“So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.” – Hosea 3:2
It says that Hosea bought her. This should really astonish us. Consider the situation. Here is a woman who is Hosea’s wife, who had betrayed him, committed adultery, and returned to a life of harlotry. In the first place, it is beyond me why he would want to even pursue a woman like that. She had been unfaithful to him. She had violated the bond of trust that is shared in a marriage. Hosea had every right to condemn her deeds and have nothing to do with her. In the second place, why should he even have to purchase her? She was his wife to begin with and now he is going to pay to get her back?!
It is likely, based on the culture of the time, that the story went something like this: Gomer had betrayed Hosea and committed adultery by returning to a life of prostitution. She sold herself to another man. She became his property. Then there came a point where this man no longer wanted her so what does he do? Brings her to the market where, at the time, all of the prostitutes and slaves were sold. This is where Hosea finds her and realizes that he will not go and just claim her back. If he wants her, he is going to have to pay for her. And because of his love for her he agrees to purchase her for himself.
I can’t help but think that as Gomer was at that market there must have been a great sense of despair and shame. She had betrayed her husband to be with another man who, in the end, discarded her. Sold her back into prostitution.
Isn’t that where sin leads us? We betray Christ to follow after some sin only to find that it’s pleasures are fleeting. In the end, when the fun and pleasure has past, all we are left with is the guilt and shame of knowing we betrayed the one who created and loved us.
But this is the point in our story where Hosea steps in. And as Gomer is completely broken in her despair and shame she looks up as it were to see this one who had loved her, this one who still loves her, laying down what silver and barley he has to purchase her out of her bondage and make her his own. Can you imagine what Gomer must have felt in this moment? Knowing that the one who she betrayed is now coming to her rescue and purchasing her out of the slavery of prostitution to, as Hosea says, ‘dwell as mine.’ Can you imagine the gratitude and love she must have felt for him in that moment?
Do you remember when you were once in slavery and bondage to sin? Do you remember what it felt like to be trapped in despair in helplessness because of the mess you had made out of your life? This is the point in your story where Christ stepped in. He saw you in your shame and despair and HE PURCHASED YOU! He saw the infinite debt that of sin that you had incurred before the holy and righteous God and said I will buy this one. But unlike Hosea, He didn’t do it with silver, barley, or any other type of possession.
1 Peter 1:18-19
“knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot”
Christ purchased you with His very life! It was the only thing that could ransom you out of the deep void of sin that you were in.
This is the ultimate picture of love. We look at Hosea and think how could he do it? How could he forgive and love in such a deep way? Well what did Paul say about Christ:
Romans 5:6-8
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
As you think about your own life, consider the depth of sin from which Christ purchased you. Do you remember when you first felt the weight of the guilt and shame of your sin? Do you remember how it felt when you looked up from that despair to see Christ having come to purchase you with His life? Ought we not be be filled with love and gratitude for our Savior? Ought we not to strive to live Christ honoring lives in light of this? Shouldn’t we be loudly proclaiming this love of Christ with our words and life to those around us?
