A Plight of Promiscuity

the polygamous plight series

Welcome to the kingdom citizens blog!

Our faithfulness to Christ causes us to flourish, benefiting the relationships we have with mankind as well. Likewise, our unfaithfulness to Christ naturally reaps unfavorable outcomes with God and mankind.

Food For Thought

• What does unfaithfulness look like in the Kingdom of God?

• What does disregarded discontentment in a believer become?

• How do we avoid and resist the temptations that manifest in our discontentment?

• What does idolatry and adultery have in common?

In this new series, Polygamous Plight, we will investigate the correlations between faithfulness and unfaithfulness of the Ecclesia (Church; Bride of Christ) to Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Groom. Throughout the Bible, we see the result of God's faithfulness to His people. The Lord never fails and loves unconditionally. Jesus loves us deeply and intimately but doesn't always receive that same love in return. There is nothing we can do to cause God to love us more or less. However, His promises of protection, provision, and providence are conditional. They are predicated on our obedience to His Word.

We will review what happened to Israel in their state of obedience and disobedience. This blog will evaluate God's response to their faithfulness or lack there of. Learning from the trials and triumphs of Biblical narratives, we'll learn practical ways to reject idolatry, resist temptation, mature in perseverance, and apply Christ's love for His Bride (the Church) to our covenant with the Lord as well as our natural relationships here on Earth.

To take God seriously and at His Word, we must observe our betrothal to Him with the utmost respect.

A plight of promiscuity

Since the Lord’s promise to Abraham is now our inheritance, we, as believers, are united to Christ as His bride. Our union with the Lord is an everlasting covenant, in which our obedience is met with His faithful reward. The consistent enactment of our pledge in faithful compliance through the love of Christ is the evidence of our commitment. The Holy Spirit is our band of promise, the Seal of covenant given as the promissory note of our betrothal to Christ. 

In Exodus 19:3-6, God instructs Moses to lay out the conditions of His relationship with the Israelites. This establishes them with an identity and covenant, being the Beloved who belongs to the King of all creation:

3 Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, 6 and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

Israel would eventually neglect and forget their covenant with God. On numerous occasions throughout history, they would overlook how their obedience to God was a condition of receiving the blessings provided under His covenant. Like Israel, we also lose sight of God’s covenant, oftentimes attempting to alter His conditions with our own. Could it be that as the Lord’s special “possession”, we have become emboldened to forsake faithfulness to His love by lusting after our own promiscuous desires?

Like Israel’s exodus from Egypt, Jesus Christ has offered those of us salvation and deliverance. It’s one thing to receive His love. It’s another thing entirely, to remain faithfully obedient to His love. Obedience is compliance but faithful obedience is a joyful willingness; remaining devoted without abandon and committed without wavering. To take God seriously and at His Word, we must observe our betrothal to Him with the utmost respect. 

Galatians 3:28-29 certifies the promise of our inheritance in Christ: 

28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

In belonging to Christ, we become ones among the seed of Abraham. we can expect in full confidence that our betrothal to Jesus is legitimate and secure. To know that we, as the Church, are the collective bride of Christ, is to know that we fully belong to the Lord. We are His special “possession”. Set apart for His glory, we are to detach and restrict ourselves from any person or thing attempting to court or entertain us. When a woman agrees to the proposal of a man, she should voluntarily and willingly relinquish her right to continue dating others. Her voluntary “yes” to her fiance is an absolute “no” to any and everyone else. She now exclusively belongs to her fiance for courtship. 

It should be the same with us, as believers in Christ. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all other alternatives of sovereignty, provision, and courtship should’ve been ended and with prejudice. However, at times when our faith gets shaky or our patience runs thin, we crack the door open to the frivolous courtships crouching on the welcome pad of our unwarranted displeasure. Prepared to pounce at our beck and call, such powerless alternatives lack any value compared to Christ. The only value alternatives can gain are artificially assigned in our misplaced desire to have it our way and now. 

If we don’t learn to say “no” to our flesh, our disobedience will sprout consequences because we’ve willfully abandoned our “yes” to Christ. God is a jealous God and explicitly states that He is to be our only God in Deuteronomy 5:7-9. He goes on to promise a punishment passed down to the third and fourth generations of those who create or worship other gods. Even going as far as to say that the worship of any other god is not only sin but also hatred towards God. The Lord takes His covenants seriously and will not tolerate promiscuity. Besides, what alternatives can exist when God is our everything?

Hosea's Promiscuous Marriage ordered by God

The book of Hosea examines covenantal marriage, the adultery of idolatry, and the restoration of Israel to their One true Husband, Yahweh, after facing the consequences of their unfaithfulness. Marriage is a sacred covenant that must be maintained in faithfulness and obedience. The Lord calls His people to a wholehearted, lifelong commitment that is fully required and expected of us. 

To illustrate this point, God instructs the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman who will birth forth children who are the result of her prostitution. It may sound insane that God would instruct His faithful prophet to do something He hates but it serves as an example for us to learn from. So Hosea marries a woman named Gomer who spends their marriage committed to promiscuity until Hosea literally purchases her back from a client for 15 shekels of silver and 9 bushels of barley (Hosea 3:2). 

