Memory Text: Hosea 3:1 NIV “The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."

Sunday, September 16 Hosea and Gomer
Hosea 1:1-2 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ The LORD spoke his word to Hosea, son of Beeri, when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah and when Jeroboam, son of Joash, was king of Israel. 2 ¶ When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, the LORD told him, "Marry a prostitute, and have children with that prostitute. The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the LORD."”
Hosea 1:2 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY in the absence of any direct statement or hint that the passage is allegorical or that it describes a vision or dream, the most natural way to understand the passage is to regard it as a literal narrative. Many commentators favor the literal view, although they differ widely in their understanding of the details. Some have sought to justify the command of God to Hosea by observing that whatever God commands is therefore right. Others observe that the narrative by no means establishes that Gomer was of questionable character when Hosea married her, since the phrase “of whoredoms” may simply describe her ancestry, not necessarily her personal character, or may proleptically describe the woman’s future status. That she later became unfaithful appears clear (ch. 3:1–3). However, the precise time of her fall is not clearly pointed out. Of the three children born, only of the first, Jezreel, is it said that he was born to “him,” that is, to Hosea.
Symbolism Behind Hosea’s Act - Jeremiah 13:27 Amplified Bible “I have seen your detestable acts, even your adulteries and your lustful neighings <after idols>, and the lewdness of your harlotry on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! For how long a time yet will you not <meet My conditions and> be made clean?”

Monday, September 17 Gomer’s Unfaithfulness
Hosea 2:5, 8 NLT “5 For their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and drink, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil.” She doesn’t realize that it was I who gave her everything she has—the grain, the wine, the olive oil. Even the gold and silver she used in worshiping the god Baal were gifts from me!”

Tuesday, September 18 Spiritual Adultery
Matthew 5:32 ESV “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 5:32 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY A wife put away would naturally seek to find a new home. But by marrying another she would commit fornication, because her previous marriage was not validly dissolved in God’s sight (cf. Mark 10:11, 12). Christ boldly set aside the rabbinical tradition of His day, especially that of the school of Hillel (see the foregoing under “Fornication”), which permitted divorce for any cause. It has been observed that no marriage existed among the Jews of the Mishnaic period from which the husband could not abruptly free himself in a legal fashion. Jesus emphasized that marriage was divinely ordained and, when properly entered into, was divinely ratified. What God had joined together no rabbinical tradition or practice could put asunder.

Wednesday, September 19 Bearing the Fruit of Unfaithfulness
Hosea 2:1-13 NRSV “1 ¶ Say to your brother, Ammi, and to your sister, Ruhamah. 2 Plead with your mother, plead—for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband—that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts, 3 or I will strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and turn her into a parched land, and kill her with thirst. 4 Upon her children also I will have no pity, because they are children of whoredom. 5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, "I will go after my lovers; they give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink." 6 ¶ Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns; and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then she shall say, "I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now." 8 She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished upon her silver and gold that they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. 10 Now I will uncover her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. 11 I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals. 12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, "These are my pay, which my lovers have given me." I will make them a forest, and the wild animals shall devour them. 13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD.”
Hosea 2:11 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The prophet here declares that all the various feasts and days of holy joy of the northern kingdom would cease, owing to the coming captivity of the nation. Not the abolition of the Sabbath, or of any religious service for that matter, is foretold by this text, but rather the abolition of a rebellious nation.
Similar Parable of Jesus to Hosea 2:7 – Matthew 6:25-31 KJV “25 ¶ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”

Thursday, September 20 Amazing Love
Hosea 2:14-23 NIV “14 ¶ "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 16 "In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master. ‘ 17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. 19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. 20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. 21 "In that day I will respond," declares the LORD— "I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; 22 and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. 23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. ‘I will say to those called ‘Not my people, ”You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’"”
Sequel – Hosea 3:1-5 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ Then the LORD told me, "Love your wife again, even though she is loved by others and has committed adultery. Love her as I, the LORD, love the Israelites, even though they have turned to other gods and love to eat raisin cakes." 2 So I bought her for 23 ounces of silver and 10 bushels of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You must wait for me a long time. Don’t be a prostitute or offer yourself to any man. I will wait for you." 4 In the same way, the Israelites will wait a long time without kings or officials, without sacrifices or sacred stones, and without ephods or family idols. 5 After that, the Israelites will turn and look to the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD for his blessings in the last days.”
Hosea 3:1 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY Idolatry and sensuality commonly go together; those that make a god of their belly, as drunkards do, will easily be brought to make a god of anything else.
Hosea 3:2 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The price paid by the prophet, partly in money and partly in barley (counted an inferior cereal in Palestine), was approximately that of a common maidservant. Thus was set forth strikingly the low, degraded estate of Hosea’s wife. The use of barley as part payment may itself have reflected this degradation by suggesting the “barley meal” offered when a wife was suspected of adultery. Could any symbol show more pointedly the debased state to which Israel had fallen?
Hosea 3:3 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE He did not take her home, but made a contract with her that, if she would abstain from her evil ways, he would take her to himself after a sufficient trial. In the meantime he gave her the money and the barley to subsist upon, that she might not be under the temptation of becoming again unfaithful.
Hosea 3:4 COMMENTARY JOHN WESLEY NOTES For-Now the parable is unfolded, it shall be with Israel as with such a woman, they and she were guilty of adultery, both punished long, both made slaves, kept hardly, and valued meanly, yet in mercy at last pardoned, and re-accepted tho' after a long time of probation. Without a king-None of their own royal line shall sit on the throne. A prince-Strangers shall be princes and governors over them. Without a sacrifice-Offered according to the law. An image-They could carry none of their images with them, and the Assyrians would not let them make new ones. Ephod-No priest as well as no ephod. And without teraphim-Idolatrous images kept in their private houses, like the Roman household gods; in one word, such should be the state of their captives; they should have nothing of their own either in religious or civil affairs, but be wholly under the power of their conquering enemies.

Friday, September 21 Further Study
Ellen White, Adventist Home, p. 328 – “A terrible picture of the condition of the world has been presented before me. Immorality abounds everywhere. Licentiousness is the special sin of this age. Never did vice lift its deformed head with such boldness as now. The people seem to be benumbed, and the lovers of virtue and true goodness are nearly discouraged by its boldness, strength, and prevalence. The iniquity which abounds is not merely confined to the unbeliever and the scoffer. Would that this were the case, but it is not. Many men and women who profess the religion of Christ are guilty. Even some who profess to be looking for His appearing are no more prepared for that event than Satan himself. They are not cleansing themselves from all pollution. They have so long served their lust that it is natural for their thoughts to be impure and their imaginations corrupt. It is as impossible to cause their minds to dwell upon pure and holy things as it would be to turn the course of Niagara and send its waters pouring up the falls.”

Hello again :

Hmm... the story of Hosea and Gomer. I seem to remember an in-depth study of this whole book a few years ago. What can we take in the year 2007 from this? I think that the type of love that Hosea shows to Gomer is a type of the same love God has for us. He the perfect love, us the wayward sinners. What a realization to know that the ways in which we stray, altho different from Gomer in detail - are just as horrifying! Even tho we are 'unfaithful' He still yearns for us, waits for us, and patiently bides His time, til we can be together. If we can only understand our part and strive to stay connected, strive to learn, strive to love as Jesus.

AJ

Amen.