Hosea

Hosea prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel during the turbulent final decades before Assyria's conquest in 722 BCE. God's opening command to Hosea was startling: "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms...for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD" (Hosea 1:2). Hosea married Gomer, who proved unfaithful — bearing children whose names were prophetic judgments: Jezreel ("God scatters"), Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied"), and Lo-ammi ("not my people"). Yet God commanded Hosea to love Gomer despite her unfaithfulness, buying her back from slavery: "Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel" (Hosea 3:1). Hosea's marriage became a living parable of God's faithful love for unfaithful Israel. The book contains some of the most tender expressions of divine love in the Old Testament: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1) and "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). Matthew 2:15 applies Hosea 11:1 to Jesus' return from Egypt.