The Whoring Bride of God in Hosea

Hosea is one of the greatest pictures of the love of God for His people in the Old Testament. It is a wonderful depiction of the amazing grace of God in the midst of His just judgment. In this minor prophet, God calls His servant, Hosea, to marry a prostitute, saying, “Take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (Hos. 1:2 [ESV]). As is clearly seen here, Hosea’s marriage to the prostitute Gomer is meant to be a picture of God’s relationship to His people as a husband to a wife of whoredom. This is because Israel, God’s people, has forsaken the Lord and loved other gods. As Israel is in this marriage with God, going after other gods is just as a wife going from her husband to other men and committing adultery with him

Fulfilling the second command of Yahweh in verse two, Hosea has three children in his marriage to Gomer. Their children’s names are crucial to the judgment and redemption of God, naming them (1) יִזְרְעֶאל which means “God will scatter,” (2) לֹא רֻחָמָה or “No Mercy,” and (3) לֹא עַמִּי or “Not My People.” Yahweh says they are named as such because He will (1) “put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel,” (2) He will “no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all,” and (3) He says to Israel “you are not my people, and I am not your God” (Hos. 1:4-9). These names of judgment are extremely alarming for the people of Israel—especially that of Not My People’s name. This is a reversal of the Immanuel Principle presented dozens of times throughout the Old Testament: “I will be your God, and you shall be my people” (Jer. 7:23). 

However, amidst this judgment, just a couple of verses later, Yahweh says, “In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God’” (Hos. 1:10). God’s grace is so great that even in the midst of judgment, He promises restoration to His people. Those of Israel who were called “not God’s people” are redeemed and then not only called “God’s people” but even “children of the living God!” God’s just judgment will come on Israel but it will not be the final say in the story of redemption.

Yahweh expounds on this more in Hosea, but most concisely in Hosea 2. God says that He will betroth His people to Himself in “righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy” (Hos. 2:19). He then says, “I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hos. 2:23).  This is a beautiful summary of the redemptive work of God, summarizing the plight of humanity and the immense grace of God. God’s people continuously turn from Him, not even desiring to be His bride. Yet God Himself will turn His people from their whoring toward His face. He does it Himself because His people are too sinful to turn from their adultery. They are unable to save themselves because they do not want to be saved but enjoy their whoring. Yahweh is the one who has to save them because they are too blind to do so themselves. 

The Renewed People of God in Romans

This beautiful example is used by Paul in one of the greatest chapters of the Bible, if such a thing could even be said. In Romans 9, Paul explains God’s sovereign choice of His people. Right before His use of Hosea, Paul mourns for his fellow Jews’ rejection of God and the covenant. He then explains that the children of God are said to be so not because of a bloodline nor of works, but are children by the promise of God. He uses the example of Issac and of Jacob and Esau, quoting Yahweh, saying, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:13). Anticipating the complaint of Paul’s readers that this sovereign choice seems unfair, Paul says that Yahweh clearly explains this to Moses when He said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Ex. 33:19). He then also explains that God has the right over His creation to elect from those creatures who rejected Him, choosing some to save—or one might just call this grace. Paul says this is to the end that some are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction while others are vessels of mercy prepared for glory. This all leads to the wondrous proclamation that the people God chooses are not just from ethnic Jews, but from all peoples, saying that His people are chosen“not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:24). He connects this declaration to the verses discussed above, Hosea 2:23 and 1:10, saying “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” (Rom. 9:25-26).

“Not My People” Become “Beloved”

Paul’s use of Hosea is particularly interesting. As was seen above, in Hosea, Yahweh is talking to the people of Israel, specifically telling Israel that they will be called Not My People only then to be called My People. Paul takes this and applies it to the Gentiles. Simply, Paul says that the Gentiles, who were not God’s people, are now called God’s people. This is not a misinterpretation by Paul, but is a great, foundational doctrine of the Bible; there is one people of God, not two. In His judgment of Israel, like the name of Hosea’s first child, Israel was scattered among the nations. Israel in Hosea was called Not My People just as the Gentiles were called Not My People. Then Jesus comes, making a new covenant from the old, and calling those who were called Not My People, beloved. Whether God’s people are from ethnic Israel or are Gentiles, they are called “My People” by Yahweh. This is one reason why Paul can say a few verses later, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Rom 10:12–13). 

The God Who Redeems His People

Praise God for the truth of Hosea and Romans! Without this truth, there is no hope for humanity. For as Romans 1 says, all people have rejected God and no one seeks after Him. Praise God that He would seek out His people Himself and call them “My People.” If this were not so, all would die in their whoredom and face the eternal wrath of God, rightfully deserved. Instead of this, God chose His people from all those called Not My People. Instead, God sent His Son to die for these people and make them just, not based on their works but on His own righteousness. Instead of wrath, these vessels of mercy receive the benefits of the sonship of God. Instead of alienation, His people receive union with Christ. Instead of leaving humanity where they wanted to be, God continues the story of redemption from the Old Testament to the New. Praise God for the unfolding providence of His mercy throughout human history to save His people and bring them to Himself. Truly, it is a beautiful thing to be called beloved by the God who calls us “My People.”