Amos - Hosea

Amos talks about a wife turned prostitute while Hosea takes a prostitute as his wife.

Prostitute

Amos was from the southern kingdom of Judah, but God told him to go prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. He did so, but Amaziah, a politically minded guy in Samaria, told him to leave. The response was a prophetic word about what would happen to Amaziah including that his wife would become a prostitute. Hosea, on the other hand, was told by God to take Gomer, a prostitute, as his wife.

Amos	Hosea
22 Amos 7:17-8:0 ¹⁷Therefore Yahvah says, Your wife will play the prostitute in your own city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided by line; and you yourself will die in a polluted land; and Israel will surely be carried away captive from his land.	23 Hosea 1:2 ²The beginning of the word of Yahvah that came to Hosea: Yahvah said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of prostitutions and sons of prostitutions; for the land will commit great prostitution in departing from Yahvah.

The contrast is remarkable. Amaziah made his situation worse. He was already heading into hard times along with all of the northern kingdom, but he tried to send Amos away. So his wife would be sent away as a prostitute. If Amaziah had not tried to send away God's man he would have fared better.

In contrast Hosea is told by God to take a prostitute as a wife. The idea was not to punish Hosea for any wrong he had done, but to live a parable for the way Israel, as God's spouse, was unfaithful to him, and living like a prostitute. Hosea, in obedience, married Gomer, who was unfaithful to him despite his repeated attempts to be a good husband and keep her happy.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Tuesday, Issachar 27, 13001