Faithful God (Part Two): Family Matters

Transcript

JROT 2
10/02/2022
Faithful God (Part Two): Family Matters
Hosea 1:3-9
Jesse Randolph

Well, I’m sure most of us here this evening would affirm that we live in dark times. We live in dark times economically. We live in dark times culturally. We live in dark times spiritually. You only have to read the paper for five minutes or watch the evening news for five minutes or read the latest LifeWay “State of Theology” survey for five minutes to affirm that fact. Knowing the darkness of our times, we can find ourselves falling into this trap of believing that the times in which we live are times like no other. As though there were no previous generations who could possibly understand the apostasy and the degeneracy and the filth that we see all around us. We forget that in many previous eras of history, including biblical history which is revealed on pages of the Old and New Testaments, that there have been those who lived before us. Who lived in cultures that, as in our day, are awash with a variety of different types of sin. This includes the people who lived during the period of the divided monarchy when the kingdom of Israel was split with the ten tribes in the north and the two tribes in the south; which was the setting for the prophet Hosea’s ministry. During that time there was king after king and generation after generation who regularly outdid their predecessors in their pursuit of false gods, in their false worship practices, and in their outright rejection of the one true God, Israel’s God, Yahweh.

This is why we see not only in the book of Hosea but in many of the Old Testament prophetic books God calling out Israel through His prophets for their spiritual waywardness. For their spiritual adultery. For their spiritual whoredom. God had, in a real sense, wed Himself to Israel way back in the days of Moses on the peninsula at Sinai. We see this all the way back in the book of Exodus. But Israel had wandered from God and had become like the adulterous wife whose eyes, and whose affections, and whose actions had become entangled with another object. Namely, the false “gods” of the surrounding people groups there in the promised land, meaning the many different “ites” of the land. The Hivites, the Jebusites, the Canaanites, and you know the rest. Just as a flesh-and-blood husband whose flesh-and-blood wife commits adultery, the spiritual adultery of Israel grieved God. But because of His love for His people, He sent prophets like Hosea to them to plea with them to return to Him. To remind them of His love for them and to warn them of the judgment that would come if they didn’t repent of their adulterous ways.

See, no matter how dark the times become. No matter how dark the days seem. God always preserves a remnant of His people in the midst of darkening times when the storm clouds are gathering. That was true of Israel in Hosea’s time. And it’s true in our day, some 2,800 years after Hosea lived. God always preserves a remnant and God always preserves a voice of truth to speak to that remnant. Whether that was the prophets of old. Whether that was Christ Himself during His earthly ministry. Whether that was the Apostles following Christ’s ascension. Then there’s today, pastors in our churches who instruct God’s people in truth. God is always and ever has been faithful to preserve His remnant. We see that truth over and over in the book of Hosea.

Now, we can read an Old Testament prophetic book like Hosea; and fall into the trap of thinking that a book like this doesn’t have a whole lot to say to us today. Nothing, friends, could be further from the truth. For starters, “all Scripture,” as we know “is breathed out by God, 2 Timothy 3:16. That includes each of the books of the Old Testament. It includes the works of these so-called minor prophets like Hosea. All Scripture including Hosea is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Hosea, we have to remember, is in the Christian canon of Scripture and we are a Christian church. So, we should read Hosea. We should study Hosea as I am doing right now, and we should preach Hosea. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, there might be this competing tendency which would be in error, to read New Testament realities back into the Old Testament setting of Hosea. To find the cross in Hosea. To find Jesus on every page of Hosea. To find ourselves in Hosea. Such an approach would betray normal and consistent principles of literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutics and it is an approach we want to and really must avoid at all costs.

But there are, no doubt, eternal principles in this book, the book of Hosea, that we can extract, and meditate upon, and apply to our lives. For instance, God’s demand of utmost loyalty to Him has never changed. God’s hatred of sin has never changed. God’s command to His people to be holy has never changed. God’s faithfulness has never changed. Sadly, our tendency as people and even as blood-bought people, saved people, redeemed people, toward spiritual harlotry or adultery have never changed. Just as spiritual harlotry existed in Hosea’s day it exists in our day as well. As we go through our study of this book if we fail to perceive, confess, and repent of our own spiritual infidelity toward God, we’re missing the point. We’re missing out on the real “surgery” that this book, and any book of the sixty-six books in the canon of Scripture ought to perform on our hearts.

