… of course, all marriages in the Bible are neat, uncomplicated and perfect…

Hold your horses!

Here is the book of the Bible where God asks a righteous, God-fearing man to go and marry a prostitute. And then she runs away and he has to go and get her back from whatever she’s been doing. This man, Hosea, finds his wife, Gomer. He then pays her debts and reinstates her as his wife.

It sure sounds complicated and far from perfect!

I once read a novel called Redeeming Love which is based on the story of Hosea and Gomer. I can’t remember many details, but I do remember being impressed by the chatacter Hosea, whose faithfulness, steadfastness and patience were abundant! What a guy to be so in tune to what God was saying that he was willing to marry Gomer, despite all the complications that came with such a move.

But why did God ask Hosea to marry somebody like Gomer? Well, because all of this shows what God’s relationship with Israel was like. Despite them being unfaithful to God, he was still prepared to redeem them and rebuild the relationship. That’s because God’s faithfulness and love. And the same goes for us today. When we wander off and we are unfaithful, he comes and gets us, redeems us and reinstates us as his family.

After the story of Hosea and Gomer, there’s lots of poetry about the consequences of Israel’s unfaithfulness, followed by a poem about the hope that God will bring restoration to the relationship in the end.

My favourite verse: Hosea 14.7: My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

Aidan fell asleep listening to me read Hosea twice.

Thanks to izhar-ahamed on Pixabay for the photo.