CHRISTIAN FINE ART GALLERY > JOHN THE BAPTIST ARTWORKS SERIES > Hosea 2
PURCHASE THIS PRINT – Print Code: JTBA8
Print Sizes: S, M | Original Artwork: ONFS, Graphite on Paper, 20.5 cm x 27.5 cm (8″ x 11″)
The book of Hosea is a real life allegory of the spiritually adulterous relationship Israel had with God. Despite their unfaithfulness, God forgave them and took them back. The book of Hosea speaks powerfully to God’s people today, for there is much unfaithfulness in our midst.
Artist’s Reflection:
“She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,’…Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.” (Hosea 2:5-7)
“Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor [trouble] a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt…” (Hosea 2:14-15)
In the book of Hosea, God tells Hosea the prophet to marry Gomer, a prostitute. This allegorically represented the spiritually adulterous relationship Israel had with God. Just as Gomer runs after her lovers and eventually ends up a slave, so Israel runs after idols and false gods and ends up enslaved in sin. At this point, God tells Hosea to buy Gomer back from slavery and to once again show his love to his unfaithful wife.
The story of Hosea is God’s graphic illustration of his immense love for his unfaithful people. God takes them back, loves them and forgives them even when they have prostituted themselves to other gods.
God’s Word continues to speak dynamically and powerfully to us today, for we believers are Christ’s Bride…and there is unfaithfulness in our midst.
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:2-4)
The book of Hosea is somewhat of an Old Testament version of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32.
Here is the most beautiful song of Jesus’ love and forgiveness for his unfaithful people:
“Into The Light” By Laura Woodley – Osman
See also:
The Prodigal Son (Events of The Bible Series)
Ending the Love Affair (John the Baptist Artworks Series)