Now to help you and to help us all in the process of self-evaluation as we work our way through Hosea, not just tonight but in the months ahead, I’m going to give you on the front end, questions. I guess you can call them application questions to think through as we study this book of Hosea. This isn’t necessarily tied to the passage tonight but really for the whole book that we’ll be studying in the days ahead. These are borrowed by the way from George Zemek and his commentary on Hosea. Here’s one, is there any possession, pleasure, or relationship that you are willing to sin against God in order to obtain or keep it as your own? Here’s a second one, is there any possession, pleasure, or relationship for which you would sin against the Lord if you could not obtain it or keep it as your own? Another one, when you are afraid, is there anything or anyone, besides the Lord Himself, in whom you place your trust and confidence in order to experience peace or contentment in your heart? Fourth, under pressure, do you seek relief, comfort, reward, protection, pleasure, joy, or safety in anything or anyone other than the Lord? Last, when you experience success or prosperity, do you give thanks or glory to anything or anyone other than God? Hopefully, thinking on and praying through those questions as we make our way through this book will help root out any tendencies toward spiritual harlotry. Towards spiritual adultery.
I’m now asking you as we go through this book to simply resist the temptation to think to yourself while we’re doing this study, “I’m glad I learned a few more facts about the book of Hosea.” “I’m glad I sat and learned a few new ideas while my kid was at Boys of Faith or Girls of Grace.” “I’m glad I’m not like the nation of Israel!” Resist that temptation to think in those terms as we go through this book. Rather, let the Spirit do His work through your part as the word is preached as we go back 2800 years. Search your heart, for your own forms of spiritual unfaithfulness. For your own tendencies toward spiritual idolatry. And yes, for your own proclivities toward spiritual harlotry. Humbly admit, as I must do, as I study this book each and every week, that you and I both, are more like Gomer than we are like God. We are much more like rebellious Israel, than we are like the faithful prophet, Hosea. Ask God, by the power of the Spirit, to root out, and put to death, those tendencies toward spiritual harlotry that still remain.

With that, back to the book of Hosea. Last week, we got through verses 1 and 2. We got into some of the background information about Hosea. We saw that his name means “salvation.” Likely it is a shortened form of the name “Yahweh is salvation.” We discovered that Hosea ministered toward the middle of the eighth century B.C. Meaning that was some 750 years before the birth of our Lord. We saw that he ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel and was likely a native of that region. We saw that the period in which he ministered, was called the “second golden age of Israel”, which was a period of relative economic and military prosperity. At the same time, it was a period of spiritual decline. Then we also saw that Hosea received a command directly from the Lord, here in verse 2, which reads this way: “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”

Now, tonight, we turn to verse 3. Which got lopped off from last week’s message, when I ran out of time. But it’s as good a place to start as any for this week because it ought to encourage us, if not convict us, in terms of what we see here, in this verse. Note, after being given this command by God in verse 2. Look at what happens in verse 3, it says: “so he went”, that’s Hosea, “and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” Did you catch those first few words? “So he went.” There’s no sense here, from either the Hebrew grammar or the surrounding context of this passage, of any sort of gap between verse 2 and verse 3. There’s no indication after Hosea received the command in verse 2, that he went out on a prayer walk to consider whether he should follow the Lord’s command. There’s no indication that he went out to a lake to skip rocks at sundown, to sort of contemplate as to whether he should obey the Lord. There’s no sense that he went back in his study, to parse the meaning here of the Lord’s command. “Does ‘go’ mean ‘go now’”? “Does ‘harlotry’ mean what I think it means”? “Isn’t there a better way God could illustrate His point that He’s trying to make about Israel’s spiritual whoredom?” No! There’s none of that here. Instead, Hosea’s obedience is immediate and complete.

Even though he undoubtedly realized the pain his obedience would involve Hosea did not protest. He did not engage in delayed obedience. There was no dragging of his feet. There was no shaking of his fist. There was no eyerolling. There was no sense of complaining that what God had asked him to do was unfair or unsavory or unwise. None of that. Rather, the text states plainly, verse 3, “so he went.” Disobedience was unthinkable. Talking back to God was not on the table. He received the Word of the Lord and he acted on the Word of the Lord and that was it. Note what he did, in response to the word of the Lord. He did exactly what God had commanded him. He “took Gomer,” it says, “the daughter of Diblaim.” Meaning, he took this otherwise-undesirable woman as his wife. The prophet married a prostitute. The herald married a harlot, and what he did was unthinkable. Frankly, if it weren’t recorded for us here on the pages of Scripture as a command that he received from God it would be unbelievable.

