the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Gomer
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or The purchased wife of the prophet Hosea. She is said to have been the daughter of Diblaim—whether Father or mother—for it might the either. Her name signifies to finish or complete. (See Hosea 1:2-3 and Hosea 3:1-3) The history as it is given to us in the Bible, both of the prophet and this adulteress, appears very singular and surprising. But some light is thrown upon it from the account given us by writers concerning the customs of the east. Contracts for marriages, it is said, were never formed without giving with the woman a certain measure of corn, as well as money, for a marriage portion. The corn intimated the hope of fruitfulness in children. But it should seem in the case of Hosea, that the portion here was not given by the parents, but by the prophet; and that this was of the Lord. The Lord said unto Hosea, "Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms." And hence the prophet saith, "So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley." (Hosea 3:2)
The spiritual sense of it is more plain than the literal. For the marrying an adulteress, and by the Lord's command, and the union of a prophet of the Lord with such a character, seems a measure not easily explained. But as typical of the Lord's being married to his adulteress Israel, the subject is not only clear, but highly instructive. We see in it God's grace amidst all our undeservings; and that "where sin hath abounded grace doth much more abound." To what a degree of spiritual adultery and fornication was our nature gone, when Christ betrothed that nature to himself! Here surely the prophet typified Christ, when he said, "Go yet, love a woman (beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress) according to the love of the Lord toward the children of, Israel." (Hosea 3:1)
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Gomer'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/g/gomer.html. London. 1828.
