Gomer

Gomer

About her:

Hosea means “salvation”

The theme of the book of Hosea is “return to the Lord”. It is a story of a broken home. The home is the building block of society. Marriage is institutionalized by God Himself in the Garden of Eden. It is a sacred and honorable union (Hebrews 13:4).

He was a prophet who wept over the sins of God’s people.

God called Hosea to take a wife who was a prostitute as a picture to the people of Israel in their unfaithfulness to God.

Isaiah 62:5 NIV “As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

Jeremiah 3:14 NIV “‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you--one from a town and two from a clan--and bring you to Zion.’”

God called Hosea to be a living example of His marriage to Israel.

Gomer means “complete” and comes from the root word “gamar” which means “to end, come to an end, complete, cease.”

Gomer was a prostitute and an adulteress.

Gomer had three children with Hosea and each had a prophetic name. First son was Jezreel meaning “to be scattered.” Second child, a daughter, named Lo-ruha-mah meaning “no more mercy” and the third, a son, named Lo-ammi meaning “not my people.”

Her “issues”:

“As God tells Hosea to marry a harlot who was herself the child of a harlot, we see Him setting up this illustration of the relationship His people had with Him.” -Jon Courson

“ In taking a wife, and it does not indicate necessarily that she was a prostitute when he married her and had children, but God is speaking of her knowing her heart and the bent of her nature that she would be unfaithful to him and would leave him and become a prostitute. And thus, God, in speaking of that nature that was there, commanded him to marry her. This character later developed.” -Chuck Smith

About her Dad:

“(dihb lay' ihm) Personal or place name meaning, “two fig cakes.” Hosea 1:3 lists Diblaim as a parent of Gomer, Hosea's harlot wife. Some Bible students see Hosea's father-in-law so named; others, his mother-in-law. The latter case is combined with an understanding that she was also a harlot whose price was two fig cakes...The most direct explanation seems to be that Diblaim is Gomer's father, of whom nothing more is known.” -Holman Bible Dictionary

“‘Diblaim’” means “raisin cakes” and is tied up with idolatry. These were the cakes that were used in an offering of pagan worship....Gomer’s name comes from the primary Hebrew root, ‘Gamar’, which means ‘finished’ and can carry the connotation of ‘failure’. Could Diblaim have named his daughter ‘failure’? If so, why? Perhaps he had followed in the footsteps of his father and through involvement with the Canaanite fertility cult requested a son. Upon receiving a daughter, instead of a son, Diblaim’s efforts would have been seen as a failure.” -Leona England Karni

The words that are spoken over us in our upbringing is how we are going to live and is what is going to be the vision and direction of our lives unless there is an intervention.

Proverbs 10:11a NKJV “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life”

Proverbs 15:4 NKJV “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”

Proverbs 18:21 NKJV “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Philippians 2:14-16 ESV “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

All of our ACTIONS indicate what we BELIEVE. You can look at your actions in your life and they will reveal what you truly BELIEVE.

HALL OF FAITH in Hebrews 11 shows the actions of those who believed God.

James 2:14-26

Faith without works is dead. Shows you don’t really believe. You can “believe” wrong and have an incorrect spirit with which you do things. Actions and belief are intertwined and it is a complex thing...not always simple.

“We are not saved by faith plus works but by a faith that works.” -Warren W. Wiersbe

Man’s words are POTENT but God’s words are OMNIPOTENT.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Think about the insecurities she may have felt being married to a PROPHET of God! Very much unlike her upbringing. Maybe she felt like she never measured up or could never really please anyone. She may have been overwhelmed by responsibility and feelings of inadequacy.

There’s a sin nature directing and suggesting solutions and other possibilities. The “reasoning’ of the sinful nature is always self-destructive.

James 1:12-18

-In trials and difficulty we will be tempted (by our own nature!) to turn to sin for relief and satisfaction but it will only prove to bring death. Don’t be deceived! However, the Lord will give good gifts and we can be thankful with what He has given to us and we can delight in them.

What’s the difference between a lie and a deception? A deception means that the lie worked.

“Hurt people, hurt people. Loved people, love people.”

There was a major glitch in Gomer’s belief system.

We need God to heal our hurts and we need to spend MORE time in prayer. We need to continue to let His Words overpower those of our past until our minds are transformed and until we are truly secure in Him.

Psalm 107:20 ESV “He send out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.”

Our sinful nature will DEMAND to be obeyed if we have no yielding to the Spirit of God in our life. We will find ourselves in heaps of sin unless the Lord’s love transforms us.

Gomer left home.

Gomer had an ingrained and detrimental belief system which showed in her actions.

“Gomer was not only guilty of breaking the marriage vow, which was bad enough, but she sinned against the one who loved her.” -J. Vernon McGee

There is also the element of her choice. Proverbs 1:29-31 ESV “Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.”

Hosea 2:8 “she did not know”...correlate with Hosea 4:6 and 14. God’s people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge. We ACT based on what we truly BELIEVE. Let your actions be your VISUAL of your belief system.

Read Hosea 3:6

She had the knowledge of the world and she had an opportunity to embrace the knowledge of the things of God. There is a big reality to our lives that we wake up in the morning and can choose who we are going to serve, and we can sit at the Lord’s feet and learn from Him, commune with Him and know Him.

Joshua 24:14-15 ESV “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

When it comes to lack of knowledge that destroys us it is not that we don’t have the provision, it is that we don’t choose the provision.

Psalm 90:12 ESV “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Here is what we can CHOOSE every day! Psalm 90:14 ESV “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Hosea 2:7 reveals that Hosea was Gomer’s first husband.

“A tidal wave of temptation is as surely a test of our faith as a time of suffering. Both boil down to whether or not we are going to believe God.” -Beth Moore

Hosea’s pursuit:

Hosea had three main attempts to bring Gomer back:

1. Tried to keep her from the markets of the world.
2. Bought her out of the markets of the world.
3. Asked his son to reason try to reason with her.