Now, though we don’t know much of anything about Hosea except from what we have here in the book that bears His name we do see this account given to us in Scripture that Hosea was a man who relentlessly pursued the goal of obedience to God and specifically, the word of God. It’s one of these major points from this book and from this scene which bridges contexts, and which transcends testaments between where Hosea was and his setting and where we are today. The major point that hits all of us right between the eyes is this. God always expects from His people immediate obedience to His Word. I will say it again. God always expects from His people immediate obedience, total obedience to His Word. No matter how big the “ask.” No matter how sweeping the command. No matter the nature of the sacrifice required. So, the aim of everyone in this room tonight who is one of God’s people who have trusted in Jesus Christ and through His Spirit are now being conformed into Christ’s image is total and unreserved obedience to God and His Word. God revealed His commands to Hosea audibly as we see here from the page. He reveals His commands to us some 2,800 years later on the printed pages of Scripture. But that doesn’t change anything about the total and immediate response of obedience that we should have and which God expects.

The words “so he went” in verse 3 of course, applied immediately to Hosea. But they apply to us today, as well. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to share His Gospel with unbelievers. “So I went” and proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ to them. God has told me, in His Word, that I am not to forsake the gathering of believers. “So I went,” as you went, and gathered on the Lord’s Day today. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to serve in the body of Christ. “So I went” to church leadership and asked where I can serve. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to contribute financially to His church. “So I went” and wrote a check, or setup for online giving. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to picture the love of Christ for His church in my marriage. “So I went” after work or after church, home to do just that. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to raise my children in the fear and instruction of the Lord. “So I went” home and read Scripture to them, and pointed them repeatedly to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God has told me, in His Word, that I am supposed to read His Word and delight in His Word “so I went” and carved out a time regularly to commune with Him in that very special way. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to pray to Him, and cast my burdens upon Him. “So I went” and devoted time to prayer today. God has told me, in His Word, that I am to have love for
my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. “So I went” and resolved old conflicts by seeking forgiveness for my own sin and extending forgiveness to those who have sinned against me.

Is that your goal here this evening? Total obedience to the Word of God? In the way that Hosea here was committed to being totally obedient to the Word of God? Again, if you’re a Christian, here this evening it absolutely should be. James 1:22, “But prove yourselves doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer” it says, “and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”

So, the text tells us that Hosea takes Gomer as his wife. And says “he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim and she conceived and bore him a son.” This holy prophet of God joined himself in marriage to this woman who was shamelessly engaged in immorality.
As I mentioned last time, there is no really good reason exegetically or otherwise to depart from the traditional interpretation that Gomer was an actual harlot. An actual prostitute at the time Hosea married her. God chose an unlovely, used, unchaste bride for His prophet. Gomer who in addition to having an unfortunate name, at least by modern standards for girl’s names was utterly unworthy of someone of Hosea’s status. As we’ll see in the next couple of weeks she was utterly unworthy of her husband’s committed love. Hosea, by contrast is portrayed throughout this book, especially in these first three chapters, as being this consistently faithful husband who, notwithstanding his wife’s indiscretion and infidelity and, notwithstanding the embarrassment and public shame she causes him consistently and persistently pursues her.

And what a picture that paints. What an illustration that gives of this wide moral gap that exists between a thrice-holy God and wicked and corrupt and sinful man. Not only in Hosea’s day. But in our day. Though Gomer was a real historical person, an actual harlot from Samaria living sometime in the 8th century B.C. there is a real sense in which every person who has ever walked this planet save one, is a “Gomer.” That is, a corrupt and defiled and impure and unholy wretch who has no business in human terms being wed to our Heavenly Husband. That is, the eternal and righteous God revealed on the pages of Scripture. Praise God for His matchless and undeserved grace. Praise God for sending His Son into the world to bear the punishment for our sins in His body so that our sins could be forgiven. So that we could be brought into this right relationship with God and so that we could have the hope of eternal life through Him and with Him.

Back to Hosea. Look again at verse 3. Now, we know nothing further, genealogically about, Gomer other than her father’s name “Diblaim” who himself is unknown to history. We know from Genesis 10:2-3 that Noah had a grandson named Gomer but there’s obviously no connection given the passage of years between that time and this time. What the text tells us, though is that after Hosea took Gomer to be his wife “she conceived and bore him a son.” And now the stage is set because we’re about to see three births which will dramatically and progressively portray the Lord’s unfaithful people whose spiritual adultery is about to be exposed for the purposes of warning and judgment. The names of these three children as we’re going to see represent this crescendo of God’s divine judgment on His own people. With that we get to to these three births in this narrative.

