Sometimes God’s prophets were called to do some weird things. Isaiah had to walk around naked for three years as a sign of judgment to come. For several months, Jeremiah wore yoke bars as he preached to the nation. We’ll find Ezekiel lying down on his left side for 390 days, then eating food made from a pile of burning manure. It wasn’t easy to be God’s spokesman! But no prophet was called to do anything more painful than Hosea, for God told him to marry an unfaithful woman and start a family with her. Though she will eventually leave him, Hosea will have the humiliating responsibility of buying back his own wife. All of this was for the purpose of a dramatic object lesson, demonstrating God’s faithful love for His faithless people. Hosea lived about 750 years before Christ, when Jeroboam was on the throne of Israel and four different kings reigned over Judah (1:1). At this time, the northern kingdom was politically stable and economically prosperous, but spiritually compromised. Hosea will confront them on the LORD’s behalf. Though he is directed to take for himself “a wife of whoredom” (v 2), Gomer may not have been promiscuous when Hosea married her. The Hebrew word translated as “whoredom” throughout the book is a broad term for various kinds of sexual misconduct, not necessarily prostitution. The couple may have been happily married for a time, but Hosea was told in advance that the marriage would become difficult. Gomer seems to have been faithful to her husband in the conceiving of her first child (v 3), but circumstances are more suspicious in her next two pregnancies (v 6, 8). The LORD steps in three times to name each of these children. The first-born is a son, and he is given the name Jezreel, which means “scattered,” for Israel would soon be scattered throughout the world for her unfaithfulness. The second is a girl, and she is named No Mercy, because God’s patience with Israel had reached its limit and His love would soon be withdrawn from them. The last child was another son; and God said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people and I am not your God.” Today these three children represent all who do not yet know God’s salvation in Jesus Christ (v 4-9). Despite the dark words, there is hope for Israel in the more distant future. Once rejected by God, they will be called His children. Though scattered, they will be gathered. Having been judged, they will be shown mercy. Their punishment will be temporary and God will bring His people home (v 9-11; 2:1). For further meditation: