When God's People "Caught A Case"

"Hear the Word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge ( Heb. rib, legal suit) to bring against you who live in the land.  There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land.  There is only cursing, lying, and murder, stealing and adultery, they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.  Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away, the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea."  Hosea 4:1-3

Hosea's prophet ministry flourished during the reign of Jeroboam II, and his ministry was very difficult for many reasons.  He had been called by Yahweh to live an extraordinary life by marrying a woman who would not be faithful to him exclusively as her husband.  His wife Gomer wanted to pursue other lovers instead of having a monogamous relationship with her husband.

In the Genesis document when God built the wife of the Adam from a genetic tissue sample that he took from him the wo-man (the man with the womb) was to be a "helper" for him.  In the Hebrew the word "helper" means 'one who surrounds the heart.'  The wife of the man was suppose to be his exclusive relational other.  There is no relationship comparable to the 'one flesh' of marital unity.

The biblical materials state that Yahweh married the nation of Israel.  Israel became his wife with intrinsic exclusiveness.  The marital bond is always compromised by infidelity.  The balance within the marital relationship is severely tested by the intrusion of sexual malpractice with someone other than one's spouse. The paramour is illegitimate because the sexual coupling destroys the spiritual unity of the marital partners. God's marital model is for both sexual intimacy and the propagation of the human family.

In Hosea's home this was erased by the behavior of his wife.  She compromised her marriage with horrendous infidelity and her husband would not leave her.  Hosea's marriage to Gomer was symbolic of God's spoiled marriage with the nation of Israel. This was a very painful situation for both God and Hosea.

A broken heart is not easy to heal.  The emotions are intense and raw.  There is the hurt of betrayal and the search for what went wrong that culminated in the cheating event.  Even the best marriages have problems and it is important not to exacerbate marriage problems with cheating, and infidelity.

God was hurt by the infidelity of Israel.  God wanted to know how he was found wanting that his beloved wife Israel should go astray and seek out 'lovers' instead of wanting a relationship of intimacy with her own husband.

God, therefore, filed a case of infidelity against his wife.  He brought formal charges against her because of her very public and shameful infidelity.  God was hurt.  He had to file charges because of the blatant and shameless behavior of the straying spouse.  She had become brazen, insensitive, and insolent in her behavior. She had come to believe that her lovers had provided her needs.  It was not her lovers that provided her need but, Yahweh, the forsaken husband.

God's anger at his wife's shameful behavior would not be assuaged by shoddy and insincere appeals of forgiveness.  The brazen behavior would not be abandoned by the wayward wife. Both God and Hosea had to come to terms with living with the unspeakable.  Hosea's home was a house divided.  God's relationship with Israel was a house divided.  God would not give up on his spouse and neither would Hosea through the power of God.  God supported Hosea when he had the legal right to leave the relationship.

God supports us when we go astray too.  When we are wayward God does not give up on us.  Are you, beloved, in need of God's restorative care?  Have you been seduced away from your true and rightful husband for 'lover'?  Are you ready to come back to a real relationship with God?  What manner of love is this that God has given us through the Iesous?

You and I "Caught A Case" because of our sins, and the Iesous took up the case against us.  All of the evidence against us was eye witness accounts by God.  All compelling and all very damaging.  We had no defense on our side that amounted to anything substantive.  The Iesous took our case and erased it all on the Cross.  He saved us from our case.  You need Him today.  Take your case to the Iesous.  Amen.

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