God’s Ridiculous Love

Often, God would ask prophets to engage in symbolic actions to illustrate His message to Israel. The most dramatic of all the symbolic actions came through Hosea, who ministered during the long reign of Jeroboam II, in the final decades leading up to the Assyrian invasion of Israel and the end of the Northern Kingdom (722 BC). To illustrate God relationship with unfaithful Israel, Hosea was commanded by God to marry an unfaithful woman. Thus, Hosea’s home life became a living parable of the heart-breaking relationship between God and Israel.