阅读经文 

神的这个命令是多么不可思议啊！神竟然吩咐何西阿娶一个淫妇为妻。神为什么吩咐何西阿这样做？何西阿心里会有什么感受？神这样吩咐何西阿的时候，祂心里在想些什么？

神这样做，是要指出以色列民对祂已不再忠心，就像一个淫妇不忠于她的丈夫和家人那样。尽管其他国家的神都是不能为他们成就任何事的假神，但神的子民却去追随这些假神。唯有神才能供应他们的需要，看顾他们的艰难，可是他们却漠视神，在灵里背道，对祂不忠。

何西阿的家庭有什么事情发生呢？他的妻子歌蔑离家出走，与其他男子苟合。试想像一下，何西阿的心会受到何等大的伤害。此后，神吩咐何西阿与妻子复合。（参何 3）假若我们是何西阿，我们是否也希望与我们的配偶复合呢？

何西阿的遭遇帮助我们看到，对神来说，祂仍然不断去爱祂的子民和看顾他们，付出了多少痛苦。尽管他们不断走向灭亡之路，神仍然没有停止去爱他们——就像今天祂没有停止爱我们一样。祂最终差遣祂的独生子耶稣到来，为我们这些堕落了的罪人偿还所有的罪债和再次接纳我们。神的爱是何等奇妙啊！

What a strange command! God told Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman. Why would God tell Hosea to do that? How would that make Hosea feel in his heart? What was happening in God's heart that he would tell Hosea to do this?

God did this to point out that the people of Israel had become unfaithful to him, just as a promiscuous woman would be unfaithful to her husband and family. God's people had been following after the gods of other nations, even though all those gods were false and couldn't do anything for them. Only God could provide for the people and care for them, but they ignored God and became spiritually unfaithful.

What happened to the household of Hosea? His wife, Gomer, ran away from home. She had affairs with other men. Imagine how this must have hurt Hosea's heart. Then God commanded Hosea to bring his wife back (Hosea 3). If we were in Hosea's place, would we want to bring our spouse back?

Hosea's situation helps us to see how painful it was for God to keep loving his people and caring for them. Even though they kept turning away to their own destruction, God kept loving them—just as he keeps loving us today. Eventually he sent his only Son, Jesus, to pay for all the sins of us fallen sinners and to take us back. What an amazing God of love!