You should have seen the babies! Just so beautiful, each one of them. Black curly hair, dark raisin eyes, dimpled cheeks, a sparkle in their eyes, and light in their laughter. Each baby had a different laugh. We had three children. Each time I carried the baby well...and easy births, all three. The mid-wives used to say I was just made for having babies, that it was too bad I only had three, that with the number of babies around dying, we could have had a family as big as Abraham's"
My name? I am Gomer. I have no idea what my father was thinking when he named me, but it was nothing compared to the names Hosea chose for our children. What was *he* thinking? Jezreel for our first born son, Lo-ruhamah for our only daughter, and Lo-ammi for our lastborn son.
The names won’t mean anything to you, but they mean a lot to my people, the Israelite people. It’s a mystery to me what was going on in his head; he got this religion thing, and kept on telling me that God had even told him who to marry. Well, the other girls couldn't believe it that day when Hosea walked into the place, took one look at me, and said "That's her!" "That's the one!" At first it was misunderstood; everyone just thought the woman he wanted in the brothel was me, as if we were just to treat him as a regular customer. Then he said he wanted to marry me!
"Oh yeah" I said to him. “They all say that when they want something, but then when it’s over, where am I? Back in my little hovel with a few coins in my hand...waiting for the next one.” Hosea was different. He talked to me gently. He said he meant it, that I would belong to him...be his woman...have his children, that I didn’t have to work as a prostitute any more. I could have a regular fire for cooking, and a regular tent for sleeping, and I would belong to his people.
Now I'll tell you what the names meant. Jezreel, the first one; his name is really about sowing seed...in the ordinary sense, but not in those days. In fact it was a really big threat. It has to do with how the Omrites got overcome in the valley of Jezreel, and how God meant that to be a message for the people of Israel. You should have seen how mean the kids were to Jezreel. He came home many a time beaten up because of his name.
Then the second one, our daughter. I begged for a nice plain name like Sarah, but he insisted. This one was called Lo-ruhamah. In our language it means "Unloved". I just didn't get it. How could we raise a daughter named “Unloved”? But Hosea explained that God meant to love the people of Israel no longer. The people of Judah would be favoured, but not our people. Why? I asked, what have they done?
Hosea replied that they had spent too much time going after other idols......they couldn't take a commitment to God through thick and thin. So Hosea named our daughter "No more love".
Then the third child came - another boy. Would you believe it? This name topped it all off. His name is Lo-ammi. It meant our people were gone, out of the sight of God. Cut off. Finished. In my language his name meant "You are not my people, and I am not your God".
But without God, we were a people in darkness. Hosea told me that it was all about his people and how they'd been unfaithful to God, how they'd take wool and flax, bread and water, and even raisin cakes, down to the idols. How they forgot who is the Creator of the Universe when it comes to our daily bread. How they danced and pranced before the idols and gave their silver and gold...just as if Ba’al and the other idols were God.
Well, the other people started to talk, and it got bad. They talked about how my children, now orphans they called them, were no better off than the children of Israel, since they'd gone running off after idols and forgetting their faith. My children were OK but the talk was awful. I left Hosea, taking the children with me; I couldn’t take the laughing and the jeering any more, but Hosea came after me again.
In our culture, there was a punishment for leaving a husband and going back to the old business; a woman would be put out in the desert with no cover, no food or water, just left to die. I had made it to the city again. That's where he found me. I was going back to my former business, to make some money to support my children, when he came looking for me again. He put out more money than I had seen at one time; fifteen silver shekels...and a bushel and a half of barley. That's the price of freeing one slave. And I was bought back. More than bought back. It was like he was courting me all over again. There was tender talk, fresh dates and figs. There was no talk of the past. He treated me as if I was going to be his new wife, and start all over again. I wasn't sure at first. Was this just more of the same? Was I going to be treated just like another example? Yes, and No, said Hosea.."You'd better explain" I said.
So he did explain. The tender love he was giving me was just like the tender love that God has for people....just so long as they don't go off worshipping idols. The covenant, it's called. The tender love he had for me was something he just enjoyed doing. He wanted me back as his own faithful wife. Well...he kept on loving me, and this time I stayed. I settled in to the family and started learning about his people. His people became my people.
Jezreel kept his name, but the land became good again, so Jezreel’s name was about the goodness that God sows in our hearts even when we stray. Lo-ruhamah..the one called "unloved"...became known as "the loved one". She's a beautiful girl....just about to have a child of her own. As for Lo-ammi..."no people of mine"...his is the best! "You are my people" says God. And Lo-ammi says"You are my God". And all comes right for us; but we have to watch the people, says my Hosea. They do like to go off on their own ways so easily. Some day, I told Hosea, some day there's going to be a great teacher in Israel. Someone so great, that he'll teach them of the great tender love of our God. But he may have to die to prove it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment