"A Marriage Made in Heaven" a monologue based on Hosea 1:2-10 July 28, 2013 Humber United Church

When God first spoke through Hosea, Hosea’s instructions were, “Go, take for yourself a wife of unfaithfulness, and have children of unfaithfulness, for the land commits great unfaithfulness by prostituting itself to other Gods, and forsaking the one God.” So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she gave birth to a baby boy..

God said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. Then God said, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.”

When Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and had a son. Then God said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.”

Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
*****************************************************************************
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. My name means “complete”, or “enough”. I have no idea what my father was thinking when he named me, maybe he figured I was enough. Apparently I cried a lot. Let me tell you I was pretty upset with 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 Hosea’s head; he got this religion thing, and kept on telling me that God had even told him who to marry. Well, the others couldn't believe it that day when Hosea walked into the temple of Baal, 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 was me, as if he were a petitioner to Baal, and I was to fulfill my role as a cultic prostitute. Then he said he wanted to marry me!

“Yeah, right” I thought,  “A donation to the temple in exchange for my services, and then he won’t be around again.” So I started to prepare the incense, and prepare my body for the work of Baal. But Hosea 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 cult priestess in the temple of Baal any more. I could have a regular tent for sleeping, cook over my own fire in my own place, 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 of planting seed in the field..... 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 Baal and the other idols were God.

Well, people started to talk, and it got bad. They talked about my children, now orphans they called them, that they were no better off than the children of Israel, since they'd gone running 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’s a punishment for leaving a husband, even if it’s going back into the temple to work; a woman could 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 trying to make some money to look after the children - and 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. I was bought back. It was like he was courting me all over again. There was tender talk, fresh dates and figs to eat, flowers and gifts. 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 God's people....just so long as they don't go off worshiping idols. In some ways, because of my former work in the temple, and leaving Hosea to go back there - I was sort of symbolic of the people of Israel who were unfaithful to the covenant. That’s what he said it was, the covenant God made with the people. 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. It’s easier to run away from God than uphold our part of the covenant.

Some day, I told Hosea, some day there's going to be a great teacher in Israel - someone who embodies that covenant so well. 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.