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Gomer (Hebrew: גומר, romanized: Gōmer) was the wife of the prophet Hosea (8th century BC), mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Hosea (1:3). English translations of Hosea 1:2 refer to her alternatively as a "promiscuous woman" (NIV), a "harlot" (NASB), and a "whore" (KJV) but Hosea is told to marry her according to Divine appointment. She is also described as the daughter of Diblaim.
Hosea 1 relates how Hosea has three children, a son called Jezreel, a daughter Lo-Ruhamah and another son Lo-Ammi. All the names are described in the text as having symbolic meaning, reflecting the relationship between God and Israel. Jezreel is named after the valley of that name. Lo-Ruhamah is named to denote the ruined condition of the kingdom of Israel and Lo-Ammi is named in token of God's rejection of his people.[1][2] Although the latter two children are not specifically said to be Hosea's, James Mays says that this is "hardly an implication" of Gomer's adultery.[3] In Hosea 3:1, however, it says that she is "loved by another man and is an adulteress" (NIV). Hosea is told to buy her back, and he does so for 15 shekels and a quantity of barley.
According to some scholars such as Walter Brueggerman and Kirsten Abbott, the story of Hosea and his relations with his wife Gomer includes metaphors pertaining not only to Covenant Theology (Israel violating the covenant relationship with YHWH), which has been emphasised by previous interpreters, but also to a Creation Theology (YHWH will undo the fertility of the earth in response to Israel following other fertility-providing gods). From a feminist perspective, Abbott argues that even if the story of the marriage was only a metaphor, it was still used "in the service of a gendered, hierarchical, and dualistic model of reality" and the choice of imagery has patriarchal and misogynistic aspects.[4]
