The book of Hosea opens with a strange command from the Lord to Hosea: “Go marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.”

Naomi’s drawing of Hosea places the adulterous wife figure—representing both Hosea’s wife Gomer and Israel (and wearing nothing but high heals)—in the place of Adam in Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. The figure reaching out to her represents Hosea and the Lord.

 Like the rest of her Sunday school art, Naomi created this during our hour-long class. She describes it as “unfinished.” (Click to enlarge.)

Below the chest of the male figure is God as a mother loving Israel as a child and teaching him to walk (11:1-3). Below the figure’s hand is one of several images of judgement in the book: a whirlwind—“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” (8:7). Two others are an eagle over the house of the Lord (8:1), now a place of idol worship, and three wild beasts (from chapter 13).

The image below is the only piece of my own artwork I’ll be posting: a depiction of Hosea’s family as it would appear on the back window of their minivan. The oldest son is named Jezreel because the Lord says he “will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel” (1:4). The daughter is named Lo-Ruhamah because the Lord ”will no longer show love to Israel” (1:6) and the youngest son is named Lo-Ammi because the Lord said that “you are not my people, and I am not your God” (1:8).

This is the third post in my series of the art Naomi Friend created for our Minor Prophets Sunday school class. Previous posts were on Jonah and Amos. Next up: Zephaniah.