7. What is illustrated in Gomer’s unfaithfulness and her later recovery?

⁷ At the outset of his prophetic career, Hosea was commanded to take “a wife of fornication.” (1:2) Certainly Jehovah had a purpose in this. Israel had been to Jehovah like a wife who had become unfaithful, committing fornication. Yet he would show his love for her and try to recover her. Hosea’s wife, Gomer, could accurately illustrate this. It is understood that after the birth of the first child, she became unfaithful and apparently bore the other children in adultery. (2:5-7) This is indicated by the record’s stating she “bore to him [Hosea] a son” but omitting any reference to the prophet in connection with the birth of the other two children. (1:3, 6, 8) Chapter 3, verses 1-3, seems to speak of Hosea’s taking back Gomer, purchasing her as though a slave, and this ties in with Jehovah’s taking back his people after they repented of their adulterous course.

Hosea’s “wife of fornication” bears the prophet a son, Jezreel. Later she has two other children, a daughter, Lo-ruhamah, meaning “[She Was] Not Shown Mercy,” and a son, Lo-ammi, meaning “Not My People.”