“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry, for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”
When I was a kid, I did some dumb stuff, like the time I told my brother to stick a rock up his nose because the pebbles were small enough, or the time I thought it was a good idea to lock my sister’s cat in her bathroom all day. The cat used her tub for a litter box for a long time after that, which was kind of funny. Other times were not so humorous, following the whims of stupid kids on dares and not wanting to be an outcast. I can say now that I was failing forward in all those times because I used the lessons to learn and not to repeat the dumb behavior.
Israel was in this boat as well. They had been blessed to have a land flowing with milk and honey and to live without enemies for a time. If you know the history, they did not follow the Lord’s instructions completely, and because of that, they fell away from following the Lord.
Hosea is one of the minor prophets, and the verse above is how he is introduced. Talk about commitment, how about following those directions in the verse above? The book of Hosea was written about the time of the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. By the time the Lord spoke to Hosea here, the country had already fallen into serving other gods and worshiping idols, completely forsaking the Lord.
The whole play on the marriage of a harlot is the Lord’s way of driving home how the people of Israel are viewed in His eyes, as a harlot. We all know what a harlot does, so a definition is not needed, but what if you had that label? The people of Israel wore that label like the scarlet A on their chest. They had temple priests, temple gold, temple worship, and on the outside, they all looked like they were following the Lord, but really, it was just for show. They secretly worshiped other gods and idols while masquerading as committed to the Lord.
If you think about it, to find a harlot, you have to go into shady places where most people do not even go. Think for a moment about the harlots all lined up at the entrance to the church on Sunday, and you watched as all your friends picked one or two and left with them right after church. I believe you are beginning to understand the Lord here in verse 2.
We all mess up, and we all have fallen. Thank God He has grace on us that we do not deserve. Christ came to heal the sick and fix the brokenhearted. You rarely find sick and brokenhearted people who are fully committed to Christ. They have refused to prostitute their lives away from the Lord and have said no to ungodly behavior. Today, pray that the Lord would open your eyes to things and practices in your life that could lead you into a harlot’s cave of ungodly behavior, where you defend ungodly things. Break the cycle and come back to the Lord in all your ways.
Prayer: Father, open my eyes to my idolatrous behavior before You. I pray that I turn from the things in my life that are not of You, Father. Help me to choose Your ways, in Jesus’ name.
Let It Go 
Leave a comment