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As mentioned in the previous post, God wants relationship with His children. To clarify further—God desires intimate relationship with us. The Bible describes God’s relationship with His people in several intimate ways—Father and son/daughter, Husband and wife, Bridegroom and bride, Friend. The Husband-wife references are particularly to Israel, the Bridegroom-bride Scriptures refer to Christ and the Church. Both imply a particularly intimate relationship:
“‘For your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—a wife who married young, only to be rejected,’ says your God.” Isaiah 54:5-6 (NIV)
“No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. . . for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married. . . as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 62:4-5 (NIV)
“‘In that day,’ declares the LORD, ‘you will call me “my husband”; you will no longer call me “my master”. . . I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. . . I will show my love to the one I called “Not my loved one.” I will say to those called “Not my people”, “You are my people”; and they will say, “You are my God.”’” Hosea 2:16, 19-20, 23 (NIV)
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’ declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 2:2b-3 (NIV)
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NIV)
“But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:8-9 (NIV)
God is in a covenant relationship with His people, just like a marriage!
Spiritual Adultery with Idols
All Bible commentators agree that as often written in the Bible, the idolatries of God’s people are as adulteries. In many passages, God accuses Israel, sometimes in graphic language, of spiritual adultery and prostitution because of their unfaithfulness to His covenant love. For example, after a very graphic read in Ezekiel 23:1-37 (I recommend you read it):
“They committed adultery with their idols . . .” Ezekiel 23:37b” (NIV)
“‘I myself said, “How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.” I thought you would call me “Father” and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,’ declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 3:19-20 (NIV)
A particularly convicting verse from Ezekiel 16:
“‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.’” Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)
The idolatry of God’s people is often spoken of as spiritual harlotry in the Old Testament. Here is one of many:
“See how the faithful city has become a prostitute!” Isaiah 1:21a (NIV)
But we must never miss His great compassion, love, and mercy:
“‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God . . .’” Jeremiah 3:12b-13b (NKJV)
“‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the LORD; ‘for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.’” Jeremiah 3:14-15 (NKJV)
“‘Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings.’” Jeremiah 3:22 (NKJV)
“‘If you will return, O Israel,’ says the LORD, ‘Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved.’” Jeremiah 4:1 (NKJV)
God pictured His covenant relationship with Israel as a marriage, and pleaded for His people to repent and return to Him. The book of Hosea is the story of an adulterous wife and a faithful husband. After bearing him children, Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea. In spite of her adultery, Hosea continued to support her, but she thought that it came from her lovers! Eventually, Gomer ended up on the slave market, totally degraded. God commanded Hosea to go and buy back his errant wife out of slavery and restore her as his wife. The restoration of Gomer by Hosea is a picture of God taking back—even buying back--His adulterous people. Perhaps the most moving text of all is when God commanded the prophet Hosea to marry the prostitute Gomer:
“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.’” Hosea 3:1 (NIV)
What a picture of God’s love for His wayward people! The Bible is God’s love letter to us. Do you read it? The physical immorality of the wife, Gomer, is a picture of the spiritual idolatry of Israel. Is there an idol in your life that is taking the place of God? Has food become an idol in your life?
The meaning of the name “Hosea” is “salvation”, the same as that of Joshua and Jesus. Hosea was a prophet in the time of Israel when kings from both the northern kingdom Israel and the southern kingdom Judah repeatedly sought out alliances with their heathen neighbors rather than seeking the Lord’s help, not too dissimilar to repeatedly turning to food for “help”, even developing a relationship with food, rather than seeking the Lord’s help in our pain.
Be sure to read the next blog post for how the Bible continues the marriage theme of the New Covenant relationship of the Church—the bride of Christ—with her Bridegroom, Jesus.
Dear God, Thank You for your unfathomable love for us, so deep and so merciful. Thank you for Calling Your people back from spiritual adultery with idols, for healing our backslidings and pain, and for strengthening us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
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