The story of Hosea and Gomer looks like a train wreck from the start. But Hosea doesn’t write this prophecy like a journal where he doesn’t know what’s about to happen. He clues his audience in right away on what is about to unfold.
In some ways this story could easily be told today, because the same kind of thing has happened to thousands of people all over the world. Maybe it has even happened to you. It is the story of a broken home, a broken life, a broken heart and a broken vow.
But in other ways this story is very different. What makes it unique also makes it one of the most remarkable stories in all of literature. In fact, it is so outrageous that some people have struggle to believe that it actually happened.
Hosea is a prophet to the nation of Israel and God instructs him to marry a woman who cannot be faithful to him. At one point he even questions if their 3 children are all his. Eventually Gomer runs off to the arms of other men, but it doesn’t go well for her. They don’t love her. They don’t appreciate her. Eventually one of them even values money more than her, so he sells her as a slave. But Hosea hasn’t given up on Gomer. Outbidding everyone else, Hosea filled with love for his bride, buys her back in an attempt to rebuild their relationship.
Hosea is a model of Christ’s love for us. Gomer is an illustration of how our hearts can wander and how our brokenness can cause us to run from love.