Go take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord. - Hosea 1:2
Hosea, the son of Beeri, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah, and Jeroboam in Israel. For the book, see Hosea.
Basics
- Father-in-law: Diblaim (Hosea 1:3) (inferred)
- Father: Beeri (Hosea 1:1)
- Wife: Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim (Hosea 1:3)
- Sons: Jezreel (Hosea 1:4), Not My People (Hosea 1:9)
- Daughters: No Mercy (Hosea 1:6)
Life
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, He said, "Go take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord." He married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she had Jezreel, No Mercy, and Not My People. The Lord gave them prophetic names.
Scripture distinguishes that Jezreel was born to Hosea, while his siblings No Mercy and Not My People were merely "born," so perhaps Jezreel is the only biological child Hosea had. (Hosea 1:3,6,8)
His wife pursued her lovers and spent his silver and gold on Baal. Hosea threatened her with divorce and declared to have no mercy on her children of whoredom. He would take away his wool and flax and uncover her nakedness. But the Lord had him love her again, as He loves idolatrous Israel. He purchased Gomer for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and lethech of barley and told her to dwell as his for many days, and he will be hers.
Message
He took a wife of whoredom and had children of whoredom for the land committed great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.
His children have prophetic names from the Lord.
For his first son, who may be his only biological child: "Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while, I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel." (Hosea 1:4-5)
For his first daughter: "Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen." (Hosea 1:6-7)
And for his youngest son: "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God." And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be fathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (Hosea 1:8-11)
Israel's pursues other gods and forgets the Lord. She thinks her grain, bread, water, wine, oil, flax, and wool came from them but it was always the Lord. He will expose her nakedness, hedge her way with thorns so she cannot find her lovers, and allure her so she answers as in the days of her youth.