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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Egyptian_batman: [QB] The Book of Hosea, or Osee The Book of prostitution... and the "love of God" "Yahweh said to Hosea: Go, marry a whore, and get children with a whore, for the country itself has become nothing but a whore by abandoning Yahweh" (Hosea 1:2). The Book of Hosea, or Osee, is the first of the twelve minor Prophets. It is the most beautiful Book on the "love of God" in the Old Testament, but I could not understand it, because keeps on talking about whores, harlots, prostitution… until I understood the life of the Prophet himself, in his first three chapters, who then applies it to the people of God, and to you and me: Hosea, the Prophet, married Gomer and had a child with her. She gave birth to two other children, but Hosea was not their father… however, Hosea took then and care of then as his own children… how great was the love of Hosea!… their names were suggestive: "Lo-ruhamah", "Not-loved", and "Lo-ammi", "Not-my kin". … Finally, Gomer became a prostitute, after her lovers (2:5), until she eventually become a slave. And now, Hosea learned that his wife Gomer was for sale at an auction of slaves… the attractive young lady of earlier years had become a worn, faded, undesired woman who had aged prematurely… and Hosea bought his own wife at the auction of slaves, the slave Gomer, for 15 shekels (3:2), and brought her home, not as slave, but as his wife, as the lady of the house… the love of Hosea was great, incredible!… even he changed the names of her children of prostitution, to "Ruahmah", "loved", and "Ammi", "My kin"… the incredible love of Hosea!. Then, Hosea applies the story of his life to the People of God, to the Kingdoms of the North and the South, to Israel and Judah, and to you and me: Every time you and I go after money, or power, or pleasures, we prostitute against God… we throw ourselves into the arms and care of other gods, and that's prostitution against God!… with every sin, we become slaves of the Devil, but God byes us back, not for 15 shekels, but with His own Blood, and brings us back to his home, not as slaves, but as children of God, as His inheritance!… to make a feast for us every time we repent! (Lk.15:22-23)... how incredibly great is the love of God!… and not only once, but again and again, seventy times seven, every time we repent after our sin… our God is the God of Hosea, a Super-Merciful God!… He is always waiting for our repentance, and trust in Him. The Bible refers often to this "prostitution against God", which is the worse sin in the Bible, worse than drugs, or social injustice, or homosexuality, or homicide... it is the sin we commit most often, and it is the sin that we usually don't confess! (Is.1:21, Jer.2:20, Ex.34:15, Lev.17:7, Dt.31:16)... and every time we sin, "we crucify the Son of God in ourselves, and hold him up to mockery" (Heb.6:6)... ... The Bible insists again and again in the mercy of God, who is always waiting for our repentance, but also in the severe punishments to the People of God and to the persons who do not repent of this prostitution . And it is not enough "to repent" as Judas, but we have "to weep bitterly" for our sins and trust in Jesus, as Peter did. Judas "repented", but his great mistake was not to trust in Jesus, thinking that He could never be forgiven (Mt.26:75, 27:3-5) The punishment of the Law for a regular prostitute is "to burn her alive" (Lev.21:9, Gen.38:24). Jesus regarded prostitution as evil, but he went against Jewish tradition and laws and forgave prostitutes and opened the way for them to enter God's kingdom through faith (Matt.21:32-33). MICAH... the prostitution business of the priests The "prostitution" in the Book of Micah is different that the one in Hosea: The priests in Israel sponsored houses of prostitution where sinners paid high fees for their pleasure. This practice provided the priests with a lavish income. When Micah realized what was being done, his anger knew no limitations. His outspoken remarks were a terrible indictment of the priests and rulers, "So I shall make Samaria a ruin in the open country, a place for planting vines… all her images will be shattered, and all her earnings consumed by fire. I shall leave all her idols derelict, they were amassed out of prostitutes' earnings and prostitutes' earnings once more they will be" (1:6-7). And he continues, "for there is no cure for the wounds that Yahweh inflicts: The blow falls on Judah, on Jerusalem itself" (1:9). His message was very strong and unacceptable to the religious leaders of the nation… however he was thrilled to describe the matchless mercy of God, announcing the Messiah coming from Bethlehem (5:1), and the statement engraved in bronze across the United Nations Building in New York: "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (4:3)... and with his words at the end of the Book: "who is a God like you?. You take away guilt, you forgive the sins of the remnant of your people. You do not let your anger rage forever, for to be merciful is your true delight" (7:18)… God is just waiting for you and me to repent, and the most horrible sins will be pardoned, we will be not only cleaned, but received with a feast as children in the house of the Father (Luc.15:22-24). Judah sleeps with a prostitute? The sin of prostitution was punished in the Law by "burning the prostitute alive" (Lev.22:9). But Judah had a very strange personal lesson in Gen.38. Judah, the forth child of Jacob, slept with what he thought was a "prostitute", but in fact, he slept with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, disguised as a prostitute. Tamar became pregnant, and when Judah knew it he ordered to burn her alive (Gen.38:24). But as she was being led off to be burned, she send word to her father-in-law, and sent to him the pledge given to her by the man who slept with her, the seal, cord and staff… and they were those of Judah!, who realized of his sin… all good men in the Old Testament were sinners, just like you and me, but God forgives and forgets, He is just waiting for our repentance. And Judah become one of the ancestors of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. King David, another ancestor of Jesus Christ, sinned like all the kings did, but he cried for his sin like no other king did… and he humbly trusted in the mercy of the Lord like you and I should always do. Rahab, the prostitute… ancestor of Christ Joshua 2 tells the story of Rahab the prostitute, who received and hid the two men sent by Moses. By faith she and her family was saved, says Heb.11:31, as described in Joshua 6, and the sign of salvation was the scarlet cord she tied to her window, symbol of the Blood of Christ. She became the grand-grand-mother of David, ancestor of Jesus Christ, as described in the genealogy of Jesus in Matt.1:5. God loves you and me sinners, and wants to clean all our sins with the Blood of Jesus, and the only condition is the message of every page of the Bible: "Trust in God"… "Faith in Christ", in the New Testament, praise the Lord!. God loves you and me the way we are right now, but he loves us too much to let us stay that way... and that's why he send us the "trumpets of God", pains, sorrows, difficulties... to purify us!... because in the plan of God, you and I were made to be "saints and immaculate" (Ef.1:4), only the pure and immaculate can enter Heaven!. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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