The Lord . . . said this to [Hosea]: “Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity.” —Hosea 1:2 CSB
Hosea was a faithful husband who received nothing but heartache from his bride. His story is hard to read because it lacks a happy ending. It’s really hard to read when we see it for what it truly is: a picture of Israel’s rebellion and our own sinful tendencies to run away from God and into the arms of lesser lovers.
Consider the name God instructed Hosea to give his second child: “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel” (1:6 csb). Hosea’s daughter’s name meant “no compassion.” Does God’s compassion have a limit? Can we deplete it if we run from Him too many times?
Yet in Hosea 11, we find hope: “I have had a change of heart; my compassion is stirred!” (v. 8 csb). Hosea’s prophecy has a happy ending after all! Though we’re weak and deserve judgment, God is compassionate toward us. Our name isn’t Lo-ruhamah. Instead, He calls each of us His child (Rom. 8:17).
Make it Personal
Read John 15:15, Romans 15:7, and Ephesians 1:4. How do these other names that God calls us point toward His compassion?