An Adulteress Yet Beloved

The legend of Hosea the Prophet and his marriage to Gomer the daughter of Diblaim

"Then the Lord said to me, 'Go again; show love to a woman who is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods.'"

Hosea 3:1 Holman Christian Standard Bible

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PROLOGUE

"Have you lost your damned mind?" Jezz shouted at his father as he jumped to his feet and slammed both fists onto the table. Had the table not been made of rough -hewn oak planks as thick as a man's arm he might have broken it.

Jezrahel's father, Hosea, also know to his closest friends as "Osee," sat as calmly as if he had been informed that the cook had the third course of dinner ready. "No, son," said the older man, "but quite possibly God has lost His. He seems to think Jeroboam and his people will actually learn from this."

"Learn what? That my father is a fool?" Jezrahel shouted. His younger sister and brother sat quietly, mouths slightly open in amazement. Loruhamah, "Ru" to her family, had become quite used to this since she had taken over the responsibilities of running her father's household. Hosea was unpopular with the court of Jeroboam the Second, but the king feared the power he represented. Loammi, the youngest of the three children, had only recently learned that the man who had raised him wasn't his biological father and that their mother, Gomer, was still alive... if you can call what she did for her pimps "living."

Hosea stared into Jezz's angry face. "Don't worry about your inheritance, son, there is no debt on our land and the harvest was more than sufficient to cover what I'm going to do. Now, you and Loammi tell the servants to prepare the grain for the journey. I wish to leave at dawn. You may both go with me if you like."

"I do not like," said Jezz, "but I will obey your orders. Come on, Low." He spun on his heels and started for the door. Low got up and followed him out, but paused at the door. "Papa, Jezz and I will spend the next couple of nights at the north property" he said over his shoulder. The harvest shack was still up, so they'd be OK; young men usually are. Hosea wondered if they'd ....

Hosea looked at Ru. "'Went better than I thought it might," he mumbled.

"They have as much reason to hate Mother as you do, Papa," the virgin responded, "but not the guidance of the LORD. If I didn't see the way you serve Him I probably would feel the same as they."

"But you see what God has done for..."

"I see what God is DOING, Papa," she said as she laid her hand on his arm. "The story is not yet finished. Do you wish anything before you retire?"

"No." Hosea stood up and left Ru to her duties and her thoughts: The mother who abandoned them, returned to bear another man's child and abandon the family again was about to come back into their lives as Father's newest acquisition from the slave market and likely as his bride. Yes, quite possibly God had lost His mind.

THE RETURN FROM THE SLAVE MARKET

Hosea walked slowly into his house followed by the gaunt woman who had borne his children. Dirt from the slave market still stained her face and her tunic, her only worldly possession. Dried blood still matted her hair and the dried ejaculate of a half-dozen male slaves clung to her thighs. The traders had thought her to be of so little value that they hadn't even allowed her to clean herself before the auction. They must have been both amazed and delighted at Hosea's bid.

"Welcome back, Mistress Gomer," deadpanned a familiar voice, not quite that of a man but definitely not of a woman or a child. Gomer dared a quick glance upward, started to smile then remembered her place. Slaves didn't make eye contact with anyone in their master's presence, even with other slaves.

"She's in worse shape than I expected, Kushi," Hosea told his eunuch. "Go ahead and see what you can do for her." Kushi nodded and Hosea continued on into his chamber.

Gomer dared to look up at Kushi. For the first time she noticed that the ebony-skinned servant no longer wore the coarse tunic of a common slave but a linen tunic of the household's chief servant and the earring of a bondservant. "Come to the roof, ma'am," he whispered. "I have prepared a bath for you."

A bath! The very thought delighted Gomer. A chance to be clean again! Then the reality of her past overwhelmed her: When she was his mistress she had abused this poor man in unspeakable ways. She followed him meekly, back out the door to the stairs at the side of the house.

The flat roof of the stone building's first floor made a perfect balcony for the trough of rainwater from the upper roof and the sun warmed it perfectly in the late afternoons of the Palestine autumn day. Kushi gestured toward the tub for Gomer then removed his robe without the slightest hint of shame: What use has a eunuch for shame? Gomer remembered how she used to laugh at his tiny penis, useful only for urinating, and the scar beneath it where his testicles been when he was a child. Her shame overwhelmed her. Once she had become a slave she had been humiliated in similar ways. When she became a slave in the temple of Ba'al the degradation had doubled then multiplied ten-fold.

