In Hosea chapter 1 the prophet is instructed to marry a scarlet woman. The directive is expressed with such candor ‘Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her’. Prophet Hosea obeys and weds Gomer the daughter of Diblaim. For a prophet’s wife you would expect Gomer to be faithful, pious at the very least decent. Instead she has a fickle heart and a wandering eye. She models the gloomy and sketchy path mothers cast and bid away from their children in prayer. In a way it seems as though Gomer is on a mission to contradict all of Hosea’s warnings from God.
God asks Prophet Hosea to go bring Gomer back, Hosea 3:1
The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
For fifteen Shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley, Hosea buys his wife back.
At this point Isaiah 55: 8-9 now makes sense 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord.9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts.
Ezekiel 17; 15-29 details the death of Ezekiel’s wife and instructions on what to do after.
15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. 17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.
19 Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things have to do with us? Why are you acting like this?”20 So I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: 21 Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword.
22 And you will do as I have done. You will not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners. 23 You will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep but will waste away because of[a] your sins and groan among yourselves. 24 Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’
25 “And you, son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, and their sons and daughters as well— 26 on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. 27 At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”
God is the business of saving souls, sometimes His methods may not agree with what our human minds consider to be proper and right. We might we witnesses to situations that we consider odd but in the end they lift up the name of God and therefore draw the hearts of men to Him. The end –game is to have all men drawn to him, to restore lost relationships and to save lost souls. When we find ourselves in these circumstances where we don’t understand what God is doing, it is in our best interest to pause and take time off to actually listen to His instructions.
