When a Man Loves a Woman

I’ve got this friend, let’s call him Bill. He’s had it pretty rough. But we can learn a lot from his tale of woe.

Bill met this girl and fell hard in love. I have no idea what he saw in her. She wasn’t pretty, wasn’t smart, wasn’t even very nice. But he was crazy about her. They got married, and she cheated on him before the ink was dry on the license.

He was so good to her, and he made sure she had everything she could have wanted. But she kept cheating. She never met a man she’d say no to — except Bill.

And Bill knew. “You ought to leave her,” people would say, but Bill would just reply, “She’s my wife.” No matter what she did, he’d forgive her. No matter how much trouble she got into, he’d bail her out.

She was a terrible woman, but it wasn’t about her. It was about Bill. And Bill is a good man.

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This is basically the story of God as told by the book of Hosea. Hosea lived out a parable of this with a wife who was unfaithful (chapter 1) until he had to redeem her from the slave market (chapter 3). God lived it out generation after generation, century after century.

Israel took the gifts of God and used them to worship idols. They thanked gods of wood and gold for the bounty of heaven. This unfaithfulness was like an adulteress using her husband’s hard-earned money to buy gifts for her lovers. The scriptures even likens Israel to a prostitute who works for free (Ez 16:31-34).

In all of this, God is the jealous husband. That’s a word that people struggle with today. But “jealous” does not always mean envious. Nor is it always irrational. If I am jealous of my neighbor’s new car, that’s envy, covetousness; that is sin. If I am jealous of my wife having friends or of her spending time with her family, that’s childish, controlling, and irrational.

But if I am jealous because my wife has a boyfriend, that is totally appropriate. God is jealous of his adulterous bride’s lovers. So he punished Israel. He gave her famine and pestilence. He allowed invaders to pillage her. All so that she would see the error of her ways and return to the husband of her youth. Because he is quick to forgive and relents at sending calamity, he was eager to return her to her former glory.

“In that day I will respond,”
   declares the LORD—
“I will respond to the skies,
   and they will respond to the earth;
   and the earth will respond to the grain,
   the new wine and the olive oil,
   and they will respond to Jezreel.
I will plant her for myself in the land;
   I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
   and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:21-23)

Under the New Covenant, the church is the bride of Christ. And Christ is no less jealous for his bride. Like a good husband, he will provide what his wife needs, but he will also expect his wife to remain faithful and true.

People today are much less likely to worship idols of wood or stone, but we still have idols. We can seek comfort and pleasure or the approval of men. We can trade fidelity to our God for power or peace with the world. Our Lord will be no more pleased that we worship intangible gods than if we bowed down to golden calves.

But if we repent he is always eager to bring his bride back home, to show her the love he showed her at first.


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