John Fischer The Catch

“In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1).

Recipe for trouble. David got lazy. He sent someone else to fight his battles and lounged around his palace “when kings normally go out to war.” Sure enough, one afternoon, after His afternoon nap, he was lounging around on his porch and spied a beautiful woman bathing on a rooftop below. After inquiring about her and finding out she was Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite who was off fighting the Ammonites where David should have been, he had her brought to him and he slept with her. When he later found out she was pregnant, he sent for her husband, Uriah, to come home from the battlefield. There David wine and dined him, gave him gifts and sent him home to his wife. But Uriah didn’t go home. He spent the night with the palace guard.

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Ruth, Ruth … What do you hold in your hand?

Do you know more than you understand?

Is it the wheat the plains of Moab have yielded into your hands?

Or is it your life you cast up into the wind?

Ruth is the story of loyalty, hope, love and redemption.

When a severe famine hits the land of Israel, Elimelech takes his wife, Naomi, and two sons to the land of Moab. There, after both sons take Moabite wives, the father and the sons all die leaving a bitter Naomi to return to Israel with no husband and no heir. After insisting that her daughters-in-law stay in Moab where they belong, Ruth, instead, clings to Naomi, preferring to stake her claim as a foreigner in the land of Israel with her mother-in-law. This is where the famous lines that are quoted in many weddings come from: “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” While beautifully suitable for a wedding, the original words were spoken by Ruth to Naomi.

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Abraham was the father of Isaac.

Isaac was the father of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).  (Matthew 1:2-3)

There are four women (other than Mary, the mother of Jesus) who are mentioned in the most important lineage in history, the one recorded in the first chapter of Matthew that led from Abraham through the house of David to the birth of the Son of God. These women were Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, and they were all foreigners who had colorful stories related to how they came to be in this most auspicious lineup. This Jewish family tree was a patriarchy, so there was certainly no obligation to enter in the names of women. If they are here, they are here for a reason. The Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to include them because they, and their stories, formed an important part of the DNA from which Jesus was born. Call it Matthew’s Hall of Fame.

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We’re going to begin a series today on women of the Bible, beginning with the well-known Gomer. You don’t know about Gomer? We’ve decided this series will feature some of the lesser known women of the Bible.

Gomer is the prostitute that the prophet Hosea found and married in obedience to the command of the Lord. “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.” (Hosea 1:2)

Gomer gave Hosea three children, each of which became an illustration of God’s dealing with His chosen people. The whole book of Hosea is a revolving door of God’s judgment and mercy. It pretty much mirrors God’s relationship with the nation of Israel throughout the Old Testament. They follow Him and He blesses them. They go against Him and He goes against them by abandoning them to their enemies and allowing them to be dragged off into exile. But throughout this rollercoaster ride is a thread of God’s love, mercy and faithfulness to his people that prevails in spite of them and in spite of even His judgment of them. It’s clear that His love and mercy operates on another track that has nothing to do with whether they are doing the right thing or not. It is God’s mercy regardless — His faithfulness anyway — His love, unconditional.

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.’ So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine” (3:1-3).

This is the story of Hosea and Gomer — God and Israel — but it is really your story and mine, because we are Gomer. The only way to really understand this story is to make it personal. Stand in Gomer’s stilettos. Say along with her, “I am the one who leaves the Lord for other gods. I waffle; I waver; I go back and forth. I have sold myself to many lovers. There would be no chance for me were it not for my relentless husband who loves me, comes after me and even pays my going price to buy me off the street (after I already belong to Him in marriage, no less).

“But then I will win her back once again (says the Lord.. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there” (2:14). ‘You will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master’” (2:16). “I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord” (2:19-20). “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever” (14:4). These statements all depend on God. They are His will. They happen in spite of the actions of His people. It’s God’s faithfulness and not ours that wins out in the end.

How about this beautiful picture of the heart of God: “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows” (11:8).

All of this should evoke something like this response in us: “Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring” (6:3).