Restored Love

As we think back to our youth, many things come to the surface. Now for some of you, your youth may be happening right now. For others of you, it may have been in the recent past or a few years back. Then there are those of us, who are trying to hold onto our youth, forgetting what some of those days were actually like.

One of the most deeply ingrained memories in the human mind in relation to youth is that of love relationships. It is said that one of the most painful memories is when a person is hurt by another in a relationship that was supposed to be a long-term love relationship. Interestingly, the thought process goes from severe hurt to trying to figure out how to severely hurt the other person.

Fortunately, God has a different response. God’s love is so pure and so great that He works on restoring that love relationship. So, what is the take on these two chapters today for us?

We need to pursue the restoration of our love relationships.

God Pursues the Unfaithful Because of Love. - 2:2-5

Based on experience, Israel had broken her marriage covenant with God. This was just like what Gomer had done with Hosea. By God having Hosea speak of the children, there is significance that although there would be judgment on the nation of Israel for their spiritual adultery, there would be a remnant that would be saved.

The purpose of the children pleading with their mother is to show that there would be serious consequences that would happen if she wouldn’t give up her adultery. The threat actually has the intended purpose of restoration. This was a message spoken to individuals within the nation of Israel, that they were to speak against the nation and the culture for its rebellion against God. The nation needed to be awakened to the fact that they had broken the marriage covenant with the Lord. They had done this by way of harlotry or adultery. The idea of put[ting] away her harlotry from her face could possibly refer to the way prostitutes used to paint their faces to let other know of their availability. In addition, Israel and Gomer needed to stop embracing false lovers.

We recall from several Old Testament passages—Genesis 38, Leviticus 20-21, and Deuteronomy 22—that the punishment for adultery was death by fire or stoning. Verse 3 is a slight reference to this in that often, women who were executed for adultery were stripped naked beforehand.

Hosea 2:3 NASB95

Or I will 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.

This verse shows that the punishment will be to strip her bare, instead of an execution. This was to remind her of her humble birth. Now, the parallel should not be lost on Israel. They were nothing until God chose them as His very own. God doesn’t have any desire to destroy them entirely. However, if they don’t stop their spiritual prostitution, then He will most certainly shame them. Israel would be stripped of everything good which the Lord had provided them. The Bible tells us in other sections that the land was laid waste, as well as the people.

Just in case those who were not actually actively involved in this evil spiritual adultery, thought they were going to get to be spared, Hosea reminds them that they were participants in this. They had chosen to ignore the situation, turning a deaf ear, as it were. It’s the age old problem of people avoiding getting involved.

Sadly, Israel was willing to believe a lie. The nation began to give credit to her false lovers, namely Baal, for every good thing which Israel had experienced. Those who practiced the Baal cult were heavily involved in drunkenness and sexual immorality. The nation was shameful in God’s eyes.

God Plans Isolation to Prove Love - 2:6-13

The judgment is going to be outlined in the next section of verses 6-8. God begins the process by isolating Israel from her evil lovers. Please remember that God’s purposes in all of this is to bring restoration. Rather than destroy the nation, or kill Gomer, God chose to build a hedge of isolation and protection around her. God was going to make it so that it would be nearly impossible for Israel to continue pursuit of Baal. Sadly, Gomer, just like Israel, would not submit to the Lord. Instead, they began a hot, intense pursuit of trying to find her other lovers.

My friends, whenever we search for blessings from someone or something which is false and not God’s will, we will always experience frustration. Here we can see that God’s purpose is that Israel (and Gomer) would return to her first husband. It appears that for Gomer and some of the people of Israel, there was a realization of what they had been doing. Our heavenly Father’s desire was that Israel and Gomer will remember that she was only truly blessed when she was in right relationship with God. Remember how Hebrews 12 tells us that as Christians, we can expect the discipline of the Lord when we stray from His will. We also recall that it was during the captivity that Israel finally realized that the Lord alone is God.

As we go further in this section in verses 9-13, we come to the realization that Israel no longer recognized or knew God. Just in these five verses, we see God speaking of Himself in the first person 13 times. In essence, He is letting it be known that He was the One Who was taking away the blessings which He had provided for Israel. The end of the harvest, as seen in these verses, is to show that judgment is coming to those who refuse to acknowledge God. It also meant an end to all of the festivals that Israel so enjoyed. One writer states: The loss of material wealth is devastating in a materialistic world.

My friends, once again, we are reminded that sometimes, God has to personally remove from us blessings just to get our attention. Unfortunately, too often the devil or circumstances get the blame for this. The reality is that it is usually God trying to get our attention by disciplining those whom He loves. With Israel and Gomer, they would have nothing to celebrate after God was finished with them.

God Provides Hope for Pure Love - 2:14-23

In these verses, we see again a message of hope for the renewal and restoration that God will bring to Israel. What caused this change of heart for Israel? Credit for this would go to the fact that God chose to punish Israel as a means of correction. This had taken away everything that Israel held dear and everything that would entice her away from the Lord. By doing this, Israel could only hear God’s voice. Just like us, there was nothing within Israel that could change their heart. It was the disciplinary actions taken by God that got Israel’s attention back to Him.

