Hosea: The Prophet, the Prostitute, and God's Unrelenting Love

The book of Hosea is a story of the amazing love of God for us. It is also a salvation story. Hosea was asked by God to marry a woman who would prove to be unfaithful to him later. He was to use his marriage as an object lesson for Israel because they were deep into sin and far, far away from God. Hosea was to play the part of God; his wife, Gomer, would play the part of God’s people. We see this covenant love of God played out in Hosea’s marriage. Despite Gomer’s unfaithfulness, Hosea continued to care and provide for her to the extent that he went to buy her back from the slave market (3:1-2).

Hosea's message is this: No matter what we do, no matter how sinful we are, God pursues us, romances us, and stakes us out in a radical grace based in himself. When we run away from him, God still seeks us, for he does not want “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). As we look back on our lives and how we came to salvation, many of us sense how God pursued us. And just as God pursues us, we are compelled to pursue others too.