A Wife of Whoredoms

Hos 1:2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

Can you imagine! The preacher is told by the Lord to go out and find a wife. Not just any wife, you have to go to the red light district and pick out a streetwalker.

Oh boy, can you hear the whispers now amongst the "sistern"?

"Did you see the hemline on that woman today? And just a sittin' up there on the front row of that choir loft a flauntin herself like she was for sale!"

"Do tell! And to think that little preacher of ours could'a had any of the single girls in our church and he has the nerve to tell us that God told him to marry a harlot. Why, I never!"

Interesting enough, "Gomer" means completion. That gives a whole new meaning to the idea that the wife is the man's completer as per Genesis 2:18.

Of all the Old Testament strangeness that we don't have to concern ourselves with in this age of grace, such as stoning of rebellious children, here is one... preachers marrying harlots to make a point to a rebellious nation.

My heart goes out to this good man, Hosea. What heartbreak he suffered to get the Word of the Lord to a bunch of undeserving people. And yet, he stayed faithful to his calling.

Today, we really do have it made. All we have to do is witness and we are generally pretty well received in our message. How about telling someone today of God's love to them? It's a lot simpler than hooking up with a hooker. Oh, and the ladies of the church won't have a conniption!