When Yahweh spoke at the first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery against from Yahweh."
Great as was Hosea's love and unwavering affection for unfaithful Gomer, in spite of her sins, even such great love as that is but a dim and feeble type of God's great love for his children.  As Ironside expressed it: "His all-conquering love is but a faint picture of God's affection for Israel, his earthly bride, for the cross was where the purchase-price was paid for both the earthly and the heavenly people."[10]