God commanded Hosea to marry a harlot as a living illustration of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him. Hosea’s marriage was a prophetic sign, showing how God remained faithful to His covenant people despite their spiritual adultery through idolatry and rebellion.
The command is found in Hosea 1:
“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.”
(Hosea 1:2)
Hosea obeyed:
“So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”
(Hosea 1:3)
Gomer’s unfaithfulness represented Israel’s relationship with God. Just as Gomer left her husband, Israel had turned from the Lord to worship Baal and other gods. Each of Gomer’s children bore symbolic names reflecting God’s judgment:
Jezreel: God will scatter (Hosea 1:4)
Lo-Ruhamah: No mercy (Hosea 1:6)
Lo-Ammi: Not My people (Hosea 1:9)
Yet even in judgment, God promised mercy:
“Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”
(Hosea 2:23)
In Hosea 3, the Lord told him to redeem Gomer after she had left him again:
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery… So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver…”
(Hosea 3:1–2)
This act of redemption was a picture of God’s love for Israel. Though they had strayed, He would bring them back and restore the relationship.
Hosea’s life was a vivid message: God’s covenant love endures. He disciplines, but He also redeems. His mercy calls even the unfaithful to repentance and restoration.