Gomer: Unfaithfulness to Redemption

Gomer was the daughter of Diblaim and the wife of Hosea.  We know she had at least three children (2 sons and a daughter)

Of the marriage relationships in the Bible, Gomer and Hosea have one of the most interesting and most controversial. 

Hosea 1:2 states that “The Lord said to [Hosea], “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.”  So Hosea married Gomer. 

Apparently God not only had a partner selected for Hosea, He specifically directed him to her.  However, the rest of their relationship would not be as simple as a God-given direction.

Commentators have differences of opinion on Gomer’s morality.  Is she a woman who marries, then falls into a sexual relationship with another man?  Was she a prostitute?   Or was she just  a sexually active unmarried woman?  Did Hosea know she had a “morally casual attitude?” Did she have children at the time of the marriage?  Or is this all allegory to make the people understand God’s analogy of their unfaithfulness to Him?

The debate comes from the fact that God’s word admonishes  priests from marrying prostitutes.  We recoil from the idea that God commanded his servant to marry someone clearly not up to God’s standards.  Hosea was not a priest, rather a prophet, but he is commanded by God to marry Gomer, who at the least had a shaky moral reputation.

In any event, Gomer’s lack of fidelity is on display for generations and generations.  She has a son with Hosea, then two more children – with questionable paternity.  Eventually, she and Hosea separate.  Hosea must purchase her back from another for 15  sheckels of silver (the cost of a slave) and some barley.

Grim and frustrating as it is, Gomer’s story is a wonderful one for us:  God loves us just as Hosea loved Gomer.  God stands ready to redeem us from our slavery to sin.  He will pursue us until He lures us back to Himself. 

Even though we are as unfaithful to God as Gomer was to Hosea, God wants a loving relationship with us.  Amazing!