Let’s start with the first child, who we see in verses 4 and 5. Hosea 1:4 “And the LORD said to him,” to Hosea, “‘Name him Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” Let’s start with the words “Name him Jezreel.” That name “Jezreel” literally means “sown by God.” Not “sewn,” like with a needlepoint. “Sown,” like “sowing seed.” “Sown by God.” So the name Jezreel, “sown by God” as a personal name, this was quite an uncommon name during these times. In fact, we only see this name mentioned one other time in the Bible in 1 Chronicles 4:3. There was a town in Judah named Jezreel and in fact one of David’s wives, Ahinoam, came from that city as we see in 1 Samuel 25:43. But there’s a lot more going on with this name than would appear to be the case on first glance especially when one considers the significance in biblical history of the valley of Jezreel.

First, the valley of Jezreel goes all the way back to the days of Gideon. In those days, in the days of the Judges, something very significant occurred in the Valley of Jezreel which initially gave that valley, Jezreel a glorious name. The valley of Jezreel was the place, you might recall, where Gideon routed the Midianites. Where with those the 300 he overcame the much larger armies of the Midianites. The valley of Jezreel, following Gideon’s conquest was considered to be covered with glory because of the great victory God, through Gideon, had accomplished there.

Second, the valley of Jezreel was where Naboth’s vineyard was located. You might remember Naboth’s vineyard. That of course, was that little plot of land that wicked King Ahab coveted but because he was such a wimp he enlisted his wife, Jezebel, to secure that vineyard for him. You’ll recall from 1 Kings 21, Jezebel eventually had Naboth slaughtered so that her husband could have his vineyard. This was a shamelessly wicked act which led to a curse being placed on Jezebel which was later carried out.

Third, the valley of Jezreel was where Jehu a northern king put an end to wicked King Ahab’s dynasty. We see that all play out in 2 Kings 9 and 10. You are welcome to turn there with me, to 2 Kings 9. I’m not going to work through this verse by verse. There’s just so much material here but you can kind of let your eyes go up and down the page as I rattle off some of the major details of this account. It’s quite an interesting story.

In 2 Kings 9 and 10 we see Jehu being anointed king of Israel before he actually becomes king. In these chapters we see him taking very seriously this commission God had given him through Elisha to wipe out Ahab’s dynasty. Jehu’s doing this very diligently and very seriously. And his reward was the promise for fulfilling the task of wiping out Ahab’s dynasty was the promise that his throne, his next four generations of sons would occupy the throne of Israel which, in fact, came to pass. That’s why we see king Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah. They were all the fulfillment of that promise. But, in 2 Kings 9 and 10, we see Jehu taking his role as the “exterminator” of Ahab’s line, as the “executioner” of Ahab’s progeny very, very seriously. He leaves nothing undone. When we go through 2 Kings 9, we see Jehu’s slaying of Jehoram, that would have been the son of Ahab, king of Israel. The slaying of Ahaziah, the king of Judah and Jezebel, the wicked wife of Ahab. Then in 2 Kings 10 we see Jehu keeping that work going. He’s now slaughtering 70 sons of Ahab in Samaria and lopping off their heads and putting them in baskets. We see the account of Jehu killing 42 more relatives of Ahaziah, the Judean king and then we see Jehu slaughtering the prophets of Baal.

Now, though he had a commission from God through the prophet Elisha to carry out these killings it appears Jehu overdid it. Or at least he didn’t carry out the commands in the most noble way. For instance, when he offed Jehoram, his predecessor, he did so by shooting an arrow through his back. When he carried out the command to kill the dynasty of Ahab he not only killed Ahab’s sons he killed the “great men” of Ahab, “his priests,” and even “his acquaintances.” He was like “Rambo.” 2 Kings 10:11 is when that all happens. Then when he killed the worshipers of Baal he did so by means of trickery and deceit and entrapment. He gathered these false worshipers together as though he was going to worship their god only to turn around after he had trapped them and slaughter them. So, while Jehu may have been faithful to carry out the commands of God to wipe out the dynasty of Ahab, thus securing the promise that four generations of his sons would on the throne, the inescapable fact was that through his mercenary tactics and his bloodthirsty ways and his trickery and deceit it was less than commendable.

