Amos to  Hosea

A wife of prostitution.

Prostitute

17Therefore, thus says the Master: FE 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 captive away from his land. Amos 7:17 (Amos 7:17 BRB)
2The beginning of the word of the Master that came to Hosea. The Master said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of prostitutions and children of prostitutions, for the land will commit great prostitution in departing from the Master. E Jeremiah 3:8 Hosea 1:2-3 (Hosea 1:2 BRB)

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.

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.

Ryan Eaton 2008-09-12 2010-11-09