Hosea, prophet of mercy—Chapter 2: Gomer and the Lost Sheep
Nov 16, 2016
Hosea 1:2 says,
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”
The prophecy begins with an instruction from God for the prophet to marry “a wife of harlotry.” Hosea did so, knowing from the start that his marriage would not be a happy one. He understood from the beginning that he was to experience the same relationship with his wife that God had been experiencing with Israel. God had married Israel at Mount Sinai, and Moses officiated at the wedding. But Israel had continually committed spiritual adultery by going after other gods (husbands). Gomer would do the same, because she was a prophetic representative of Israel.
Hosea 1:3 continues,
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
We have already noted that Gomer’s name was the official name of Israel, insofar as the Assyrians were concerned. The historians all agree that the name Gomri or Ghomri was derived from Omri, the Israelite king. Politically speaking, Omri was one of Israel’s greatest kings, though he was not a godly king. He established his own laws, rather than abiding by the divine law (Micah 6:16).
Omri became king of Israel in 1 Kings 16:23, reigning 12 years. His son was Ahab (1 Kings 16:29), who reigned another 22 years and is more well known for his marriage with Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest-king of the Sidonians (1 Kings 16:31).
Obviously, the Assyrians could not have called Israel by the name Ghomri prior to the reign of Omri himself. So this prophetic name (“complete”) foretold the end of Kingdom of Israel on account of the sins of the house of Omri and Ahab.
Two Gomers
There were two people called Gomer in Scripture. The first was a son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2) who, along with his brothers, Magog, Madai, Javal, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras, are the subject of Ezekiel 38 and 39. The second Gomer, however, is not a man, but a woman, the wife of Hosea. Israel was not named for Japheth’s son, but for King Omri.
In the past 150 years, prophecy teachers have confused the two Gomers, and this has caused untold confusion in church teaching. Scofield was hardly the first to confuse the two, but he certainly popularized the confusion more than anyone during the early 20th century in his reference Bible. In his notes on Genesis 10:2 he comments on the name Gomer, saying,
“Progenitor of the ancient Cimerians and Cimbri, from whom are descended the Celtic family.”
He was correct in identifying Gomer as the progenitor of the Celts. However, he confused the two Gomers. Actually, the progenitor of the Celts is Gomer, the wife of Hosea, or Ghomri, the House of Israel. Of King Omri, Scofield saying nothing. Either he was ignorant of history or he ignored it.
Dr. Bullinger, author of The Companion Bible, also missed this historical detail. In his notes for Genesis 10:2, he writes:
“Gomer. In Assyrian Gimirri (the Kimmerians of Herodotus). Progenitor of the Celts.”
Bullinger reinforces this in his notes on Ezekiel 38:6, where Gomer is listed with his brother nations as invaders of the mountains of Israel. There he writes:
“Gomer. Also descended from Japheth (Gen. 10:3).”
This note is actually correct, because the Gomer in Ezekiel 38:6 is indeed the Gomer who is descended from Japheth in Genesis 10:3. However, the confusion comes when anyone looks up his notes on Genesis 10:2 and reads that this Gomer is the same as the “Assyrian Gimirri” (or Gomri), “progenitor of the Celts.” The reader is left with false assumption that the Celts are going to invade the mountains of Israel.
The Japhetic Gomer is an invader; Hosea’s Gomer is the one being invaded. Obviously, they are not the same Gomer. Yet this simple case of mistaken identity has brought untold confusion to the minds of prophecy teachers for more than a century. The fact is that the Gimirri in the Assyrian records are indeed progenitors of Celts, but all of the archeological monuments show us that they are the Israelites who were taken to Assyria as captives.
Not only the Moabite stone confirms this, but also the Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer. It portrays Jehu, “son of Omri,” [Bit-Khumri] giving tribute to the king of Assyria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Obelisk_of_Shalmaneser_III
Other historical references to the Bit-Khumri or Bit-Humri can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omrides
The Celtic Israelites were known in history by other names as well. When King Darius of Persia died, he was placed in a tomb in the mountain known as Behistun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_translation_of_the_Behistun_Inscription
Inscribed in three languages were all of the nations and tribes that he ruled. The Gimirri are called Saka and Sakka in other languages. The Saka, of course, are the same as the Sacae (Kimmerians) described by the Greek historians. The Roman historians, writing in Latin, wrote this as Saxons.