But the worst part of it all, and it’s so important to grab onto this as the main point, was Jehu’s compromised and divided heart. See, as committed as he was to wiping out God’s enemies the reality was that Jehu was still involved in various forms of false worship. In fact, look with me at 2 Kings 10:28-31. 2 Kings 10:28 gives you a sense of this state, this condition of Jehu’s heart. It says, “Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. However, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan. The LORD said to Jehu, ‘Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. Verse 31 tells us “But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he
did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel sin.” So, although initially Jehu opposed to these false forms of worship he actually turned out to be just as bad and compromised because he himself was engaged in false worship, namely these golden calves. Even though the wiping out of Ahab and his dynasty was an objectively good thing it still did not lead to Israel being purged of her idolatry. So, while Jehu outwardly did what he was ordered inwardly his motives were highly questionable. Inwardly, it makes one wonder if he was trying to do all of this “dirty work” in slaughtering all these people for his own glory. Inwardly his self-confessed passion for the Lord may not have been genuine as it was not sustained was we see here him allowing pagan religion to return to the land.

So, bringing all of that back over to the book of Hosea that’s what’s in the background here when God says to Hosea about his son “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” See not only had their over-zealous bloodshed been caused by Jehu himself but Jehu and his descendants had continued on in their compromised ways as they went after and worshiped other “gods.” So what God was going to do now was “punish the house of Jehu.” He was going to, as the text says, “put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” This is a prophetic announcement which is to be taken just as it sounds. The “kingdom of the house of Israel” would be no more. They would be wiped off the map. They would in this historical context, be taken away and it was all going to happen through military conquest. God gives this announcement and communicates this announcement by ordering His prophet, Hosea, to name his son “Jezreel.” Just as Israel had experienced great victories in the past through the shedding of blood in the valley of Jezreel Israel was now going to be defeated and put to an end in the very same place. As it says in verse 5.

Look at verse 5. “On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” A “bow” was a symbol of military strength and “breaking the bow” is typically a metaphor but usually when we see it in Scripture it’s a metaphor for God’s protection against the bows of Israel’s enemies. For instance, in Psalm 46:9 we see the context here is protecting Israel from the bows of others. Psalm 46:9, “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow,” speaking of God, “and shatters the spear, He burns with chariots with fire.” Or Hosea 2:18, God promises “I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and I will make you,” meaning Israel, “lie down in safety.” See in these contexts, “breaking the bow” is synonymous with safety but here in Hosea 1:5, it is not the bow of Israel’s enemies that will be destroyed. Instead, it is the bow of Israel herself. She will be left defenseless. The valley of Jezreel which had once been that site of Gideon’s victories and Jehu’s victories will now be the place of Israel’s fall. Israel will be defeated, trampled, and taken away. The idea is, the blood that was shed in the Valley of Jezreel through Jehu will now be shed by Jehu. Specifically, his descendants, the people of Israel as they now get a taste of their own medicine. And that’s exactly what Scripture records. We know approximately in 733 B.C. the Assyrians came in and they took a part of the Northern Kingdom where the Valley of Jezreel was located. And we know also that in 722 B.C. the Northern Kingdom as a whole was defeated by Assyria and taken off into captivity which is a good and needed reminder to our generation and every generation that each of God’s prophecies will ultimately be fulfilled. All that He has said will come to pass, will in fact, come to pass.

Some final remarks here on verses 4-5. Now in the mind of an Israelite in Hosea’s day the name “Jezreel” though literally as I mentioned, it means “God sows,” it would have called to mind for the average Israelite the idea of bloodshed. Especially because of the history of Gideon and Jehu in that valley of Jezreel. The name “Jezreel” would immediately bring up to mind carnage and blood. The ways that names like Antietam and Auschwitz and the Twin Towers conjure up in our minds ideas of carnage and blood. “Jezreel” at this point would have been a very bloody-sounding name. Could you imagine introducing your son “Auschwitz” to somebody at church?
That’s the concept here.

But not only that, the literal meaning of this boy’s name, “Jezreel,” “God sows” can actually cut two ways. You see first that word “sowing” it can be used in the sense to scatter, to disperse in the sense that Israel was about to be scattered and dispersed following her military defeat by Assyria. But it can also be referred to in the sense of “sowing” in the sense of embedding a seed in the soil and watching it take root, flourish, and grow. In this way, the name “Jezreel” can point not only to God’s judgment as He scatters His people in judgment but also to His faithful, covenant-keeping love as He one day restores them. Jezreel then is more than the name of a child. More than the name of this little boy. It’s also a description of the people of Israel in Hosea’s day who on the one hand were ripe for judgment but on the other hand knew that one day they would be restored by their faithful and covenant keeping God. They were scattered in judgment but at the same time they were promised that they would be “sown by God” as an act of great grace back into the promised land. So that’s Jezreel, child number one.

