Love’s Initiative

How can I give you up, Israel? . . . My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.   Hosea 11:8

Old Testament law commanded the death penalty for both parties involved in adultery (see Leviticus 20:10). Perhaps that’s why Christ allows the possibility of divorce following adultery (see Matthew 19:9). If the full penalty were exacted, the unfaithful partner would be executed by stoning. So, by definition, the innocent party would be free to remarry. Divorce was a legitimate option for Hosea.

God made an exclusive covenant with his people, but they violated that covenant by turning to other gods. It seems clear that under these circumstances, the appropriate course of action was for God to terminate the covenant he’d made with these people. Something had to be done. It was too late for the people to say they were sorry. Actions have consequences, and this was the end of the road: “Though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all” (Hosea 11:7, ESV).

But it seems God cannot live with this conclusion. God’s justice says, “I have to bring this to a close,” but his love says, “I cannot give up the people I care about.” Can you sense God’s heart tearing? All the way through the Old Testament story you have God in his awesome holiness and God in his incomparable love. It seems as if they’re pulling in opposite directions.

It’s like Hosea saying, “I can’t stand what Gomer is doing, but I can’t stop loving her.” He goes back and forth. At night he says, “I have to see a lawyer,” but when morning comes, he can’t bring himself to go. If this dilemma is painfully close to home for you, then you have a unique insight into the heart of God.

God told Hosea what to do. It’s a wonderful picture of how he deals with us: “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the LORD still loves Israel” (Hosea 3:1). Hosea looked for Gomer, and when he eventually found her, he “bought her back” (3:2). Imagine what this must have been like for Hosea. It is a stunning picture of God’s love for you and me in the death of Jesus Christ!

For further reading, see Hosea 3