Lo-ruhamah

Biblical Record

Lo-ruhamah appears in Hosea 1. Hosea 1:1 dates the prophet's ministry to the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and to the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

After Hosea married Gomer at God's command, Gomer bore a first son, Jezreel. When she conceived again and bore a daughter, God commanded that she be named Lo-ruhamah, because He would no longer have mercy on the house of Israel or forgive them (Hosea 1:6). The text adds, however, that God would have mercy on the house of Judah and would save them not by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen, but by the LORD their God (Hosea 1:7). After Lo-ruhamah was weaned, Gomer bore a son, Lo-ammi (Hosea 1:8).

Apart from her name and her weaning, Scripture records nothing of Lo-ruhamah's life.

Significance Within Scripture

The name combines the Hebrew negative particle lo ("not") with ruhamah ("having obtained mercy"). The root of ruhamah is related to the word for a mother's womb and is understood to denote deep compassion. The names of the three children serve in turn as signs proclaiming judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel, much as Isaiah's children were "for signs and for wonders" (Isaiah 8:18).

Yet the Book of Hosea also promises a restoration in which this name is reversed. Hosea 2:1 says, "Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah," and Hosea 2:23 declares, "I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy."

The New Testament cites this promise. In Romans 9:25–26, Paul draws on Hosea 2:23 and 1:10 to explain that God has called not only Jews but also Gentiles. 1 Peter 2:10, "which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy," is also read as an allusion to this passage.

Interpretation and Debate

• Paternity: Hosea 1:3 states that Gomer "bare him a son," but the accounts of the births of Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi (1:6, 1:8) do not include the word "him." On the basis of this difference, some interpreters suggest that the two children may not have been Hosea's own. Others counter that this reads too much into an omission in the text.
• Actual event or figurative account: Many interpreters regard the account of Hosea's marriage and children as describing actual events. By contrast, some medieval Jewish commentators and John Calvin, among others, are reported to have understood it as a vision or a figurative expression.
• New Testament application: The covenant theology tradition emphasizes Paul's citation as the fulfillment of the promise in the church, which includes Gentiles. The dispensationalist tradition tends also to stress that Hosea's original promise relates to a future restoration of the nation of Israel.

Sermons sometimes depict Lo-ruhamah's feelings or later life, but such depictions are imaginative and not found in the text.

In the Korean Church

Lo-ruhamah is rarely treated on her own. She is usually mentioned as one of Hosea's three children when preachers address the story of Hosea and Gomer. In that context her name serves as an illustration of God's grace in once again calling a people under judgment "those who have obtained mercy."