Next we turn to verses 6-7 where we see the birth of a second child. Verse 6, “Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, ‘Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, swords, battle, horses or horsemen.” Note that I said “the birth of a second child.” I didn’t say “the birth of Hosea’s second child.” And why not? Well, if we go back to Hosea 1:3 it shows us that Gomer “bore him” meaning Hosea, “a son.” But when we get to the next two children, that important detail about Hosea’s involvement with these children, is missing. Look at verse 6 again. “Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.” And then drop down to verse 8. “When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah she conceived and gave birth to a son.” So we’re only told, for sure, that the first child, Jezreel, was Hosea’s son. That missing word “him” or “his” in verse 6 and verse 8 leaves open the possibility, and I would say the very real possibility, if not likelihood, in light of Gomer’s status as a harlot. And her actual harlotry that we’ll get into next week, that the second and third children were not actually Hosea’s. Now, of course, we cannot prove this some 2,800 years later. Ancestry.com and 23 and Me only take us back so far. But the context and the setting and the players and the circumstances would strongly suggest this. That is, that the second and third children of Gomer were the products of her harlotry, her adulterous affairs.
Back to verse 6. “Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.” So Jezreel now has a little sister or maybe better said, a half-sister. “And the LORD said to him, ‘Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.” “Lo-ruhamah.” “Lo” is a negative particle which in Hebrew simply means “not.” “Ruhamah” is a Hebrew verb form which means “she has not received compassion.” “She has not received compassion.” So when you put this all together, this sweet little girl’s name is “she has not received compassion.” Or, to put it more simply “No compassion.” Or, as some translators put it “No mercy.” Or, even smoothing out a bit more “Unloved.” That’s this little girl’s name. “Unloved.” It’s an awful name to give to a little girl because the name indicates and signifies absolute and total rejection by her father. He has abandoned her to all the troubles of the world. It’s difficult to imagine a name that’s more scandalous or offensive than this.

I can’t help but look at this passage and think of her possibly having, this is me now reading our context back into the text, but pigtails and dimples and that little bow in her hair but she’s unloved. It’s tragic. Can you imagine the looks on people’s faces when this girl’s mother or father called out her name? “Unloved, get back into this house!” “No mercy, follow your brother to the market.” The people around Hosea and the people around Gomer must have been whispering “I bet Hosea’s wife has been unfaithful.” “He doesn’t love his daughter probably rightfully so because his daughter is not his.” Which, of course, would been a perfect opportunity for Hosea to turn the tables in a Nathan and David type moment, one of those “you are the man!” type moments and say the “only reason she’s named that is because God no longer has compassion and mercy upon you!” “He no longer loves you!” And, as we know this little girl was given this name for a reason. God tells Hosea the derivation of her name “For I will no longer,” this is verse 6, “have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.” The judgments are really stacking up here already through the names of these children. First, it was Jezreel and the pronouncement of judgment on Israel through his name would have been sad and devastating enough because through the naming of that first child, that son Jezreel God was telling Israel that He was putting an end to their kingdom. That alone is very very bad news. That will ruin your day. And now it’s “Lo-Ruhamah.” Her name would have been absolutely shattering for the people of Israel to hear, to learn that in addition to losing their kingdom they had also lost the mercy and compassion, the “raham,” of God.

That word “raham” for mercy, for compassion comes from the Hebrew term for a mother’s womb which is a fitting illustration because while of course it is a mother’s natural reaction to show mercy, and nurturing care, and sympathy toward each of her children there are times in life as the years go on where that same nurturing and doting mother realizes that her children aren’t infants anymore and some lessons they’ll need to learn they’re going to have to learn the hard way. This was one of those times for Israel. This was their season of learning the hard way. This was their season of learning that, though God loved them and would always love them just like a mother will always love her children the reality was, they were now adulterous. They were now idolaters. Not only that they were harlots who were engaged in spiritual adultery. They had bitten the hand that fed them. They had spat in the face of God. Their deeds were worthy of death. And God here turns His face from them and says they get “no compassion.”
They get “no mercy.” This is terrifying.
Not only because of how clear and unambiguous God is being here. Very little explanation or back story is needed to explain the name Lo-Ruhamah. Did you hear how long it took me to explain Jezreel and Jehu and the fitting how that name makes sense? Not so with Lo-Ruhamah. It’s clear what he’s saying. She gets no mercy. This people gets no mercy, no compassion. It’s terrifying in that sense. It’s also terrifying because it marks this apparently sharp change in God’s attitude toward His people whose very identity was grounded in the fact that they had been shown favor and kindness and protection from God. Indeed, God’s mercy and compassion are some of the first attributes ever self-reveals to Israel in Exodus 34:6. And there are other places in scripture like Lamentations chapter 3 where Jeremiah, as he’s awaiting God’s righteous judgment on Judah notes that God’s mercies never end. But here in Hosea 1:6, that very mercy is being withheld which makes the tone and the tenor of these words both saddening and terrifying because Israel now finds itself alone and exposed, outside the safekeeping and shelter of their God.

