23. Whom did Hosea take as his wife, and what did she bear to him?

²³ Although the marriage prospects were bad for the time being, Hosea obeyed the divine command. In such a way as this he entered upon his career as Jehovah’s prophet. “And he proceeded to go and take Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, so that she became pregnant and in time bore to him a son.”​—Hos. 1:3.

24. What did Jehovah say to call the boy, and for what reason?

²⁴ This son was Hosea’s legitimate son, not a ‘son of fornication’ that had to be adopted by Hosea.

26. Whom did Hosea’s wife picture?

²⁶ Jehovah’s marriage to Israel was pictured by Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, whose name means “Completion.” Logically, then, Gomer pictured the nation of Israel; but in Hosea’s day Israel was represented by the ten-tribe segment thereof that became the kingdom of Israel of only ten tribes. After more than 150 years of this kingdom, it had become true of its “land” as Jehovah said: “By fornication the land positively turns from following Jehovah.”