MPC, 30th June 2002.Hosea 1 - "High Fidelity"
Stuart Atkinson MPC, 30th June 2002.
It seems that High Fidelity in our society isn't something that's hugely interesting to us. That is unless you go looking for a stereo system. Plenty of interest in high fidelity then. We'll pay thousands of dollars to get a sound system that faithfully reproduces quality sound, but when it comes to relationships fidelity's not something that really grabs our interest. Faithfulness is not news. So you'll never open up the paper to see the headline Man Faithful To Wife! It's more likely to be Wayne Carey Caught With Best Mate's Wife. Infidelity is far more interesting.
What about TV? Affairs are all the rage. Even The Bill. Polly and Dave! Or Indecent Proposal - the movie where Robert Redford says to Woody Harrelson, "how about you let me sleep with your wife?" I'll give you a million bucks. And Woody says "ok".
You could almost get the idea that as a society we're used to infidelity. You hear about it every day. It's almost normal.
But I think the intrigue of a movie like Indecent Proposal is the fact that it ends up being such a disaster – the jealousy, the loss of trust, the guilt. It rips 'em apart.
And I think the reason affairs are such big news, is that - we actually understand, at least to some extent, what it's like to be betrayed. Because you can't live life without being burnt by a friend. You can't live life without being hurt by someone you trust. There's some kind of empathy there. There's something about betrayal that we know causes deep pain. And the closer that person is to you, the more it hurts. So when you're watching that movie, you can feel that gut wrenching horror as the wife walks in the door to find her husband in bed with another woman.
You sit there saying, "Don't do it, don't open the door!" Because you know when she sees what's going on, on the other side of that door… she'll be crushed.
See, I think we're only too aware that infidelity in relationships is tragic.
And so the people of Israel, they're meant to be shocked when they watch what happens to the prophet Hosea. They're meant to be horrified when they hear what God's told him to do.
Because there's a woman around town. And everyone knows her reputation. She's a woman who's known because she sleeps around. She's a woman who is just about guaranteed… to be unfaithful. Who can't be trusted.
And God says to Hosea in verse 2, "Go, and take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness." Go. And marry the least faithful woman you can find. And so verse 3, he marries Gomer. Daughter of Diblaim. And Gomer conceives and she bears him a son.
It's like the Temptation Island of 800BC. They all know she's the sort who slips out in the middle of the night and slips into bed with other men.
And the key thing they're meant to understand, we're told it right from the start. God's using him… as a visual aid. He's using his prophet not just to say something. But to act it out in real life.
It's there in the words of verse 2. "Take yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery… in departing from the Lord ."
Show them what it's like… to be me. Because out of all the nations on earth, God's picked out Israel to be his special people. His bride.
Back in Jeremiah 2:2, God says exactly that. Israel is his bride…
I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest.
It's the picture of married bliss. God and his people in love. He loves them; they love him. God's chosen them; he's cherishing them. And in Jeremiah he looks back at the early days. The romance. When Israel was devoted to their God. But now it's different.
And just like Gomer, God's Bride doesn't even wait until the honeymoon's over before she starts playing the field.
If you had a look at the study you would have seen that Israel's up to its eyeballs in pagan altars. Israel can't get enough of worshipping idols. The Israelites will even sacrifice their children to appease the gods of Baal.
And yet they still offer sacrifices to God at the temple. They still go through the motions of a marriage. They still go to the temple on Sundays. It's just that they haven't realised God's bride is not for sharing. His people have become harlots who'll sell themselves to anybody. They're guilty of the vilest adultery. And so God says to Hosea in verse 2 the words you'd never want to hear. "Go take an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord."
The Jerusalem Bible translates it:
Go, marry a whore, and get children with a whore, for the country itself has become nothing but a whore by abandoning me.
Now, I'm 32 years old and if my mum heard me using that kind of language she'd clip me around the ears. But it's the language of a husband betrayed by his wife. And through the marriage of Hosea, God's playing the video of Israel's unfaithfulness right in front of their eyes.
There was an article in the Sunday Mail a couple of months ago about prostitutes and their clients. After reading it, a lady called Maria wrote in to tell how she discovered that her husband had secretly been visiting prostitutes for years. Maria's husband went to the Gold Coast for a work weekend. One of the guys phoned him in the car on the way to work on the Monday while Maria was in the car. But the phone was on speaker – and before he could do anything, his mate blurted out how great the strippers were and how her husband had had slept with one of them.
A couple of days later after being unable to bear the guilt any longer her husband confessed he'd been seeing prostitutes for 14 years.
Maria says the few friends who know what has happened are surprised she's stuck with him. She talks about how she lost her job, her health – how she had to go on anti-depressants. She says, "I've lost the trust in the one person I thought I could trust more than anyone". She says: "I want the marriage to succeed – but the other part of me, the one that feels sick every time my husband walks out he door, the one that looks at women in the street and thinks - has my husband been with you?" could just swallow me up.
And just like Maria, Hosea walks the streets wondering who his wife spent last night with. He's probably on anti-depressants – it's tough being a prophet of God.
Why is God so tough on Hosea? Have you asked that question? Well, when you think about it, it's because that's the only way Israel can really see what they've done. It's a true representation of how they've treated God. Because in the end obedience to God is not about rules. It's about relationship. Maria's husband didn't stop seeing prostitutes because he looked at the list of rules on the fridge – take out garbage, mow the lawn, don't see prostitutes – it's nothing to do with rules – if it was God would have told Hosea to dress up like Bill Harrigan and run around with the ten commandments and a whistle. God's exposing his heart here. His heart's broken the same way Maria's is. The same way Hosea's is. And Israel is supposed to be mortified. They're supposed to see the way they've treated their husband and they're supposed to be riddled with guilt like Maria's husband. Their supposed to confess that they've been unfaithful to him. They're supposed to commit to an exclusive relationship with him. A relationship of high fidelity. That's what God wants, and he won't settle for less. Stop their prostitution. They're supposed to turn back to God with their hearts.
And in a marriage, if that doesn't happen, it can only lead to one thing – and that's separation. Divorce.
And that's exactly what Israel is headed for if they don't turn back. That's what God's saying when he names the kids. Have a look with me at Hosea's family from the second part of verse 3 as the reality TV continues
First son – His name is Jezreel because God says I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
Next, a daughter – Lo Ruhamah – not loved
Then another son – Lo Ammi – not my people
It's all there in the names. Unless Israel repents, unless they become a faithful wife, God's going to abandon them the way they abandoned him. He's going to take their kingdom away, he's going to take his love away, and he's going to take himself away – you are not my people and I am not your God.
And we know that just a few years later, 722 BC, Assyria comes and completely destroys the nation of Israel – they're deported to Assyria and Egypt. No kingdom, no protection, no God.
If you're anything like me, you don't feel too sorry for them. They got what was coming to them. In fact the general feeling at our growth group was – why did God put up with them as long as he did? Hundreds and hundreds of years of unfaithfulness. And when you think about it, Hosea didn't just rock up with a hand written demand from God giving them a week to respond, his reality TV message lasted for years – they'd have a child, and I'm told that doesn't just happen overnight, then they'd wean him. Couple of years, I don't know to soak up the meaning of his name – I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. Hmm. What do you think that means??? It wasn't that it was unclear. It not that they need more time to decide.
And it's nothing new. Right back at the time of Moses, God grieves over the way he says they've prostituted themselves to foreign Gods. Over and over again.
Well, its good fun giving Israel a roasting. But we have to remember at this point that the people of Israel are just representatives of Adam. God might have chosen them as his special people, but they're no different from any other nation; they're special because God chose them. They're a fallen race, like you and me. Given every opportunity to return to God, they fall short. The "not my people" is all of us. Gomer represents Israel. And in a sense Israel represents us. And we're no different. The infidelity of Gomer is meant to make us disgusted. We're meant to say: "Who could love someone like that?" Then we're meant to realise – that's us. That we deserve judgment and separation from God for our unfaithfulness.
That's the bad news. That's the doom and gloom, but look with me from verse 10 as things change. And there's a dramatic promise.
Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, you are not my people… they will be called sons of the living God. The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. Say of your brothers 'My people' and of your sisters, 'my loved ones'.
It's an incredible turn around. From doom and gloom to happy families. It's the last six statements reversed. From verses 1 to 9 we see Gomer's character on display; well now we're seeing God's character on display. He's a God of High fidelity. He's a God of amazing faithfulness to a people who are unfaithful. Somehow he's going to take a marriage that's dead, and a people who are unfaithful, and turn it around into what he's describing here.
See, God said to Abraham in Genesis that his offspring were going to be a people of faith. A people as numerous as the stars in the sky, a people who would put their trust in the Lord.
And yet by the end of Hosea chapter 1 verse 9, there's Abraham's descendants – a people of unfaithfullness… a people of infidelity. Just as disloyal to their creator as every other nation on earth.
But did you notice the repeated word in verses 10 and eleven – it's the word will – it's repeated six times:
Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which can't be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, they will be called sons of the living God. The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. Say of your brothers 'My people' and of your sisters, 'my loved ones'.
And so even for a people in exile, there's hope. Despite massive unfaithfulness, God is a husband who is so committed to this relationship that he will do whatever it takes to get them back. God's saying to them even in exile, even in separation – I'm interested in fidelity - come back to me.
Well, that's where chapter one ends, and as Luke was saying last week we're left with hope, but frustration too because its only part of the way through the book of God's plan for his people. We've got to look forward into the New Testament, towards the coming of a Messiah who will ultimately be the one person to completely heal this broken relationship. Who'll leave his Father and become one with his bride… the church. People like us.
We're going to see more of the horror next time. Of God's unfaithful marriage. Mirrored by Hosea and Gomer. And when we see that, we need to make sure that it's not a picture of us as well. That in our commitment to Jesus, we're single minded. And not just going though the motions. Not just keeping up appearances obeying rules. God's interested in High Fidelity, and we should be, too.