Now, with Baal no longer in control of Israel’s mind, the Lord promises that Israel will completely forget her fall into idolatry. That will be erased, just as if off a blackboard, but even better.

Hosea 2:19–20 NASB95

“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.

In these verses, we see a picture of the great forgiveness that God portrays in His great love. When God states that He will betroth Israel to Himself, the term literally means to woo a virgin. The wording also suggests a loving, gentle persuasion. This word for betroth is never used in the context of reconciliation. This idea of a virgin or maiden strongly suggests that this is a new relationship with permanence in mind. This is not the idea of repairing what was broken, or improving something which was imperfect. This is something which is brand new; very much like the new covenant with our Savior. God reveals to Israel that He not only forgives the past, he will choose to not remember it either. My friends, when we grasp the full impact of this in how God has dealt with us, we will truly know the Lord. You and I are not improved. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

In verses 21-22, we see that God once again opens up His blessings upon His people. The bitter fruits of adultery will be cast away, as God states in Verse 23. God will restore His people by means of those who are the faithful remnant.

Hosea 2:23 NASB95

“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, ‘You are my God!’ ”

Here we see that the children’s names are changed. In response, we see Israel acknowledging that the Lord is their God. Again, even now, God desires to hear His children say this. This will all be fulfilled when Christ returns to rule.

What a beautiful picture of the love of God. To be willing to wipe the slate completely clean; even so far as to treat Israel as a virgin. Plus, we know that God does that for each one of us who will believe upon the Name of Jesus. He treats us as if, in fact, we are not spiritual adulterers. We are, as it were, virgins. The past is not even a part of the picture. What a beautiful picture of God’s grace and love! What an example for us to follow to those who have wronged us or who have fallen into sin!

God Purchases for Restoration of Love - 3:1-5

Hosea is commanded once again to show his love to Gomer. This is to complete the analogy of God restoring Israel. Hosea’s unquenchable love for Gomer is modeled after the love that God had showered upon Israel. Like Gomer, Israel had not returned that love. Instead, she gave herself to others and to raisin cakes. Raisin cakes were actually a major part of the Canaanite cultic festival.

The key word in these verse is love.

Hosea 3:1 NASB95

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

Just in this verse, the word for love is repeated four times. Hosea’s love for his wife causes him to be eager to redeem her, to purify her, and to take her back into his home and his heart. Hosea would have been justified in divorcing Gomer, according to Deuteronomy 24:1. But God shows once again, that grace was greater than the law.

Interestingly, Gomer was so low down that Hosea was able to purchase her for half the price of a common slave. Scholars suggest that she had become so corrupt that she was forced to sell herself into slavery. Then we are treated to a beautiful picture of what Christ did for us. We were in the slave market of sin, yet God showed His great love for us by sending Jesus to purchase our salvation.

Hosea gave 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley, which was the food of beasts. This suggests that Gomer had degraded herself beneath human dignity. The normal price for a slave at that time was 30 shekels of silver.

There is then a period of testing; a time of waiting in patient expectation. There had to be a time of discipline. This is seen by having Gomer isolated from all temptations to revert to a life of adultery. Gomer was being separated from the temptations of evil, not being allowed to go back to the chase. Even Hosea was not going to be involved with her sexually for a time. In this way, Hosea was able to devote all his efforts to wooing back his bride and she would come to learn to understand true love.

We see in verse 4, that Israel had a similar waiting period. They would be under the authority of a king who was not their own, in a land that was not their own. Israel would not even be allowed to perform all their sacrifices and festivals. This was designed to show them the absolute necessity of following the Lord only.

You and I don’t read of the results of all of this, but we can safely assume that after this period, Gomer responded positively. We can assume this because verse 5 speaks of Israel’s return, which refers most likely to a repentance which turns them back to the Lord. Israel would seek the Lord their God, showing that they will be doing things God’s way, in worship as well as their walk. They will also seek . . . David their king, who is the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The nation would also come trembling to the Lord, showing the recognition of their sins and the desire to worship the Lord. Finally, Israel would fear . . . His goodness, which is a recognition of all their blessings and gifts as coming from God.

When is this all going to happen, or did it already? The first half of the verse appears to take place after the exile. Our English translations help us out a bit by putting a period or a semi-colon at the end of that section. The last half of the verse is in the last days.

Reflections

What are some takeaways for us? I came up with four, though the Holy Spirit may have given you others, as well. Let me share them with you.

1—God suffers when His people are unfaithful.

2—God cannot tolerate or condone sin.

3—Even though number 2 is true, God still love His chosen, in spite of ourselves.

4—God seeks the sinner for the purpose of restoring Him.

It is a glorious thing when people who are called by God’s name will humble themselves and seek His face. Because of God’s amazing faithfulness and love, He will restore us to full fellowship and love as we seek Him.

My friend, if you have walked away from God, He waits with open arms, ready to restore. If you have been wronged, respond as God did. Respond as Hosea did, in taking Gomer back, as a virgin with all of the love possible.