Kushi began to undress her, and then grimaced at the sight of her bruises. "Dear God, mistress!" he gasped, "does this hurt as bad as it looks?"

"Yes, but why do you call me 'mistress,' Kushi?" she answered. "I'm a slave, too..."

"No, ma'am," he cut her short. "Master told me to address you as 'mistress.' He plans to restore you. I will be as gentle as I can, but please forgive me if I hurt you. These bruises are deep."

"What is he really planning, Kushi?" she said, "Revenge?"

"If he were planning revenge he would have left you in the market," Kushi almost spat the words out as he removed the filthy cloth from her body. She knew he was right. She silently stepped over the rim of the trough and crotched into the water, then sat back to let it flow over her shoulders up to her neck. She couldn't believe how good it felt.

The eunuch picked up a vessel and scooped up water to pour over her hair. His hands were gentle, strong things she had forgotten altogether. If he remembered how she had beaten him he didn't mention it. As the filth came off of her skin he had a better view of her bruises and made mental notes of the salves and unguents he would use to treat them. With a sing-song voice he called to a female servant in the yard below and ordered her to bring the mixtures. Her response was almost happy; too happy for a slave in Gomer's way of thinking. What was wrong with this household?

"Kushi?" she asked as he washed her shoulders and back.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Why are you his bond slave? You could have been a free man after seven years."

The eunuch frowned. He moved to sponge each breast in turn. "I could have been free; I can never be a man, thanks to the traders who stole me from my mother's arms." The soft sponge was almost caressing the underside of Gomer's breasts. It reminded her of being touched on... on... on her wedding night... by Osee. Of the men she had had before him none had ever treated her as anything except a vessel into which they masturbated. The men after she left him... She pushed the thoughts out of her head to speak to Kushi again.

"You could have gone home."

"To what, mistress?" The word "mistress" stung her. "I can be a eunuch keeping other men's wives as well here as there." He washed the frail skin of her belly, trying to avoid causing pain. She must have been kicked repeatedly to cause such bruises. Neither spoke but both were thinking of the beatings she had inflicted on him years ago: She regretting her cruelty, he feeling sorry for her because what she had suffered was far worse than what she had done.

"Does Hosea have other wives?"

"No, mistress, he has had concubines, but none have borne him children so he has not elevated any to wife. When their years of bondage were served they all chose to return to their own people and their own gods."

"But you chose to serve him forever" she marveled.

"Here I can stand in the Court of the Gentiles and worship my master's God. In my country, such a privilege is denied eunuchs." He moved down the side of the tub and reached into the water to wash her buttocks. It was obvious to him that her anus had been brutally abused, so he picked an even softer sponge to continue. She lifted herself out of the water to allow him to touch her.

As she sat back into the trough Gomer was thinking of his words: A privilege to serve his God she thought. In the temple of Ba'al she had known the "privilege" of being used by dozens of men in a day. The concept of worship was so different from that of the Ephramites.

"Do you wish me to wash you here, Mistress?" Kushi asked as his hands neared her genitals. Gomer was not used to being asked before men touched her there, but the man she had abused so brutally twenty years ago was treating her like a queen. She nodded.

His fingers gently parted the lips of her vagina and the soft sponge rubbed the dried mess from her. Gomer had once seen a woman peel a bloodless labia from her own crotch after a particularly vicious "worship" ceremony, lest gangrene set in to the dead flesh. The priests of Ba'al had her back at work the next day.

"Where did you learn to wash so gently, Kushi?" she asked.

"Raising other men's children, Ma'am," he said. "Master's female servants frequently left their children with me over the last twenty years. I have never betrayed that trust, to other servants or to Master."

"Has he really trusted you so much, Kushi? In the temple of Ba'al the eunuchs..." her voice trailed off at the thought and even though the water was warm Gomer shivered.

"Master does not serve Ba'al, Ma'am, and neither do I," the eunuch said. "The antics of Ba'al's eunuchs are legendary. Even my mother used to tell us horror stories about them. When I first realized that the slavers were castrating the boys I prayed that I would die before I could fall into the hands of Ba'alists. But yes, Master does trust me, with his money, his concubines, his daughter, and now with you, his wife. I was fortunate that he was my first and only master. Ma'am? Are you alright?"

