[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Baffling Bible Questions Answered for Monday, June 20, 2016

[Paul Smith]

Well folks, after a week's absence due to problems with my Internet 
connection, we are back with another series of baffling Bible questions 
answered.  Today we focus on the book of Hosea, so let's get to it.



Question:  Who wrote this book and what themes and issues does it deal with?

Answer:  The prophet Hosea lived and preached in the northern kingdom, 
Israel, in the middle of the eighth century B.C.  This book records his 
preaching to his countrymen, warning them of an Assyrian invasion.  He 
identifies this invasion as God's judgment on His straying people.  
Hosea's personal experience served as a parable underlining his 
preaching.  His wife abandoned him and turned to prostitution, just as 
Israel abandoned God and turned to idolatry.  Yet, Hosea continued to 
love her and years later took her back.  The prophet's deed foreshadows 
God's similar action and serves as a promise that one day God, too, 
will restore His sinning people.



Hosea 1:2

Question:  How could God, committed to moral purity, tell Hosea to 
"take to yourself an adulterous wife?"

Answer:  While some take this introductory verse to mean that Gomer was 
promiscuous when Hosea married her, others hold that Gomer was chaste 
when Hosea married her and only later turned to immorality. This 
argument seems irrelevant, for what is important is that God called the 
prophet to play his own role in a relationship that parallelled God's 
relationship with His people.  Hosea himself was not immoral for 
marrying Gomer any more than God was immoral for loving and remaining 
faithful to a woman (people) who was unfaithful to Him.  Legally, Hosea 
had a right to call for the execution of Gomer for her adulteries, even 
as God had a right to totally exterminate Israel for its centuries of 
unfaithfulness to Him.  The fact that both Hosea and God chose love 
over law reminds us that the highest morality of all is to seek to 
redeem the sinner.

It is also important to note, however, that the sins of both Gomer and 
Israel had painful consequences.  Gomer was finally abandoned by her 
lovers and forced into slavery.  Israel was invaded by the Assyrians 
and her people killed or dragged off into foreign lands.  Often, it is 
only when we experience the consequences of our sins that we will be 
open to the healing love extended to us by others and by the Lord.



Hosea 8:13

Question:  How can the prophet say here that Ephraim (Israel) "will 
return to Egypt" and then promise in 11:5, "He shall not return into 
the land of Egypt" (KJV)?

Answer:  The New International Version removes this apparent 
contradiction by rendering 11:5 as a question, "Will they not return to 
Egypt?" But the fact remains that the people of the northern Hebrew 
kingdom did not return to Egypt.  They were taken north, not south, 
into Assyrian territory.  How is this to be explained? Simply by 
pointing out that places are often used metaphorically in Scripture.  
Babylon is spoken of in Revelation, long after the destruction of the 
ancient city, as a metaphor of materialistic human society.  Sodom 
served Isaiah as a symbol of wickedness long after the original city's 
destruction (Isa. 1:9-10).  And here, Egypt, the lands where the 
Israelites were enslaved for such a long period, serves as a symbol of 
the slavery into which the coming Assyrian invasion will plunge the 
surviving inhabitants of the north.

And there you have, as far as I'm concerned, an all-too-brief look at 
the book of Hosea.  For me I have a question which the four pastors 
receiving this post hopefully can answer.

Why is Gomer portrayed here as female, when we read that one of the 
descendants of Noah, also named Gomer, is male? One of the members of 
our local Christian singles group also has the name of Gomer for his 
first name, and he is obviously male.  An explanation here would be 
most helpful.

And that will do it for today.  Next week we will look at an even 
shorter Bible book, that of Joel, but tomorrow we will return to our 
daily thought posts.  Until then may the God of Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last 
days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul