It may be the greatest love story in the Old Testament. It is certainly the most scandalous one. The implications this short book brings to us are heart rending and intensely personal.

The book of the prophet Hosea has intrigued me for years.

Hosea has some of the most provocative language of any book of the Bible. It begins with God telling Hosea to do the very last thing any respectable prophet would be expected to do. It begins with God’s command for Hosea to go and marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). This prostitute, Gomer, bore Hosea a son which God told him to name “Jezreel.” The prophetic name of “Jezreel” means “scattered”, “judgment”, or “exile.” This son was a sign God would soon punish Israel and scatter the prosperous proud nation in judgment.

After that, Gomer had two more children who were apparently not even Hosea’s. God commanded these two illegitimate children to be named  “Not Loved” and “Not My People.” And you thought the boy named “Sue” had it bad. These names signify the way Israel would be treated by God for a time because of its covenant unfaithfulness.

Then the prostitute leaves the prophet.

This is an excellent article about the book of Hosea written by Bryan over at http://chiefofleast.com/. Strangely enough, God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute! It only gets worse after this, but what is the book of Hosea really about? Visit Bryan over at his site, http://chiefofleast.com/ and find out!

To finish reading this article, please head on over to http://chiefofleast.com/2011/02/16/the-god-who-makes-a-whore-his-wife, If you like what you read, why not let Bryan know you were there? Check out the rest of his site, you are sure to be blessed.