Hosea and His Unfaithful Wife

In the opening verses of the prophecy of Hosea, he is instructed by God to "take to yourself a wife of whoredom" (Hosea 1:2, ESV). As a result, Hosea marries Gomer. One of the questions that came up in regard to this passage was whether Gomer was actually a prostitute or whether she was simply unfaithful.

The word translated as "whoredom" in the ESV (also KJV) is variously translated as "harlotry" (NASB, NKJV), "adulterous" (NIV), "prostitute" (NET, NLT), and "promiscuous" (HCSB). The Hebrew word is based on the noun zona which according to Holladay's A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament means "someone practicing prostitution either occasionally or professionally." Not all lexicographers, however, agree that the word is necessarily intended to mean "prostitution." Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures (c. 1812) suggests that the word may be taken as "fornication" or "adultery" although the Hebrew word na'ap is used of adultery in the seventh of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14). The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament suggests that na'ap is never used of the professional prostitute, but is used of an adulterous married woman (Leviticus 20:10, Ezekiel 16:32-36, Hosea 3:1, Hosea 3:3). In the story of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar (Genesis 38:6-26), it is clear that she poses as a prostitute, exchanging sexual favors for a fee, and the Hebrew word used there is zona.

The Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament, is not much help here. It uses the word porneias (think "pornography") which the Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament notes may be interpreted as "every kind of extramarital, unlawful, or unnatural sexual intercourse; fornication, sexual immorality, prostitution." The New Testament never uses porneias of adultery, but of fornication, immorality and other sexual sin; even in cases where there is a direct quote of the Old Testament such as Mark 10:19, Romans 13:9 or James 2:11.

So, although there is no clear consensus as to whether Gomer was a prostitute or not it seems reasonable to me that she was. Had she simply been an adulterous married woman, it would have been impossible for Hosea to marry her without her first getting a divorce. But Mosaic Law would have demanded that she and her lover be stoned (Leviticus 20:10) rather than allowed to divorce and remarry.