Samaria enjoyed. But Hosea loved Gomer most devotedly and he married
her.

Son of the priest Beeri, Hosea inherited great wealth and a position
among the priests at the Bethel sanctuary. He was thus able to give
Gomer not only a beautiful home in one of the city's most beautiful
suburbs, but also to introduce her to the royal and social leaders
of Samaria.

After a few years, however, everything seemed to go wrong in the Hosea
household. Gomer developed a weakness for luxury and jewels and fine
clothes; she used to be away from the house and the children most of
the time; she did not understand her husband, his desire for quiet
evenings at home with the children and his dislike of the pomp and
display at the court and in society. And that night, Hosea and Gomer
parted, Gomer going home to her father.

Hosea felt very much oppressed. Walking up and down the room brought
him no relief. So he rushed out of the house into the night, into the
open, where he could breathe more freely--and think. It was the bang
of the door behind him that disturbed Jezreel, asleep at the table.

But Hosea's brain was all clogged up. It could not dwell upon a single
line of thought for five consecutive minutes. And yet he was so
thoroughly absorbed in his thoughts, that he did not notice any number
of people excitedly hurrying past him.

He walked on toward the center of the city in a daze. The first time
he realized that he was not alone on the streets of Samaria was when
he found himself being jostled in a wide thoroughfare leading to the