In other words, most of Europe (other than along the coasts) was populated by Celts, Saxons, and other Israelites after the fall of Assyria in 612 B.C. The lost House of Omri (i.e., Israel) was not really lost at all—except to Christian prophecy teachers, it seems. Historians know full well that the Israelites were the Gimirri and the Sakka, for they are very familiar with the Moabite Stone, the Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer, and the Behistun Rock. They also know that the Gimirri-Saka immigrated into Europe, many of them through the Caucasus Mountains, and for this reason they have labeled them Caucasian.
The Lost Sheep
Under any other circumstances, these facts would be well known to all. However, it was in the divine purpose to hide the Israelites, so that most of them would lose their sense of identity. This was part of the divine judgment upon Israel. They were to become “lost sheep” (Jeremiah 50:6). Ezekiel, too, says that they were to be “scattered” and “lost” (Ezekiel 34:4, 5, 16) and that “there was no one to search or seek for them” (Ezekiel 34:6).
There are many who search for “lost souls,” but few who search for “the lost sheep of the House of Israel,” as Jesus called them in Matthew 10:6. Those lost sheep were not Jews living in Judea at the time of Christ. Jesus sent His disciples north to the Gimirri, some of whom had been conquered by the Greek empire and were currently within reach of a missionary trip (John 7:35). Peter wrote his first letter to the “aliens of the [Israelite] dispersion… who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1, 2). Later, in 1 Peter 2:9 he again writes to them: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.”
In 1 Peter 2:10 the apostle identifies these people with two of the sons of Hosea and Gomer:
10 For you once were not a people [Lo-ammi], but now you are the people of God [Ammi]; you had not received mercy [Lo-ruhamah], but now you have received mercy [Ruhamah].
This is a direct quote from Hosea 2:23. It is only when we study Peter’s writings with the prophecies of Hosea that we can really understand what the apostle was saying. Peter was writing to some of the dispersed Israelites living in the northern part of Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the provinces of “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1). These areas were accessible to Jesus’ disciples.
http://www.bible-history.com/geography/maps/map_asia.html
It is my belief that when Jesus sent His disciples on a mission to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, they made many new converts as they healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers and cast out demons (Matthew 10:6-8). Many years later, Peter wrote his letters to them. James also corresponded with them (James 1:1).
The point is that these Israelites were not dispersed Jews. They were Israelites who had been dispersed more than 700 years earlier. The Jews in the first century certainly knew where many of these Israelites were located. In fact, the first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, gives us their location. He wrote:
“Wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans; while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now; and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.” [Antiquities of the Jews, XI, v, 2]
Josephus knew that the Jews (“two tribes”) were not the Israelites (“ten tribes”). More recently, The Jewish Encyclopedia has written:
“As a large number of prophecies relate to the return of "Israel" to the Holy Land, believers in the literal inspiration of the Scriptures have always labored under a difficulty in regard to the continued existence of the tribes of Israel, with the exception of those of Judah and Levi (or Benjamin), which returned with Ezra and Nehemiah. If the Ten Tribes have disappeared, the literal fulfilment of the prophecies would be impossible; if they have not disappeared, obviously they must exist under a different name.”
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14506-tribes-lost-ten
While many Bible teachers say that the Jews are Israelites, the Jewish scholars themselves have always maintained that they are from the nation of Judah, which consisted of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. They do not claim to be of the ten tribes of Israel. Their point is well made, then, that “If the Ten Tribes have disappeared… obviously they must exist under a different name.” If that is so, then the current Jewish state is not the “Israel” that is represented by Gomer. It is only a political name, designed to deceive Christians into supporting it as “the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.”
As I have shown, that other name is specifically revealed in the book of Hosea as Gomer, which the Assyrians wrote as Gimirri, and as Saxons, which the Persians wrote as Saka, and the Greeks wrote as Sacae.
Once we have properly identified the subject of Hosea’s prophecy, we are in a good position to understand this portion of Scripture. However, let no one think that these prophecies include only biological Israelites, for Isaiah 56:6, 7, 8 makes it very clear that in the regathering of Israel at the end of the age, many others will come with them to be part of God’s (new) Covenant people. The covenants of God come through Israel, but anyone may become an Israelite. The dividing wall has been broken, Paul says in Ephesians 2:14, 15, making all people “one new man, thus establishing peace.”
This is part 3 of a series titled "Studies in the Book of Hosea." To view all parts, click the link below.