I spent the majority of January’s blog post, distinguishing what was Truth, Fact, and Fiction in my award-winning debut novel, Love Amid the Ashes (LATA). I offered insights about the Truth, Fact, and Fiction in Love’s Sacred Song (LSS) in February’s newsletter. So, in today’s blog post, I’ll share fun tidbits about the story of the prophet Hosea and his marriage to Gomer–a prostitute–in Love In a Broken Vessel (LBV).
My March 3rd newsletter will include Truth, Fact, and Fiction from In the Shadow of Jezebel (ITSOJ). Click on any of the titles above to see each book’s individual page on my website where you’ll find study questions, sneak peeks, and other free stuff.
Here are a few insights about the Treasures of His Love series as a whole:
- Each book was written as a stand-alone novel so they can be read in any order.
- If you’d like to read the Treasures of His Love series in chronological biblical order (Because I’m an Amazon advertising affiliate, a small commission is earned when purchases are made using Amazon links below):
- Love Amid the Ashes – The Story of Job & Dinah (Job & Genesis 34, 36)
- Love’s Sacred Song – Solomon and his first true love (1 Kings & Song of Songs)
- In the Shadow of Jezebel – Queen Athaliah, High Priest Jehoiada, Jehosheba (2 Kings 11 & 2 Chronicles 22)
- Love In a Broken Vessel – Hosea & Gomer (Hosea & 2 Kings 15ff)
- Though these books don’t meet the literary criterion for love stories, every book includes romance. And, as the series title indicates, LOVE is the essence of every plot. Yes, you’ll see the journey of a man and woman’s earthly struggle to overcome obstacles and see their love triumph. Even more importantly, however, the Treasures of His Love series shows God’s unconditional love through every Old Testament Truth, historical Fact, and creative piece of Fiction.
If you’d like to read the first two posts:
CLICK HERE to read Truth, Fact, & Fiction in Treasures of His Love – Part 1 (Love Amid the Ashes (LATA).
CLICK HERE to read Truth, Fact, & Fiction in Treasures of His Love – Part 2 (Love’s Sacred Song (LSS).
Book #3, Love In a Broken Vessel (LBV)
Truth
The Bible tells us exactly the kings’ reigns during which Hosea prophesied.
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel. Hosea 1:1 (emphasis added)
Unfortunately, the timeframes of all five of those kings are difficult to pinpoint with 100% accuracy. That means we must rely on historical and scholarly opinions that I loosely label as “facts” (below).
Hosea married a prostitute named, Gomer.
Gomer’s unfaithfulness in their marriage was the way Hosea was to show Yahweh’s emotional devastation when Israel chose other gods instead of His love for them.
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” Hosea 1:2
I was on my face, grieving for Hosea–and sometimes for Gomer–so many times while writing this book.
Fact
Gerda Arendt, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Birth control may have been as common in the ancient world as it is today.
I learned waaaaay more than I wanted to know about ancient contraceptives, miscarriages, and abortions while researching this book.
According to an article I discovered on JSTOR, “Ever Since Eve…Birth Control in the Ancient World,” giant fennel was the best but most expensive herb to prevent or terminate a pregnancy.
Wild Carrot (or more commonly known as “Queen Anne’s Lace,” (pictured) was the most affordable herb–thus, most used to both prevent and terminate pregnancy. They used the wild seeds in drinking water beforehand or chewing the dry seeds immediately after.
Other plants used as contraceptives/abortives: pennyroyal, artemisia, myrrh, rue, willow, and date palm. (Archeology – March/April 1994 by John M. Riddle, J. Worth Estes, and Josiah C. Russel; pp.29-35)
Kings, Prophets, and a Divided Israel–Whew!
As I mentioned in the Truth section above, the Hosea testifies to his prophetic ministry during the reign of several kings. Unfortunately, research and scholars vary widely on the timeline of each king’s reign and give only a few mentions of which prophets were active during a particular king’s rule.
With so many differing expert opinions, I needed to stick with one source (NIV Study Bible) and ignore the rest. Otherwise, I’d still be researching this book! I always gain new insights for the story when I do timelines. With this one, I realized Jonah would have still been alive when Hosea and Gomer were children! CLICK HERE to see my Chart of prophets and kings.
Gotta Love Those Figs!
I also loved researching fig growing (CLICK HERE to see a shortened version of that research). There were so many spiritually applicable concepts with fig-growing truths. Here’s one of the many videos I’ve appreciated. See if any spiritual truths jump out at you!
Once again, I was able to use those truths in my 2024 release: Bk #1 of King David’s Brides, Brave: The Story of Ahinoam.
Fiction
Like Love’s Sacred Song, Love In a Broken Vessel doesn’t have a lot of historical or biblical narrative to gather a chronological story. I needed to use clues from the prophetic text and poetry to glean ideas with which to write a fictional account about how Hosea and Gomer’s MIGHT HAVE marriage progressed with each year and with each child named in the beginning of the book.
So [Hosea] married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Hosea 1:3 (emphasis added)
It seems clear that the first child was Hosea’s, but what about the other two?
Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them”…After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Hosea 1:6, 8 (emphasis added)
Gomer “conceived again,” but it doesn’t say Hosea had anything to do with it. If she was unfaithful (as Scripture says she was in her illustrated by Israel’s adultery), Hosea and Gomer likely didn’t know whose child she was. The third child–a son–seems to definitely not be Hosea’s child, from the name God gave Hosea: not my people. It’s unbearably sad that a little boy would be marked by such a label, isn’t it? But read the end of the book–either one, Love In a Broken Vessel or the Book of Hosea. There’s always redemption when Yahweh guides the pen!
3/10/25 Newsletter: Book #4, In the Shadow of Jezebel (ITSOJ)
If you’d like to know what’s Truth, Fact, and Fiction in the final novel of the Treasures of His Love series, I hope you’ll subscribe to my monthly updates and become one of my cherished Newsies! CLICK HERE for a peek at my January Newsie update (usually shared EXCLUSIVELY with my Newsie friends).
If you CLICK THIS LINK TO SUBSCRIBE, be sure to download the FREE NOVELLA, I Will Praise Him, about Abigail’s childhood and those crucial ten days she remained at Nabal’s bedside while she awaited his death–and David’s marriage proposal. You can subscribe to my blog at that same link, which will notify you with an email of my monthly blog posts.
Please leave a comment below if you have questions–or email me directly at mesu@mesuandrews.com. Happy reading!
