Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

We've been hovering over the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and we keep dipping

in and out of prophecy and narrative to give us the whole lay of the land. Today we started

out in Hosea, another minor prophet who prophesied the demise of Israel. His message was probably

intended for both kingdoms, Israel, and Judah. During this time, Israel was financially flourishing,

or at least the elite were, and their hearts had grown callous to God as they drifted

further from compassion and generosity and a humble awareness of who was providing for them. Their

sacrifices were empty, and they were still worshipping other gods. So God sends his prophet to intervene,

and here's how he wants Josea to do it. Marry a prostitute.

Excuse me?

As we've seen before, God often calls the prophets to personally feel and experience the weight

of what they're going to be speaking into.

We've seen them getting beaten up on purpose, putting on skits, walking around naked,

and now marrying an adulteress.

So once again, we see that being a prophet is not a fun calling.

God says all this is to reveal what things are like in his relationship with Israel.

So the language of this adultery image is woven throughout the book

to continue to reveal God and his character to both ancient Israel and to us today.

Josea marries a woman named Gomer, and she gives birth to three kids. The text only clarifies

that the first child is his. The second and third children might be from one or more of her

lovers, and even the names God tells Josea to give the two children seem to distance him

from them. And of course, this is about far more than just their family. Those names are given to

...