Why would God command Hosea to marry an adulterous woman?

God tells Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry” (Hos. 1:2). How could God command this, when the Law spoke against priests marrying prostitutes? (Lev. 21:7, 14)

There is nothing explicitly wrong with Hosea marrying a prostitute. After all, the law against marrying a prostitute was only for priests (Lev. 21:7, 14), and Hosea was a prophet. However, Wood^[1] argues that this is a distinction without a difference. Both priests and prophets were spiritual leaders in Israel. Therefore, conservative scholars have explained this passage in a number of ways:

OPTION #1. Symbolic view

Some conservative scholars (like Young,[2] Hengstenberg, and Keil) have suggested that this is merely a parable. However, what parable is this long?

John Calvin^[3] held that this was a vision. He argues that there is no good reason not to take it as a vision. But this is indefensible in our view. Calvin ignores that he shoulders the burden of proof. It isn’t the interpreter’s burden to show why Calvin is wrong, but Calvin’s burden to show why his view is right.

Furthermore, the narrative doesn’t read like an allegory, parable, or any other symbolic representation. It reads like a straightforward account. Hosea’s wife is given a name (Gomer), and various details are given to describe her (e.g. daughter of Diblaim, 1:3, the third child, etc.).

OPTION #2. Spiritual adultery view

This view holds that Gomer’s infidelity was spiritual—not sexual. She was a Baal-worshipper, but she wasn’t a prostitute or adulteress. Advocates of this view argue that spiritual adultery is often spoken of in sexual terms.

However, what this view gives with one hand, it takes away with the other. After all, why would God command Hosea to marry an idol worshipper? Moreover, how does this make the command easier to understand? Finally, it’s hard to know what this would symbolize to the people.

OPTION #3. Gomer became an adulteress after marriage

Under this view, Gomer was not an adulterous when Hosea married her. Rather, God told Hosea to marry Gomer foreknowing that she would become a prostitute. This view is plausible, but it has difficulties. Consider a number of arguments and counterarguments for this view:

First, God could be giving a “proleptic command” to Hosea. Archer,^[4] Wood,^[5] and Hubbard^[6] all argue that God foreknew that Gomer would become an adulteress after marriage, but she wasn’t this way before she married Hosea. Therefore, when God calls Gomer “a wife of harlotry” (Hos. 1:2), this was a case of prolepsis (i.e. a literary device that speaks in the present tense of a future event).

However, the interpreter shoulders the burden of proof as to why this should be taken as prolepsis. After all, the text doesn’t say that Hosea should marry a woman who would be an adulteress. The expression “a wife of harlotry” (ʾēšet zĕnûnîm) cannot be “credibly translated ‘a woman with immoral tendencies.’” Indeed, it is “difficult to imagine how Hosea would have gone about seeking a woman who was still chaste but who had tendencies toward promiscuity, and the whole idea is if anything more offensive than just saying that he married a prostitute.”^[7]

Second, the parallel between Gomer and the kids implies corruption over time. The parallel between “a wife of harlotry” and “children of harlotry” (Hos. 1:2) would require both Gomer and the children to be “of harlotry.”^[8] This would imply that there was something immoral with the children. Proponents of this view argue that a more natural reading is that Gomer became adulterous over time, as did her children (Hos. 2:4; 4:2; 5:4).

This is a good argument. However, the comparison is not that the children committed sexual immorality—only that they were born out of a sexually immoral person. After all, even if this woman later gave birth to “children of harlotry,” this wouldn’t mean that the children committed sexual immorality either.

Third, this view fits well with God’s relationship with Israel. When God “married” Israel, the nation was a virgin (Jer. 2:2-3), even though God foreknew that Israel would turn to adultery. However, the nation of Israel was never truly sinless, and they grumbled throughout the Exodus and betrayed God for centuries.

We agree with Garrett^[9] who is open to this view, but he ultimately finds it unconvincing. After all, how would this lessen the difficulty for Hosea? Even if true, Hosea would still face betrayal in his marriage either way, and he would later take back an adulteress in either scenario (ch.3).

OPTION #4. Hosea married an adulterous woman

While we are open to Option #3, we hold to this final view: Hosea married an adulterous or prostitute. For one, nothing legally prohibited Hosea to marry an adulteress or prostitute. Priests were not allowed (Lev. 21:14), but Hosea wasn’t a priest. We might infer that this legal principle would also apply to prophets, but this is simply an inference—not a teaching of Scripture.

Second, God often calls prophets to engage in “prophetic theater” or what are called “prophetic speech-acts.”^[10] Isaiah was naked for three years (Isa. 20:3-5), and Ezekiel lay on his side next to the model of Jerusalem for a year (Ezek. 4-5). He was also not allowed to mourn his dead wife (Ezek. 24:15-18). These sorts of commands have a biblical precedent in the later prophets.

Finally, the heartache of this demonstration parallels God’s heartache over Israel. A vision simply wouldn’t suffice. Garrett writes, “The very offense of Hosea’s action strongly confirms that this is indeed the correct interpretation. God has divorced Israel just as Hosea has divorced Gomer, but in both cases grace triumphs over righteous jealousy and the demands of the law. Like the cross itself, Hosea’s action is a stumbling block. A man does not normally take back a woman who has behaved the way Gomer did. But we must acknowledge this as a revelation of grace through suffering.”^[11]

^[1] Wood doesn’t find this argument convincing. Whether priest or prophet, he thinks it is “unthinkable” that God would command Hosea to marry a literal prostitute. Leon J. Wood, “Hosea,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel and the Minor Prophets, ed. F. E. Gaebelein, vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 165.

[2] E. J. Young, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949), 245–246.

[3] John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids: Baker, n.d.), 1:43-45.

^[4] Archer writes, “We may conclude therefore that Gomer was not already a prostitute or an adulteress when Hosea married her, because Jezreel was clearly begotten by Hosea (1:3). But, the second and the third children seem to have been fathered out of wedlock.” Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 359.

^[5] Leon J. Wood, “Hosea,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel and the Minor Prophets, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 166.

^[6] David A. Hubbard, Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 24, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 67.

^[7] Duane A. Garrett, Hosea, Joel, vol. 19A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 48.

^[8] Leon J. Wood, “Hosea,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel and the Minor Prophets, ed. F. E. Gaebelein, vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 165.

^[9] Duane A. Garrett, Hosea, Joel, vol. 19A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 46.

^[10] Duane A. Garrett, Hosea, Joel, vol. 19A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 49.

^[11] Duane A. Garrett, Hosea, Joel, vol. 19A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 49.