(When we read the scriptures, we can look to see if Jesus may be pictured in the passage.

It looked like Jesus may have been pictured in Genesis 2 and 24, and also in the Song of Solomon, so what about in the book of Hosea?)

 

(Hosea was to take a wife from among the loose and sinful of the world, who lived immoral all their lives, it was their nature:)

 

Hosea 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.

 

(This was a picture of Israel, and yet a picture of Jesus and the church, but also a picture of Jesus with us, individually.)

 

(So, he took her to be his, and for a while they were together, and no doubt, he loves her, but surely, she must have loved him.)

 

(However, her old nature crept back into her life, and she departed from him, to live in sin, like she previously had done, in the world.)

 

Hosea 2:5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

  13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

 

(She left him who loved her, who had first taken her as she was, a vile sinner, and yet gave her a wonderful life,

for her to go back to her hog pen, to again live wickedly in the world.

What was he to do?          What does Jesus do, when we go away from him, to go back into the world?)

 

Hosea 2:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

  19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

  20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

 

(And that is exactly what he had Hosea do, a picture of what he will one day do with Israel.

And yet it is a picture of Jesus with the church that has gone back into the world.

Also, it is a picture of what Jesus does for us, when we go away from him:)

 

Hosea 3:1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

  2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

  3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

 

(She had left the one who loved her, to go back to a world that doesn’t care for her, but used her and spit her out when they were done.

Now it may be she was old, and alone, with a life ruined by sin.

It seems that possibly, she ends up at an auction for harlots, where all the younger, and still good-looking ones have been eagerly paid for.

Perhaps she is the last harlot left, the old one, aged with wrinkles due to a life of sin.

She knows that no one would pay even a farthing for someone like her, she is now despised by everyone.

In her sadness and loneliness, with her head hung in shame, and her heart broken to pieces, she bears the grief of the silence.

Suddenly she hears a voice. What? Did she hear that correctly?

Someone is offering to buy her for 15 pieces of silver and 1½ homers of barley?

That is probably far more than was paid for the younger, good-looking harlots.

Who would ever pay that for someone like her?

But it was that voice! It sounded tender and kind. It was a voice of love, not of contempt or condemnation.

That voice was so familiar, it even sounded like … Could it really be?

As she lifted her eyes to look at the one speaking, behold, it is he who loved her!

Why would he be here now? Why would he be willing to pay for her?

How could he possibly love her, after all that she did against him, hurting him, breaking his heart, and leaving him?

Yet he speaks gently to her, telling her that he wants her to be with him.

He wants her to be his, and for him to be hers!          Why?    Because he loves her!!)

 

(This is exactly how our Jesus is with us:)

 

Song 7:10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.

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