Today's Scripture Reading (April 7, 2026): Hosea 1
On December 16,
1970, Paramount Pictures released a melodrama that became an unquestioned
success. The movie became a pop culture superstar. It was nominated for seven
Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best
Actress. The movie's theme song was nominated for two Grammys. The movie was "Love
Story," starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. In 1970, both were
up-and-coming actors and the "beautiful people" of Hollywood. And it
really was a love story. My mother loved the movie, but I didn't really get it.
There were no gunfights or car chases, and Ali MacGraw's character, Jenny, dies
in the end; according to my standards, that's not evidence of a good movie. Of
course, I was also only ten when the movie debuted. The story was about a young
lawyer who fell in love with a girl. The couple wants to have children, but can't;
so, they go to the doctor and find out that she has a fatal disease (probably
leukemia, although we are never told what it was in the movie). There is one
scene where the young man tries to borrow some money from his father to help
with treatment, and Dad writes off the request by asking if he got some girl in
trouble. It was this moment in the story that was supposed to draw the viewer's
attention to the young couple's commitment to each other, even in sickness.
They are soul mates and hopelessly in love.
In the final
scene, Dad realizes what is going on and comes to see his son to apologize.
Ryan O'Neal's Character, Oliver, responds to his dad with the movie's tagline: "Love
means never having to say that you are sorry." And everybody sighs and
cries.
The story of
Hosea is a love story, but it is not that story. That becomes obvious with the
first lines of the story; God tells Hosea to go and marry a promiscuous woman,
literally a prostitute. And our question is, "Really? Would God do that? I
don't understand; let me find something else to read. Maybe something about
Jesus."
And almost to
make this worse, the way that some translators have used for this passage has
phrased it this way: "Hosea, go and marry a prostitute so that you will
have children of Prostitution." This passage anticipates that Gomer will
not be committed to the relationship. It anticipates that Gomer will not change
her ways and will become pregnant with children who are not Hosea's. And if I
am honest, I am not sure which really surprises me more: that God would ask
Hosea to do it, or that Hosea would actually say yes.
And so, Hosea
goes out and finds Gomer. And at this point in history, that probably meant
that Hosea would have to go and bargain with Gomer's Dad. And he was probably
overjoyed that someone wanted to marry her, because, given her behavior, there
weren't a whole lot of suitors coming around to talk to dear old dad. Gomer may
not have had anything to do with it. Hosea made a deal with Dad, and Gomer
became Hosea's wife; it is quite possible that no one asked her what she wanted.
But we are told
that Hosea marries Gomer, and together they have a child named Jezreel. And
there was meaning in the name. Jezreel was the place where Jehu, the king of
Israel, killed the house of Ahab. Every person that he could find who was
related to Ahab was killed. And Jehu said that he was doing God's will, but
that was not the full truth. The reality is that Jehu, who was an evil king,
committed the act in such a way to maximize the evil and his own pleasure in
the act, and he caused the most damage possible to the nation of Judah.
There are two
things that we need to notice about this boy named Jezreel. The first is that
this is Hosea's son. And Hosea loves his son. There is absolutely no trace of
shame in his name. But the second thing we need to notice is that, even in
choosing the name Jezreel, there is a prophetic announcement. Hosea is a
prophet of God, and the office has consumed him.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Hosea 2 & 3
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