Gomer's eyes were wide, her jaw hanging open. His daughter! Gomer feared meeting Loruhamah more than she feared Hosea's wrath! After all these years, what would her daughter say to... to... to her mother the whore! Tears welled up in her eyes as the gentle eunuch proceeded to wash her legs.

Kushi broke the silence. "She never married, you know."

"Ru never married?" Gomer puzzled, returning with great difficulty to her current situation. "Why not? She's not..."

"As far as I am aware, she is still a virgin, Ma'am. She doesn't speak to me about such things, but the female servants are amazed by it."

Gomer was amazed more about her daughter than about Hosea buying her from the slave market. The girl was twice as old now as Gomer had been when she willingly surrendered her virginity on the altar of the goddess Ashera. "Have no young men tried to buy her from Hosea?" she pled.

"Many have offered two and even three times the bride-price of virgins, but Master has always given her the option of accepting or refusing them. She says she prays over the decision and always says 'No.' What goes on between her and God is a mystery to me."

To me also, Gomer thought.

"You should have asked, Kushi. I would have told you" said Ru from behind them. Gomer's head almost spun around at the sound of her daughter's voice. She tried to jump up but succeeded only in slipping beneath the water. Kushi and Ru each grabbed her by an arm and prevented her from drowning.

There was no dignity at all in the way Gomer threw herself around Ru, crying like a baby as she hugged her daughter. Ru didn't care that her clothes were being soaked. Kushi stood there naked, marveling at the sight of the reunion he was witnessing.

Kushi didn't get to speak again for the rest of the time the three were on the roof, so he bathed and salved every inch of Gomer's body as the women discussed Ru's life as the lady of Hosea's home, responsible for his female servants and the preparation of food for everyone from the hired hands at the harvest to the guests from the royal court who frequently came to hear what the prophet had to say.

Near sunset Kushi dressed Gomer in a soft gown and Ru led her to the lower floor. Ru advised her mother that they would share a bed this night, as many mothers of brides shared their daughters' beds before weddings. In the custom of the Ephramites it was an opportunity for women to instruct virgin daughters in the ways of wives with their husbands, but this was certainly an odd twist. Gomer, who had known so many hundreds, perhaps thousands of men as a temple prostitute would be the bride, and Loruhamah, her virgin daughter, would be acting as the mother of the bride to prepare Gomer for her second wedding to Hosea!

Gomer was asleep almost as soon as Ru pulled the soft covers over them and hugged her mother from behind her. Spooning was how the women of the temple kept warm when there was not enough straw on the floor of their pen to keep them warm, but to sleep in a bed (!) was a dream come true for a slave woman, and to be covered by a warm blanket in that bed was beyond her imagination!

GOMER AND HOSEA'S WEDDING DAY

Gray light was filtering through the window when Gomer felt Ru rise and started to get up herself. Ru put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Go back to sleep, Mother," she said, "You'll need the rest. Papa won't let you get any tonight!" She grinned and Gomer lay back down.

It was Kushi's voice that woke her hours later.

"Mistress Ru!" he almost shouted, "There is a Rechabite here!"

Gomer feigned sleep to listen to the whispers that followed.

"He says he will deliver a message from the king only after your father takes his vows!" said Kushi. "What shall we do, Ma'am?"

"Send Soli to tell Father that the king's messenger will be here tonight," Ru answered calmly, "and set the place of honor for this Rechabite. I don't guess he'll accept any wine, but they do love to eat."

Any further rest for Gomer was out of the question. She feared this man who may well be here to make Hosea a widower! The brutality of Jehonadab Son of Rechab toward Ba'al worshipers was legendary, and their alliance with the house of Jehu famous. She would have worried less if the king himself had come to see Hosea marry her... marry her? Would Hosea go through with the wedding at the risk of his own life? Surely he would quietly make her a concubine, a second-class wife, or perhaps... O dear God! He might sell her back to the slavers! At the terrible thought she threw off her covers and dropped to the floor, and for the first time in her life she prayed to the God of Hosea.

