In God’s reckoning, idolatry equals spiritual harlotry. Hosea’s message in chapter 2 elaborates on that. Symbolizing God, Hosea chastised Gomer, a symbol of unfaithful Israel. In turning to pander after Baal, Israel had committed spiritual adultery.
In so doing, Israel has lost her favor, she has lost her
covenant status. God is no longer her Lord.
Her relationship with Him is dissolved. Her children, the Israelites, were
urged to contend with her to give up her idolatrous practices.
The phrase “put away her harlotry from their face” alludes to
the heavy make-up faces of a prostitute. And to remove “her harlotry from
between her breasts” refers to the ornament worn on the exposed breasts of a
prostitute.
In verses 3-4, two warnings are issued if Israel persists in
her idolatry and does not repent. Firstly, in verse 3, God warned that she
would be stripped naked. This meant that Israel would return to the condition
before He found her. She would lose property, prosperity, population, and
privileges. The Lord would make
her ‘like a wilderness’ and ‘dry land.’ All blessings would be withheld from
Israel, and she would once again become a wasteland.
Secondly, in verse 4, her children, the people of Israel, as
the names Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi had declared, would no longer be pitied. And
as children born out of whoredom, they would lose all divine compassion. None
would escape the punishment that would befall the nation.
Turning away from God to idolatry always brings consequences.
It is something we want to avoid. Anything that replaces God in hearts is
idolatry. In our days of affluence, the lure to replace God in our hearts with
something appealing is a common temptation. We must constantly and daily
examine our hearts and turn away from anything that will precede our
relationship with God.
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