The Hebrew name Gomer appears in two significant contexts: as the son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2), ancestor of northern peoples; and as the name of Hosea's wife — a woman who was unfaithful and became a prostitute, the centerpiece of the book of Hosea's enacted prophecy.
Hosea's marriage to Gomer is one of Scripture's most dramatic enacted prophecies. God commanded Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife as a living symbol of Israel's spiritual adultery — her pursuit of Baal and foreign gods. When Gomer left and fell into slavery, Hosea's redemption of her (Hosea 3) pictured God's relentless covenant love.
Gomer became a theological emblem of grace. The depths of her unfaithfulness are matched by the extraordinary depth of love that pursued and redeemed her — anticipating 'while we were still sinners, Christ died for us' (Romans 5:8).