There’s an important reminder for us here. Which is that there is, in cases like this, a limit to the compassion of God. There is a limit to the mercy of God. There is a limit to the longsuffering nature of God. Surely, God is perfect in all of His attributes. We studied that all summer long. Including His compassion and His mercy and His grace and His longsuffering. But the testimony of Scripture is clear that God is also perfectly just and holy and righteous, and His justice and His righteousness eventually require the withholding of His mercy and His grace as He executes and dispenses His justice and His wrath. Case in point. Think of the people during the days of the flood in Noah’s time. Think of the residents of Sodom. Think of Ananias and Sapphira. Think of the countless rebels against God today who are sucking in God’s mercy with every breath they take throwing caution to the wind as they risk facing God’s imminent judgment. Paul warns us very clearly against presuming upon the Lord’s patience and longsuffering nature in Romans 2:4. He says “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” That’s the key. In the times of Hosea, the patience of God toward the Israelites had worn thin. They had not repented to use the word of Romans chapter 2. They had not turned away from their wicked and adulterous ways and now they faced the just and righteous punishment of God which involved not only having their kingdom defeated and taken away but having God here tell them that He no longer has compassion or mercy upon them. That’s really, really bad news for Israel.

But then look at what God says to Judah in verse 7, the southern kingdom, “But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.” Now one might ask the question, why did God deliver Judah and not deliver Israel? Was it because Judah was righteous? No. It wasn’t a righteous nation. Just like we’re not a righteous nation, even the grand old U.S.A.. No. Judah was unrighteous just like Israel was unrighteous.

But we learn a very important principle here. We learn that God makes important distinctions and sovereign distinctions among guilty men based on his own sovereign grace and His own pleasure. Israel was guilty. Judah was guilty. Well, one might say based on the chronology of events that we see in the Kings and the Chronicles that Judah was not quite as guilty. Perhaps. But fundamentally it was God’s privilege and God’s right to show mercy and grace as He saw fit. Exodus 33:19, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” Israel deserved punishment and judgment and would experience it. But judgment was postponed, at least for a little while for Judah though she would experience it one day too when the Babylonians would come in in 586 B.C. and take them out of the land.

And I want you to note one other thing here about verse 7, Hosea 1:7. God says that He will “deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.” In other words, when God saves a people, and when God rescues a people He does it His way. Not their way. Not our way. Not the way they would prefer. Not the way we would prefer. Instead, we see in this passage He does it His way. In Hosea 1:5, which we’ve already looked at, He says they could not be saved by the bow because God would break it.
Even in Hosea 1:7 He’s saying Judah would not be saved by the bow but instead by the mercy and compassion of God. Now in Judah’s day, that meant understanding that God delivered not by bows, and swords, and battles, and horses, and horsemen. In other words, not by human strength or human instruments or human wisdom or human victories. But instead as an outworking of God’s wisdom and God’s mercy and God’s grace. In our day, there’s a parallel. It means understanding that God delivers not by baptism, not by communion, not by good works, not by treasuries of merit, or not by horizontal comparisons to other image-bearing sinners. In other words, not by anything good in us, or anything good done by us. Instead, we are delivered, we are rescued, our terminology is we are saved as an outworking of His wisdom, His mercy, His grace. Specifically shown to us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. So, those are the first two children, “Jezreel” and “Lo-Ruhamah.”