Ru came in later and raised her mother by the arm, wiped the tears from her face and with the help of three, yes, three (!) female servants began to dress her as a bride. At first Gomer didn't believe her eyes: Was it?

"Yes, Mother," Ru said when she read her mother's face, "It's the dress you wore when you married Father. He had it stored for me, but you need it tonight!"

Gomer's tears flowed like rivers. The dress, once tight around her young body now hung from the gaunt, half starved body, and the servants tucked and pinned it to make her look, well, as attractive as human hands could.

When Ru produced a headband of gold coins Gomer raised her hand to stop her. "I bring nothing!" she trembled, "I can't take your dowry!"

Ru looked at her mother with love and firmness of a woman who knows she is right: "It will be my dowry some day, if you dress me for my wedding. These are the coins you wore the last time you wore this dress!" Gomer sobbed uncontrollably as Ru wrapped the heavy band around her forehead. What had she done to deserve to be restored, after the disgrace she had brought to Hosea? How could she ever repay the love, so amazing, that Hosea was displaying? Was this what his God does for those who abandon Him? Send a man to the slave market to buy a disgraced woman back? If this was Hosea's God, she swore silently to follow Hosea wherever he went, for the rest of her life.

THE WEDDING FEAST

Just after sunset there was much shouting outside the house. "The bridegroom comes! The bridegroom comes!" signaled the festivities of the wedding were beginning, and Loruhamah, smiling, took her mother's trembling hand and led her into the great room.

Hosea stood in a white robe and turban, the finest clothing she had seen in many years. All the guests were adorned in beautiful robes, provided by the groom, to display his ability to support wife and family. However, one guest was not so adorned. The Rechabite, seated where an honored guest should have stood, sat like a vulture watching an animal die; patient, evil, hungry.

Hosea paid the unwanted guest no attention whatever. He stepped forward and took Gomer's trembling hands in his own. As their eyes met he said "You must live with me many days. Don't belong to any other man, and I will have no woman but you." The vows of a husband, far beyond what Gomer knew she deserved! Gomer's heart almost jumped out of her chest into Hosea's arms!

The snap of the Rechabite's fingers broke the mood. Every head turned to the grim messenger and everyone except Hosea feared what he might say.

"King Jeroboam, Son of King Jehoash, sends his congratulations, Hosea." The words rang hollow on the silent crowd. "And he orders proof of your prophesy."

Hosea stopped him short: "Does the king DARE to challenge God? Is it not enough that God leads him by the hand despite his idolatry?" Someone in the crowd gasped. Hosea had often disagreed with Jeroboam publicly, but to call him out on the worship of Ba'al and Ashera was almost signing your own dearth warrant.

The Rechabite remained calm. "Jeroboam commands that I and all present must witness the mating that follows the wedding if you are indeed making her your 'wife.' If you take this bucket from Ba'al's temple into your chamber to consummate the marriage everyone will know you are a liar, and your words false. If we see you mate with her, perhaps the king will believe your words are true." His eyes twinkled at the thought: He had Hosea over a barrel; no one as modest as Hosea would allow such a private act to become a public spectacle; that was how pagans worshiped.

Gomer dared to speak and broke the silence: "Master..." what was she going to say? Even she didn't know, but she never got to think of the rest of the sentence. Hosea's head turned toward her with a look on his face she had never seen before. He was furious, not at Gomer, but at the king who sent this man to test him.

"The day has arrived, Gomer," his voice filled the room, "when you will never call me 'master' again. From now on, you call me HUSBAND!" He grabbed her, picking her up off the floor and covering her mouth with his, kissing her down through her mouth into her very soul.

Gomer kept her eyes closed and felt Hosea's hands removing her clothes and simultaneously bearing her to the ground, laying her gently on a rug. He was going to take her here in the presence of all their wedding guests! Briefly she thought that public sex was no big deal in the temple of Ba'al; she'd been taken like this before... No! She had never been taken in this fashion!

Hosea wasn't using her body; he was loving her. He was gentle, touching places that... what happened to the bruises? There should have been pain in the places he touched, but there was only pleasure. She suddenly realized that she was aroused, kissing back with her tongue forcing its way into his mouth, her hands pushing his robe open and feeling the hair of his chest, and downward to his abdomen and then to... to... to find... his organ was as hard as stone and felt as large as a stallion's!