The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-07-22
Steadfast Love
Lesson for July "a, 1860

Lesson for July "a, 1860
LONG AGO there lived a man
by the name of Hosea. God
marked him for a prophet, but
perhaps Hosea did not know this
until after his tragedy. For he
went through a great tragic ex-
perience, one of sort that can
not i'm ply be tossed into
memory's trashbasket and for
gotten. Hoseas experience was
one that left scars upon his
soul.
The Woman In His Life
Hosea's story. told in the
first part Of the book which
bears his name, is a puzzling
one as it stands, and it remains
puzzle even when it is recon
structed. What follows now is
very widely accepted interpre-
tation of that story, though no
Interpretation is beyond mis-
takes.
There was a woman in Ho-
seas life; her name was Com
er, from the same Israelite
people as himself. 1t is clear
that he loved her, and that she
bore him children. The names
of the children, however, suggest
that all was not well in that
household. The oldest child was
naed Jezreel, the name of a
well-known fortress city Of those
times. There was nothing odd
about that way of naming chill
dren.
When the second child was
born, Hosea (still not yet a
prophet) gave her curious
name. It sounds strange in
English; it was much more
strange in Hebrew, the Ian
guage Hosea spoke. Lo-Ruha-
nah, Monterey" was the little
girls name.
Lies Bitterest Cup
Did Hosea give that innocent
child that gruesome name be-
cause he had discovered that his
Conner was woman without
mercy? If he did, the third
baby bore a name more SIM
ster still. It was a little boy:
and Hosea named him Lo-Ammi
MOT My People" or mo Child
of Mine" He had lost all be-
Lief that his wife was any long
err true to him: in fact he
publicly branded her by giving
the child that name. Conner did
what you might expect: she
left him with the children, and
he had the three of them to
bring up by himself, trying to
be father and mother both.
Woman In The Slave Market
Long afterwards, Hosea found
a woman in the slave market
and bought her and brought her
to his home. The Interpretation
OF the story which we are fol-
lowing takes this woman mot
named in the Bible story to be
no other than the lost Conner.
II is very likely that she was.
It would be a delicate courtesy
not to give her name, for she
had indeed sunk very low, as
the story shows. If it was Com
er, sure enough. then Hosea had
discovered SO netting besides
his former bride. He had dis
covered in his own heart
love which bridged all the riffs
anG chasms that hayward
won1an's merciless selfishness
had cut across the fair face of
their happiness. He discovered a
love which was stronger and
more enduring than anything.
Love of God
Other writer's in the Old Tesla
ment speak to us of the love Of
God, but the word they used has
Of e n been nistranslated, or
played down in the translating.
The Hebrew word is now lin
the Revised Standard Version
given its rightful meaning:
Steadfast Love. The translators
worked hard to find one word
that would say what the Heb
rev word says, but the could
not find one. So steadfast love"
it is. Hosea's experience taught
him two things. One was the
depth Of his own love, as we
were just saying. The other was
the depth and endurance of
Gods love. Hosea, who became
known as a prophet, but never
fully recovered from the shatter-
ing experiences of his early life,
always spoke of God and Israel
as husband and wife. Just as
Conner had been unfaithful to
him. so the nation of Israel had
been unfaithful to God. But just
as Hosea's love was so stead
fast that he could take back and
care for a horribly damaged
Conner, so Gods love is stead
fast in spite Of his Israel'S sins.
Yet-we cannot suppose that Ho-
sea. once his wife was at home
again, did not care what she
did; and we must believe that
God. though he loves the sin