day," declares the Lord, "That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali. 17 "For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more. 18 "In that day I will also make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, The birds of the sky, And the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, And will make them lie down in safety. 19 "And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, 20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord. 21 "And it will come about in that day that I will respond," declares the Lord. I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, 22 And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine, and to the oil, And they will respond to Jezreel. 23 "And I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they will say, '[Thou art] my God!'"

1. 14 (NASB) "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her - these are words of courtship and marriage.

a) 16 "And it will come about in that day," declares the Lord, "That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali.

(1) Ishi means = "my husband" and Baali means = "my master".

(a) You see eventually because of her husbands persistent love - Gomer comes home to be a faithful wife and mother.

(b) She no longer saw Hosea and her family as her "master" that she "had to serve", but as the loving husband that he was.

(i) And by the way, since he had purchased her back from her slavery - he technically was her "master" in every sense of the word - but his love set her free to love him back!

2. The Lord will do the same for Israel!

a) She will learn to love Him in a whole new way as they discover Him as Messiah.

(1) And I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they will say, '[Thou art] my God!'"