Hosea’s Second Symbolic Marriage

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman (Gomer) who is beloved by her husband and yet is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [used in the feasts in pagan worship].”

God’s Controversy with Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, For the Lord has a [legal] case with the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness [no steadfast love, no dependability] or loyalty or kindness Or knowledge of God [from personal experience with Him] in the land.

When their liquor is gone [and their drinking parties are over], They habitually go to play the prostitute; Ephraim’s rulers continue to dearly love shame [more than her glory which is the Lord, Israel’s God].

Ephraim Punished

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples, For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God. You have loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

God is the Loving Father of His People

When Israel was a child [a young nation], I loved him, And I called My son out of Egypt.