Daily EncouragementSample

The pathetic beauty and the power of these words and this scene is quite overwhelming - particularly if we take the view that in the early days of the marriage Gomer was faithful to Hosea. That is to view the words, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife” (Hosea 1:2) as being written in retrospect, which they surely were.

Through the agony of Gomer’s adultery and departure Hosea had learned something of what sin does to God. In this command he is being taught the love of God: “Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites . . . .” Adam Smith has an apt comment:

The man learned God’s sorrow out of his own sorrow but conversely he was taught to forgive and redeem his wife only by seeing God forgive and redeem his people . . . Our pain with those we love helps us to understand God’s pain; but it is not our love that leads us to believe in His love. On the contrary all human grace is but the reflex of the Divine. So St. Paul: Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. So St. John: We love Him, and one another, because he first loved us.

It is not far from this Old Testament page to Calvary: “You are not your own: you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).