Unfaithfulness, Hosea, and Us

    Let me tell you of a couple who met and fell in love. After a time of dating, they decided to get married. Their wedding day was a beautiful day, a day in which they promised to love each other until death would part them. They promised to cherish each other, to be faithful and forsake all others. Their vows included in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, until death. For a while, both kept their promises. They were loving, caring, and faithful. Then something started to happen. One of them noticed somebody else. At first it was nothing serious, a smile and a kind word. Eventually, this new couple started spending time together. At some point, they realized they were about to cross a line - a line that would end in being unfaithful to the spouse. Once the line was crossed, consequences would follow. (Committing adultery involves everybody in a family and even those outside of the family. Perhaps a child is conceived in the adultery. The pain and anguish adultery creates in a home is hard to imagine. Whether an "affair" lasts a long time or occurs only once does not diminish the betrayal of the other partner.)

    Continuing with the scenario, the person decided to cross the line and became unfaithful. At first this one felt guilty with a conscience convicted of sin. Eventually, the conscience was seared and no longer produced feelings of guilt.

    One day, what had been hidden came to light. The other spouse learned what had been happening. Many feelings are felt by the "innocent party" including anger at the lies that have been told, anger at others who knew what was happening, shame for being made to appear a fool, pain at seeing a child known to be the result of adultery, and many other feelings. The faithful spouse wonders how the partner could have done such a thing. This one cannot find enough compassion and love to forgive the unfaithful and rebellious spouse.

    At times like these, maybe we can understand the way Hosea must have felt. God told Hosea to marry a harlot (Hosea 1:2) named Gomer. Together, they had three children Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi. Each child came with an announcement from God. At the birth of Jezreel, God said He would bring an end to the kingdom of Israel (Hosea 1:4). With Lo-Ruhamah, God said He would utterly destroy Israel but have mercy on Judah (Hosea 1:6,7). And with Lo-Ammi, God denounced this people to the point of saying He was not their God.

    Eventually, Gomer left Hosea and sold herself into harlotry. Imagine the pain and anguish Hosea felt. He had done all God said, only to be betrayed by an unfaithful wife.

    At that point, God told Hosea to go find Gomer and buy her back. I can hear some people say, "You have got to be kidding! Why would any one take back an unfaithful spouse, not to mention spend money to get her back?" Hosea, however, did what God commanded.

    As we read the rest of Hosea, we see the anger and punishment of God. We also see God's love for His people. I consider Chapter 11 to be one of the most tender passages of scripture in the Bible. "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them" (verses 1, 3, and 4). We see the pain and anguish God felt for His people. Much as parents love their children, so God loved His children.

    Toward the end of the book, Hosea urges Israel to repent and turn back toward God to give up their idols and be faithful once again. God promises to show them mercy and love.

    Can we relate this Bible story to the faithful spouse in the first part of this article? Can we comprehend God's anger and compassion in the Book of Hosea? What about Gomer and how she felt?

    Now, consider this! The faithful spouse decides to divorce the unfaithful spouse (which is a choice Matthew 19:9 allows). He or she is terribly hurt, eventually becoming full of anger and self pity. This leads to hardening of the heart and forsaking the Lord. This one quits serving God and turns to the world blaming the former spouse, or even God, for what has happened. Assembling with the saints, singing songs of praise to God, remembering the sacrifice of Jesus on the first day of the week, and hearing the Gospel become the last things this one wants to do. Even when fellow Christians come and plead with this one to come back to the Lord, the reaction is anger and resentment.

    At the same time, the one put away for adultery repents and turns back toward God. This one cannot undo what has been done and realizes he or she must live a live of loneliness. This one, too, may feel anger, resentment, and depression. In this case, the feelings are directed toward self and the wondering, "How could I have done this?"

    Now, who is the unfaithful one? Which one is worse off? Did not the one who forsook God at one time promise to be faithful and keep His word to forsake all other gods and serve only the one and true God?

    When one is baptized into Christ, that one is cleansed of sin and is promising to love Him and keep His word (John 14:15). This promise of faithfulness is not limited by circumstances, but only the length of one''s life. We are to be faithful until death.

    Ironically, the person in my scenario who betrayed the spouse and then repented is better off than the one who was faithful in the marriage but turned from God. Why? Because the unfaithful spouse repented and turned back to God while the other hardened her or his heart and went back into the world. "For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: 'A dog returns to his own vomit,' and 'a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire'" (2 Peter 2:21,22).

    One last thought to consider! What about the Christian who simply decides to forsake the assembly of the saints, quits singing songs of praise to God, stops studying the Bible, and no longer remembers the Lord's death on the first day of the week? And, what about the Christian who decides to worship in some way other than that which is prescribed in the scriptures? Are these not just as unfaithful?

    We should remember the lesson of Hosea when we find it hard to forgive someone who has betrayed us and when we are tempted to betray our God.

---Dennis Tucker