The Consequences of Prophecy-The Prostitute & The Prophet
Our God is infinite and His Creativity is beyond comprehension, so when He desires to communicate with His People, we cannot always anticipate in what novel ways He will connect with us. The Art of Prophecy is not limited to the written or spoken word and sometimes He shadows His Messages through the lives and families of His Prophets.
The nearly sixty years Hosea served as a prophet were marked by Israel’s kings in particular, not only introducing, but encouraging the worship of the gods of their neighboring nations. God wanted His Prophet Hosea to have a deep understanding of the anger and frustration that He experienced watching Israel turn from righteous worship towards filthy idolatry, which He compared to adultery. So, God commanded Prophet Hosea to “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her” because Israel had been acting like an adulterous wife and had been unfaithful to the Lord (ref. Hosea 1:1-2).
While Prophet Hosea could have chosen a woman who had been accused of infidelity or was of questionable character, He married a woman named Gomer who was the daughter of Diblaim. Gomer may have been a type of “stage/performer name” since it translates to “complete” or “finish” possibly alluding to the end of a sexual encounter. Gomer’s father’s name also requires scrutiny since it means “double cakes” and may have served twofold as a sort of “pimp name” and price advertisement, since fig/date/raisin cakes were common sacrifices offered to idols in the region (ref. Hosea 3:1) and may have been a form of payment for sexual services with temple priestesses/prostitutes. So Prophet Hosea was faithful to God’s command and married Gomer who was most likely a temple prostitute and the literal manifestation of foreign idolatry and the sexual cultic practices associated with it.
After Hosea and Gomer were married, she bore him a son, whom God instructed to be named Jezreel to commemorate the massacre that Jehu had committed in the valley. Jehu was responsible for overthrowing wicked King Ahaz and his Queen Jezebel who may have been a Chief Temple Priestess of Baal and Astarte. God commanded Jehu to eliminate all of King Ahaz’s family and the priests who had served under Queen Jezebel, which Jehu complied to diligently, which helped stamp out Baal worship briefly. But because Jehu did not follow in the Ways of the Lord and instead turned the people of Israel towards worshipping the calves that were in Bethel, God found Jehu guilty of the bloodshed in Jezreel and would punish the “house of Jehu, and end their Kingdom in the House of Israel”. The naming of Jezreel was a reminder that even the idolatrous Israelites would receive retribution at first. Jezreel’s birth also served as a prophetic countdown, since “in a little while” the last king of the bloodline of Jehu, King Zachariah, who only reigned six months, would be publically assassinated and end Jehu’s family dynasty (ref. 2 Kings 15: 8-10; Hosea 1:4).
Gomer bore a second child, who was not explicitly named as Hosea’s, a daughter named Lo-ruhamah, meaning one “not pitied; not having obtained mercy”. God explains that her name is a prophetic sign that He “will no longer have Mercy upon the House of Israel; but will utterly take them away” from their homeland as slaves. But not all of Israel will experience this terror. Only the Northern Kingdom of Samaria will be taken away as captives at first, since the Southern Kingdom of Judah had continued to serve the Lord faithfully. He would have Mercy upon them and save them by the Lord their God (ref. Hosea 1:6-7). This Prophecy would take about forty years to be fulfilled when the King of Assyria captured and deported the people of Samaria after a long line of bad kings conspiring and assassinating each other.
Gomer’s third child is heavily implied to not be Hosea’s legitimate son, as his name is Loammi, meaning “not my people/family” prophetically symbolizing that because Israel had chosen not to be His People, He would not be their God. Even then, the Lord would not fail to keep His Promise that “the number of the children of Israel [would] be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered”. But, there would come a time in the place where they were told by God that they were not His People, they would be called Sons of the Living God. It would be at this place that the children of Judah and the children of Israel would gather together before being cast out of the land again. This crushing prophecy was recognized by the author of Romans as being fulfilled as Gentiles began to be added to God’s Kingdom, “as God says in Hosea ‘I will call them “My People” who are not My People; and I will call her “My Loved One” who is not My Loved one’ and ‘In the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there they will be called “Children of the Living God”. After the Tribes of Israel reunited as a single nation, they appointed a King, rather than chose the long-awaited Messiah. For their continued infidelity, they would be cast out of Israel and dispersed throughout the World again after the destruction of the Second Temple, which God likened to the massacre at Jezreel, where temple priests and priestesses to foreign gods and idols were slaughtered for their unfaithfulness to the True God of Israel.
God used Prophet Hosea’s marriage to possible temple prostitute Gomer to prophetically allude to Israel’s continued idolatry as a form of unfaithfulness. Gomer’s children also served as prophetic signs of what Israel was going to experience for their turning away from God. First God would avenge the deaths of the idol worshippers who were killed in Jezreel by Jehu who also turned to cultic practices. Because Jezreel was Gomer’s legitimate son, God would punish the deaths of His Peoples. Gomer’s daughter Lo-ruhamah would not be given pity or mercy as she was the child of Gomer’s whoredoms and accordingly symbolized the Northern Nation of Samaria which would receive no compassion as they were carried away for having turned away from the Lord. Gomer’s final son Loammi, another bastard, was a decree from God that all of Israel would ultimately turn away from Him and they would no longer be His People and He would no longer be their God. Hosea’s prophecy alludes that Jerusalem would be destroyed and Israel scattered again after they reunited as a nation due to their rejection of God.
God’s Prophets are called to proclaim His Message, sometimes at great expense to themselves. Prophet Hosea experienced the anger, embarrassment, and jealousy of having an unfaithful wife mirroring God’s familiarity with Israel’s constant idolatry. Even Hosea’s children were implied to not all be his legitimate heirs, symbolizing how the People of Israel had turned so far away from God as to no longer be His. Ultimately, the burden of prophecy is dwarfed by the consequences of serving gods whose worth carry no weight.
Prepared by, Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet & Eric Sepulveda, PMT Administrator
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Apostolic Prophet, Kent Simpson
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