The Shunammite woman demonstrates the life found in Christ’s Word in her obedience to the Word of God. She listened to God’s warning – famine was coming. She heard God’s instruction – get away from here! She obeyed God by leaving Israel and going to the land of the Philistines. Seven years she was away from her home and country. During this time another occupied the home she had so carefully kept. But by listening to and obeying the Word of God she received the benefit, she and her family lived!

So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years. It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land.
II Kings 8:2-3 NKJV
What makes the Bible unique? Walking through the airport recently I saw the best selling book, “How to Win Friends & Influence People.” Another nearby was, “How to Do the Work.” There are books teaching readers “How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids,” “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free,” and how to “Live Your Best Life Now.” So many books telling us how to do things that should make our lives more fulfilling. What we don’t find in these books, however, is what we need most, eternal life.
The Bible is altogether unique and superior to the plethora of other books for two reasons: 1) its author; and 2) its message. No other book in the universe has the same author as the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God (1). God is the author of the Bible.
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If Hosea and Gomer teach us anything about marriage, though, it’s that the love of God shines brightest through us when marriage is hardest. Can you bear to believe that? Happy, flourishing marriages may sing the gospel in big, bright major chords, but the minor chords of difficult and devoted marriages are often all the more arresting. Their beauty is haunting for being so much harder to explain.

If there was a wedding, it had to be one of the most awkward ones in history.
Plenty of marriages begin blissfully and then crash into misery years in (maybe even months), but this was different. This marriage wasn’t destined for disaster; it was a tragedy before the dress touched the aisle. The whole town knew what kind of girl she was. Many of the men knew firsthand. As the groom said his vows, “I take you for better or worse . . .” the idea of worse, even at the altar, seemed like some dreadful understatement. And the idea of better, like some naive fantasy.
As he stood there, he knew exactly what he was getting into. He knew tears were waiting to be shed. He knew how many long nights he might sleep alone, wondering where she could be, whether she was safe, what man might be holding her in his arms. He knew the excruciating conversations he might have to have with their children. He knew — and yet he married her anyway. He took her to be his. Why?
The Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. (Hosea 1:2–3)
Bitter Paradox
We don’t know whether Hosea and Gomer had a typical Hebrew ceremony, but their marriage would have received lots of attention. It was meant to. As the two became one, God was seizing the wandering eyes of his unfaithful people.
When God told Hosea to take this loose woman as his lawfully wedded wife, he was making a statement — a loud and offensive statement. “Why her, Lord?” Hosea might have rightly asked. “Because the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Their love toward me has grown cold and complacent, they take my grain and wine and protection for granted, and they’ve crawled into bed, again and again, with the gods of this world. Not just whoredom, but great whoredom. They worship passionately at the altars of carnal pleasure, of plenty, of comfort, of pride, and then dare to come home and offer me whatever little they have left.
And God had warned them. But they would not listen, so he painted them a picture instead — a dark, shameful, and painful picture. He planned a wedding no one would want to attend. He held up a mirror and made them want to look away. He sent Hosea to love and cherish Gomer, “a wife of whoredom.” A bride who could not be trusted. A bitter paradox.
The Kind of Whore He Loved
What made Gomer such a whore? We’re not told much, but we meet her through the adultery of God’s people.
Wayward Israel shows us that Gomer was the kind of woman who says, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink” (Hosea 2:5). In other words, I’m not getting what I want at home, so I’ll look for a man who will give me what I want. She was the kind of woman who took what her husband provided and used it to attract and please other men (Hosea 2:8; see James 4:3). She was the kind of woman who gave other men credit for all her husband had done for her (Hosea 2:12). She was the kind of woman unworthy of a good man.
And yet he loved her. Hosea chose her, sought her, bought her, and loved her. “So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, ‘You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you’” (Hosea 3:2–3). Can you hear the sermon God had prepared?
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Ultimately, this reality to which the created order witnesses is the Lord God Almighty, who is not just the Maker of heaven and earth, but also our Redeemer. For while the natural law witnesses to the Creator, it is insufficient to save. Rather, God’s special revelation of the good news of Jesus Christ is the only hope for a creation, and people, that longs for restoration. 

One account of morality sees history as the outworking of a competition between groups that are vying for power. Another account grounds morality in personal preference or choice. In contrast to these accounts, the historic Christian faith affirms a revealed standard of morality that is grounded in the divine Creator Himself.
The Basis of Natural Law
While this morality is most clearly revealed in the special revelation of Scripture, the created order and human conscience also bear witness to the same ground of morality. God’s invisible attributes are clearly perceived in the things that have been made (Rom. 1:20). A law is also “written on the heart” (2:15). According to this view, these external (nature) and internal (conscience) witnesses to the Creator’s moral standard render all people “without excuse” (1:20). This universal and accessible law is also called the natural law.
The natural law has been the bedrock of western moral and political thought for centuries. It is built upon two assumptions. First, there is an order to nature—that nature conforms to a law and isn’t chaotic. The Lord God created “plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11). A maple seed is directed toward its inherent end to become a maple tree and produce more maple seeds. This purpose is not willed upon it by mankind but built into its nature. Second, human beings are rational creatures that can discover this order, which is binding on everyone; the Lord endued men and women with “reasonable” souls (WLC Q. 17).
The natural law is distinct from positive or civil laws that are enacted and enforced by legislators. It is also categorically distinct (though, of course, not separated) from God’s eternal decree. However, the natural law is not autonomous. Herman Bavinck discussed the natural law under the topic of God’s general revelation, where he writes, “This revelation of God is general, perceptible as such, and intelligible to every human. Nature and history are the book of God’s omnipotence and wisdom, his goodness and justice.”[1] Elsewhere, he holds together the books of general and special revelation: “It is one and the same God who in general revelation does not leave himself without a witness to anyone and who in special revelation makes himself knows as a God of grace.”[2]
A fundamental aspect of the natural law is whether nature has an intrinsic aim, or telos. Unfortunately, more modern uses of the natural law assume a mechanistic understanding of nature. For example, Kant’s categorical imperative provides the basis for moral action on the sovereignty of the will. Nature no longer witnesses to morality; instead, nature becomes something to manipulate and master for our own ends. The manipulation of nature for our own ends is demonstrated in the topic of homosexuality.
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