“Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
    and I will build a wall against her,
    so that she cannot find her paths.”

Hosea 2:6

A holy prophet is told to marry a prostitute–sounds crazy I know, but this union was intentionally commanded by God. It served to announce to Israel the present condition of their hearts, (1:2). In God’s eyes, Israel was nothing more than a spiritual whore. They would now be forced to grapple with this truth.

Her name was Gomer, and the prophet was Hosea.

The truth is sometimes a very hard thing. God has a bellyful of Israel’s prostitution, the nation has repeatedly went astray, they’re full of sin and idolatry. What else can God do to break this ‘spell’ and get their attention?

O.K. So why this hedge of thorns?

• This hedge was initiated by God Himself
• It was not vindictive; it wasn’t meant to destroy
• Sin will never satisfy those in a covenant relationship with Him
• Repentance was the goal God wanted to see
• It’s function was to resist their sin and idolatry
• This hedge was to bring Israel back into a right relationship with Himself

Imagine being restrained by the Lord in this way. Spiritual handcuffs and fetters and anything else that would restrict you from sin. He loves you and as a believer you belong to Him exclusively. He will discipline you if you persist in your sin. (But that is a good thing.)

He does this out of an everlasting love that’s forever loyal to you.

The very next verse (v. 7) is the response of Israel to being hedged in. It seems to be doing what He intends it to do. The ‘block’ seems to be working. (This sounds a bit like the “prodigal son.”)

⁷ “She shall pursue her lovers
    but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
    but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
    ‘I will go and return to my first husband,
    for it was better for me then than now.’“

Hosea 2:7

When you receive Jesus as your Savior you now belong exclusively to Him. That covenant is far more than eternal life. It also means that He is fully and irrevocably committed Himself to making you a holy person. He disciplines when you persist in sin. But it’s done out of love.

Some have suggested praying the hedge of thorns over straying children or family. Perhaps that’s what is necessary. Pastors and elders could intercede for wandering believers using the same example found in Hosea 2. I believe God hears us as we pray.

“He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this He does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is.”

    A.W. Tozer