The Hebrew word translated harlotry in the Old Testament (NKJV) is zanah. It is translated whoredom in the KJV of the text. Actually, the entire phrase “has committed great harlotry” is the translation of that single word, as it is found in Hosea 1:2.
The word indicates wantonness. In effect, harlotry is to fornication as gluttony is to eating. Strong, in expressing this, adds to the definition “to commit adultery, usually of the female” words such as continually, great, and go a-whoring.
It is also used in a figurative sense (as in the text indicated) to refer to idolatry.
“When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord’” (Hosea 1:2).
Hosea was sent by God to prophesy to Israel during the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. 1 Kings 14 reveals that Jeroboam (distinguished from the first Jeroboam, who was the first king of Israel), reigned for 41 years. His reign in Israel was by and large successful, as God intervened to protect the nation. But, as Hosea indicates, the nation was wholly given over to idolatry. In 2 Kings, it is written that Jeroboam “did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.” Like his namesake, the second Jeroboam led the people in this figurative harlotry against God. Less than 40 years after Jeroboam’s death, the sovereignty of Israel came to an end, with the people banished into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians.
Despite the efforts of Hosea, Amos and Jonah, Israel persisted in her idolatry. Looking at the list of the final six kings that followed Jeroboam, it is said of them that they “did evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Why is idolatry considered by God to be “great harlotry”? Consider the first command given to Israel at Mount Sinai, “And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments’” (Exodus 20:1-6).
God has the right to demand full and total faithfulness. He is our Designer and Creator. As He told the Israelites of the providential care He showed them by delivering them out of Egypt, He alone is capable of delivering on His promised help to those who serve Him, “showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” That faithfulness covers both the acknowledgement that “no other gods” come before Him; but also that we are to bow down and serve Him and Him alone.
Faithfulness requires not only faithfulness to the person of God, but also faithfulness to His commandments. It can’t be said we are “serving” Him, if we are not doing His bidding.
Consider the fidelity that a wife is to show to her husband. It is a wonderful illustration of what we owe God!
To see The Patternists Page on Facebook, click here, and Like!
