So I bought her

So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.” - Hosea 3v2-3

To me this is an absolutely amazing situation and a powerful picture of love and sacrifice. Gomer continued on in her trade as a prostitute. There was nothing Hosea could do about it. She bore him three children whose names marked Israel’s apostasy. But Hosea would not give up on her. We had to take extraordinary action to show His faithfulness.

Gomer sold herself to other men. So Hosea bought her. He paid €100 in silver plus 10 bushels of barley (about €35) for his own wife.

What a wonderful picture of love and sacrifice. It reminds me of an even greater story about love, forgiveness and redemption.

We are all God’s people by virtue of creation. He made us and He owns us. But through sin the world has prostituted itself to other gods. God has stayed faithful, but man has not.

So what did God do? He bought man back through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The whole world walks in unrighteousness and is at enmity to God.

But God bought us back at the cross.

How can we return to our lives of sin with that kind of cost?