Hosea’s Children (Hosea 1:4-9)

⁴ Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵ In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” ⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.” ⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

This passage concerns the birth of three children to Hosea and Gomer and to each one God gives a name symbolic of his relationship with Israel. It is shocking that God orders Hosea to give his children such horrible names. Paula Gooder explains that: “Marriage and the birth of children should be joyful times, but when the go wrong the consequences can be devastating. This is what has happened between God and Israel.” Israel has drifted so far away and done such horrible things that God is forced into anger and punishment. The shocking symbolic prophecy is an attempt to bring home this truth.

The first son’s name is Jezreel which means “God sows”. This should be hopeful, but the text makes clear that the reference is to two places in Palestine that bear that name. One Jezreel was in the north kingdom and was the site of a terrible massacre by Jehu around 841 BC. He seized the throne and killed all the members of the royal family and thus became the first king of a dynasty whose latest (and last) king was Jeroboam II, the current ruler. The implication here is that God will do the same to the current reigning family. The second place, the Valley of Jezreel, was a place where a number of famous and decisive battles took place. It is near the city of Megiddo and is also known as the Plain of Megiddo which is called Armageddon in Greek. This suggests coming war and a decisive battle (which, given the general trend of this book, Israel will lose).

The names of the other children are easier to understand. The daughter’s name suggests that God will take no pity on Israel in the coming catastrophe. The third child’s name tells us that God has abandoned the covenant relationship because the people of Israel have abandoned it. The cumulative effect of these names is to predict doom and disaster on Israel but not on Judah. Israel will be conquered by the Assyrians but Judah will, thanks to God, escape from this fate for the time being. At this point, Israel is much more corrupt than Judah. We should not, however, see God as a merciless tyrant. Horrible actions cannot go unpunished. God is a God of merciful love and continually seeks to draw us to him but all too often we refuse.