I was reading recently about the Riace bronzes, two bronze sculptures discovered in the 1970s under the sea off the coast of Italy. These two warriors were buried beneath the sand at the bottom of the sea. When they were recovered, the bronze underwent a restoration process, which made them look great again. Though they have not been able to identify the artist or even for sure the time period in which they were created, they are very clearly beautiful works of art. Despite the exterior bronze being restored, it became clear after a number of years that there was still something deteriorating on the statues. It was then that they discovered that salt had gotten inside the statues and was eating away at the clay cores. So, then in the early 2000s, the statues underwent another restoration in which they used cameras and dental-like instruments to remove more than 200 lbs of clay. The statues looked great from the outside, but they were crumbling on the inside.

That was the situation that the northern kingdom of Israel was in during the time of the prophet Hosea. Everything looked fine and dandy from the outside. They were experiencing material wealth and prosperity under the reign of King Jeroboam. They were militarily stable since Assyria had temporarily halted its expansion westward. But all of that was just like putting lipstick on a pig. It doesn’t change what’s on the inside. To the casual observer it looked like everything in Israel was all well and good, but they were crumbling from the inside out. That outward stability and prosperity was just a mask for all the inward corruption. The people had turned from God to worship Baal and were choosing their own ways over the ways of God. They had fallen to idolatry and were crumbling from the inside out.

Have you ever seen a home wrecked by termites? I haven’t seen one in person but I recently watched a video of a research study where the researchers built a miniature home (probably about the size of a large doll house) and they crafted it with material similar to a real house. And they included infrastructure similar to a regular home like plumbing and electricity and whatnot. And then they released 500,000 termites in the ground around the home and watched what happened. Jim Fredericks, the chief entomologist on the project, said this about the study, “On the surface, the house appeared to be in good shape. We had some visual clues of mud tubes forming; however, it was what was happening inside the walls and under the floors that showed the real story. This termite colony got right to work, turning this dream home into a danger zone. We were surprised to see that the termites acted much like they would in a true-to-size home, finding vulnerabilities in the structure and quickly began making their way up from sub-flooring and joists and into the walls.” The home looked okay on the outside, but it was crumbling on the inside.

That was the state of things for the northern kingdom of Israel at the time that Hosea was called by God. And Hosea’s call from God was different than other prophets. Hosea was told by God to take a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry. He married Gomer, a promiscuous woman. She was habitually unfaithful. John Holbert, in a reflection on Hosea 2, writes about Hosea and his situation in this way: “Hosea, that husband of a prostitute who spends his days worrying about a woman who refuses to abandon her trade; and though she has three children (whether or not any of them is in fact Hosea’s is anyone’s guess) she apparently takes little or no responsibility for their care. From this agonizing family situation Hosea teaches that YHWH feels about Israel just as Hosea feels about Gomer, namely, rejected, abandoned, and humiliated.” The book of Hosea is such a strong commentary on our ability as humans to reject God. Today it may not look like turning to other deities, but we often turn to other things that aren’t God…money, affection, drugs, sex, status. There are a host of things we may choose to put ahead of God in our lives. Which means we are not all that different from the people Hosea was prophesying to, are we? So, God’s message to the people through Hosea is still true for us today.

God’s message through Hosea was sort of 4-fold. And the first three parts of that message came through the naming of Hosea and Gomer’s children. The first was named Jezreel, which means “God will sow” or “God will scatter.” This was a prophecy that the people of Israel would be scattered. Jezreel was also the place where King Jehu had murdered some people. So, the name was symbolic that the line of Jehu was coming to an end. What I take from this is that the effects of our sins may seem to go unnoticed for a time, in fact we may not see the negative consequences of them even in our lifetime. But the truth is that eventually those effects will be felt. And, in fact, many of the negative things we experience in life now are the effects from bad choices made years and years ago by others. And it may take God scattering us and sowing something new in our hearts before we can find our way back to the truth.

The second part of Hosea’s message comes in the name of he and Gomer’s second child, a girl named Lo-ruhamah, which means “no mercy” for God tells Hosea that he will no longer have mercy on the people of Israel. There’s a story of “a mother [who] once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. ‘But I don’t ask for justice,’ the mother explained. ‘I plead for mercy.’  Napoleon replied, ‘But your son does not deserve mercy.’ 

‘Sir,’ the woman cried, ‘it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.’ ‘Well, then,’ the emperor said, ‘I will have mercy.’ And he spared the woman’s son.” Thinking about that mother’s definition of mercy, I can’t help but wonder if this statement God makes through Hosea’s second child is a bit hyperbolic. Would God ever really turn his mercy away from his people? I can’t envision that happening. And, in fact, we know that God is continuously merciful to the people of Israel, even after the time of Hosea. But I think God wanted them to know that God could withdraw his mercy and that they would be in a lot of trouble if he did. What would our lives look like without God’s mercy? It would not be pretty.

God’s message through Hosea continues with the birth of his third child, a son named Lo-Ammi, which means “not my people.” The Lord says, “You are not my people and I am not your God.” That is perhaps the harshest sentence issued here by God. The threat for the people to be scattered isn’t great, the thought of no more mercy and compassion from God is kind of scary, but to no longer be God’s people? For the Isrealites, whose sole identity rested in being called and chosen by God, this one had to feel just crushing to their spirits. I read a quote recently that said, “You can only let someone throw so many stones at you before you pick them all up, put them together and build a wall to keep them from doing it again.” The people of Israel had been throwing stones at God. They’d turned their backs on God and betrayed him. So, God said, no more. If you want other gods rather than me, then so be it. These words feel less like a threat to me and more like words of hurt from God. Words acknowledging how far the relationship between the people and God had deteriorated. They were no longer God’s people and God was no longer their god. I look around at the Christian Church (capital C) in America and I can see how God might say the same thing to us. We are not living like God’s people like we should. And perhaps God is even reluctant to claim us at times…maybe even sometimes rejecting us completely.

But before we fall into a deep depression and think that we’ve lost the mercy and blessing of God completely in our lives, I direct you to once again read with me that last verse of the section of Hosea that we are looking at this morning. Hosea writes, “Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.’” Have we strayed from God? Do we continue to follow patterns of sin that have been laid for us by generations past? Do we continue to sin anew everyday? Does it feel like we are far from deserving of God’s mercy? Does it seem like we have forgotten how to live like God’s people? Even so, we are still God’s children. We may be completely unfaithful to God, yet God is fully faithful to us. And while we are numerous like the sand of the sea and our numbers cannot be counted, God knows each of us and loves us all. We have a family with God.

We may be completely unfaithful, but God is completely faithful. In the very place where it is said to us, “You are not my people,” it will be said to us, “Children of the living God.” What an incredible blessing that God remains faithful to us, even when we are at our worst. The image for our scrapbook this week could possibly be sand, reminding us that even though we are each one person out of millions in the world, God loves us and knows us. And God is faithful to us. And through God’s faithfulness, may we learn to be faithful ourselves. Thanks be to God for his unfailing love and faithfulness. Amen!