Why would Hosea have to pay to receive back the woman he married and legally belongs to him? Though Gomer legally belonged to Hosea, she did not honor the exclusivity of their covenant. She prostituted herself to other men and even bore their children and for what? In Hosea 3:1, the Lord calls Gomer an adulteress and compares her to the Israelites who “turn to other gods and love raisin cakes”. How superficial does that sound?! They cared more about the pleasures of life than the prostitution they engaged in against their Life Giver. 

As a type of Christ, Hosea paid the price necessary to purchase his wife back, delivering her from a life of sin and eventually death. The Lord commanded Hosea to “show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adultress” (Hosea 3:1). And without protest, Hosea did so saying, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.” 

What’s wild is that the Lord didn’t even refer to Gomer as Hosea’s wife but called her “a woman” and “adulteress”. Though they were legally married, she didn’t belong to him. Her heart was with the idols of her promiscuity; their luxuries and delicacies. Within this command, God doesn’t tell Hosea to love Gomer (emotionally) but to “show love”. I believe this is what we see in the New Testament as the Love of Christ. It would be really difficult for any of us to be in this situation. There had to be pinned up anger, frustration, and rejection stored up in Hosea. Yet and still, he was obedient by showing Gomer the love of compassion, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, and mutual faithfulness (Hosea 3:2-3). 

Hosea paid for Gomer with silver and barley but Jesus Christ paid for us, in-full, with His life. This book of Hosea continues on, alluding to Christ’s arrival and even His death and resurrection. But first Israel would have to suffer the consequences of their disobedience by becoming captives of the Assyrians. However, the Lord would not forget Israel but “show love” to His bride by rescuing and redeeming her from the exile of her idolatry. God’s compassion and judgment will be showcased through His tenacious love in the same way He instructed Hosea to do with Gomer. 

When we examine Hosea 1:2, we recognize plainly what God was illustrating for us to see: 

 2 When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him:

Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord.

The Lord’s reason for doing this is to showcase Israel’s dismissal of their covenant. God considers our unfaithfulness to be abandonment. Gomer's shameless infidelity to Hosea, resulting in children born of betrayal, reflects how we, as Christ’s bride, can likewise commit spiritual unfaithfulness against the Lord. The actions we commit are a sign of what master we’ve committed ourselves to. Either we commit to our Master Jesus or the master of lies and death, Satan. There is no middle ground. Anything you put before God is an idol. Jesus isn’t just the number One but should be the only One we serve faithfully. 

The actions we commit are a sign of what master we’ve committed ourselves to.

Serving Two Masters

In Hosea chapter 2, God rebukes Israel’s adultery. He says He will have no compassion on them because they are behaving like children of promiscuity; unfaithful and shamelessly following after their many lovers to have their needs met instead of relying on God. The Lord rebukes them further for not recognizing that it was Him alone Who met all their needs, not the Baals they sacrificed the resources to that God allowed them to accrue. 

Israel attempted to serve two masters, Yahweh and Baal. They were married to God but prostituted themselves to Baal. They had the real thing, the true Lover of their souls but forgot Him (Hosea 2:13) chasing after a foreign and lesser lover. They put their hopes in an idol instead of the One True God. They chose adulterous celebrations over covenant provision. I don’t suppose that’s much different from many of us, who attempt to intervene where we miss God’s restraint, patience, and protection.

Because baal in Hebrew translates to 'master' or 'lord,' it was commonly used to refer to Canaanite deities, particularly the storm god Baal, who held a central place in their religious practices. Hosea illustrates Israel’s relationship with God through the metaphor of marriage. Her worship of other gods is seen as spiritual adultery, with the Baals portrayed as the illicit lovers she chooses over her rightful Husband, the Lord. Hosea 2:16 reveals God's promise that Israel will call Him 'Ishi'—meaning 'my husband'—rather than 'Baali'—meaning 'my lord'—highlighting a restored relationship in which Israel no longer associates God with the Baals (Baals various manifestations), but sees Him as her faithful and one true Husband.

We see again in Isaiah chapter 46 how Israel prostitutes themselves to idols. Israel is seen here worshiping the chief god of Babylon, Bel. God mocks Israel and their false gods in Isaiah 46. The Lord rebukes them in their unfaithfulness, mocking them for worshiping an idol they made out of the resources God allowed them to obtain. He goes on to ridicule Israel for making idols that can do nothing and are only a burden to produce and carry. 

He then redirects them to how powerful He is, always able to sustain and carry the entire burden of Israel. It is Yahweh alone Who can rescue them, having no limits and no equal. He is the One and Only living God. The Lord is pulling rank here by making a distinct parallel between idols that burden even the animals that carry them and Himself Who carries the burden of humanity with ease and without equal (Isaiah 46:1-5). In Isaiah 46:11, God goes on to reference His total sovereignty over the entirety of nature and mankind. 

Between these few chapters in Hosea and Isaiah alone, God has proven His case. There is absolutely no need for us to seek love, provision, or protection anywhere else other than in His care. Though this is true, some believers still choose to teeter the fence, behaving as if they’re betrothed to two masters. This is unfortunate because not only does this appear to be insanity but those witnesses who encounter such double-mindedness are robbed of the authentic demonstration of our One True Masters covenantal love and provision.

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Make sure to stay tuned in for this next blog post so you don't miss out on your word of instruction and encouragement...The next blog will define adulterous behavior, laying out the supernatural and natural consequences of unfaithfulness. Thank you and God bless!

Scripture of Emphasis:

Hosea 3:2-3 (NIV)

"2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley. 3 I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”

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Thank You and God Bless!

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