The Most Important Women of the Bible by Aaron Sharp

Author:Aaron Sharp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biblical Studies;REL006000;REL012130
ISBN: 9781493411870
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

Role in Redemption

One of the most iconic photographs ever captured on film was taken by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 14, 1945, at 5:52 p.m. in New York City’s Times Square. That day marked the end of World War II, and Eisenstaedt went to Times Square to capture the spontaneous celebrations that broke out as people learned that four years of war were finally over. He took many photos that day, but the one that everyone remembers is of a sailor, in his dress blue uniform, giving a nurse, dressed all in white, a whale of a kiss. The sailor is dipping the nurse as he kisses her, and the photo looks like two lovers embracing at the end of a romantic dance. That singular picture became so iconic because in one frame it captured the mood of an entire nation. The end of the war brought relief, joy, and a clear lack of inhibition. The feelings and emotions of hundreds of millions of people in one moment were captured in one photograph.

In many ways, Gomer is God’s redemptive iconic photograph. Unlike many of the other women whose stories appear in the Bible, she is largely two-dimensional. We know nothing about her background or about her motivations. There are really only three things we can say for sure about Gomer: the depth of her depravity, the lengths to which her husband was willing to go to bring her back, and the theological truth that her story teaches.

Unlike other women who had great moral failings, we see nothing in Gomer to balance the scales in our opinion of her. She was a mother who left her husband and children for prostitution, and whose wayward path took her into slavery. There is little to love about Gomer. Nothing we see about her in the book of Hosea commends her to us. And as much as we might not want to admit it, this is our exact state before God as well. The depravity that we see displayed in the life of Gomer is present in us all. Gomer’s sinfulness was displayed on a marquee for all to see. Most of us do a better job of concealing our depravity, but in reality we are as dark and in need of rescue as Gomer, enslaved by her own sins.

The book of Hosea makes it very clear that Gomer’s rabid pursuit of debauchery was an illustration of the nation of Israel’s own unfaithfulness to God, and she is the ultimate example not only of our true state, but also of the lengths to which God is willing to go to redeem people who are unfaithful to Him.

Gomer’s story is everyone’s story. She exists in the Bible as a picture not of how low a person can sink, but of how far God is willing to go to redeem those in need of redemption.

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