Next we get to the third child in verses 8-9. It says, “When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah,” and footnote here. That was probably three or so years after child number two. The weaning process took a little bit longer in ancient Israel. It says “she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, ‘Name him Lo- Ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.” The separation between Israel and her God gets ratcheted up even further with the naming of this third child, a son. A son named “Lo-Ammi” which very simply means, “Not My people.”
“Not My people.” Again, putting it in Hosea’s context, remember he’s a walking illustration. Can you imagine him walking around the neighbor, showing off the baby boy Gomer had just given birth to and saying something like “This is not my boy, isn’t he precious?” Or “See that little guy over there? That’s not my son.” It would cause people to scratch their head, be confused, a little worried for Hosea’s mental state. Such a sad scenario to think of. Well, as with the other two children the naming of these children ultimately wasn’t about Hosea’s relationship to those children. Instead, it was pointing to God’s relationship with Israel. And we know as we go back deeper and deeper into the Old Testament that God had declared that the people of Israel were His people. Exodus 6:7 “I will take you for My people, and I will be your God.” Leviticus 26:12 “I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.” But we get to Hosea’s time and God is saying not anymore. Because of your acts of apostasy and adultery. Because of your refusal to follow the commandments of God. Because of your refusal to recognize God as God. And because of your refusal to repent of your spiritually adulterous ways God here is saying, “fine.” “I’m cutting you off.” “You are no longer My people “And I am no longer your God.” The nation that was once God’s is now God-less. Not only in practice; they had been God-less in practice for many generations now, but in reality. They had been acting like they were without a God through their many spiritually adulterous ways but now, they actually were without God when He says “you are not My people.” That’s a bit of wordplay that’s happening here, by the way in that God, Yahweh, whose name we know from Exodus 3:14 means “I AM” is now saying to this generation of Israelites “I am no longer your I AM.” And the breach is unfixable. The divorce is final. The parting is complete. “I am no longer your I AM.” As one commentator has put it “Israel might nominally be the Lord’s, but in fact she was a child of her times and of her pagan world. Likewise, Yahweh might nominally be her national God, but since He is not for sharing, the presence of other gods flatly denied the relationship.” This generation of Israelites had deteriorated not only to the point of being the recipient of God’s disfavor they were on the verge of destruction.

Now, it’s important to note that God wasn’t speaking here, of course, to the people of Israel for all time. He wasn’t backing down from or backing out of His promises to Israel as a whole for instances in places like the Abrahamic Covenant. He is, after all, a faithful and covenant-keeping God and each of the promises from that and the other biblical covenants will come to full fruition. But for this generation of apostate Israelites in Hosea’s day He is saying to them “I’m done with you.” You’re not My people.” He was saying they no longer belonged to Him. They no longer had a claim on Him. They had been disowned.

Well, as we have learned from the verses we’ve gone through so far and from the upcoming indictments we’re going to see in chapter 2 Israel’s apostasy and Israel’s adultery were very good grounds for God to throw up His hands and forever walk away from this spiritually apostate nation. But as we’re going to see next comes this mind-blowing reversal. In this bursting forth of God’s unfathomable sovereign grace which begins with a single word Hosea 1:10 “Yet”, that’s where we’ll pick it up next week.

See Hosea is a real love story. It’s a story where there’s conflict. There’s hurt. There’s pain. There’s the pain of Hosea’s heart in witnessing his own wife’s unfaithfulness which ultimately is expressing the pain of God toward the sinfulness of His people. The people of Israel whom He had wedded at Mt. Sinai. As we know “love overcomes a multitude of sins.” We’re going to see next week God’s faithfulness and love for his people overcomes their sin and that faithfulness and love was on display during the days of Hosea when God said here in verse 10 “Yet.” That faithfulness and that love is on display still in our day in which God has said in Romans 5:8, “But.” “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let’s pray. Our great and mighty God, thank you for Your word. Thank you for the privilege that we have had today to gather around it, to sit under it, to teach it, to be transformed by it. I pray for each of us this evening, especially as it relates to the book of Hosea which we will be in on these Sunday evenings, that You would help us to navigate the text and navigate the context that is very foreign to us. It’s an older book. It’s from a different setting. A different context. But You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. You are the unchangeable God. You are the God whose promises are sure and fixed and effective. And I pray that we would walk away when we get through this study of Hosea in awe of who You are. Of Your faithful covenant-keeping love and that we would see how desperately we need that faithfulness. How desperately we need You to be faithful because are faithless. Thank you for Your Son Jesus Christ who came into the world to die for the sin of faithless people like us. Thank you that we have hope because of what His death on the cross accomplished and in which we find our ultimate hope. I pray for these dear people that from the teaching we have received today that they would be nourished and fed and prepared for the week ahead. That they would walk in a manner worthy of their calling. That they would revere and honor the name of Jesus Christ and bring Him much praise, honor, and glory each and every day. We thank you and praise You in Jesus name. Amen.