Whoredom

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD." -Hos 1:2

Isn't this a great way to open a book? Who doesn't want to read on from here? It's not because of our sick, perverted, oversexed culture that I say that. It's out of compassion, pity, and a sense of "What is God doing here?" that I want to read on. As a husband, I can't imagine what Hosea went through, not just marrying a promiscuous wife, but marrying a literal whore. He was commanded to have children...even though they probably weren't his. At least that's my understanding of "children of whoredom."

Why would God do such a thing to a person? Doesn't he love us and have a great purpose for our lives? Oddly enough, that's exactly why he does it. He is using marriage to show his tremendous faithfulness. The primary purpose of marriage is to reflect God's unfailing love for his people. In all our adulteries like Gomer, God is faithful like Hosea.