FRAMEWORKS:
Hosea 3: Reconciliation
[Preliminary
Comment: Time has clearly passed and although
it has been obliquely referred to before, that state of his marriage
becomes clear: she has been unfaithful but
Hosea
is to seek reconciliation with his wife, a picture of God &
Israel.
v.1
Although she is with another man, Hosea is to restore and love
her
v.1
The
Lord said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though
she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as
the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods
and love the sacred raisin cakes.'
v.2
So he pays [the other man] the price of a slave [perhaps]
v.2
So
I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and
a lethek of barley.
v.3
He instructs here to be faithful to him only
v.3
Then
I told her, ‘You are to live with me for many days; you must not
be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave
the same way toward you.'
v.4,5
This is to be a picture of God restoring them after exile
v.4
For
the Israelites will live for many days without king or prince,
without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household
gods.
v.5
Afterwards
the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David
their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings
in the last days.
[Notes:
This short chapter finds its value in the last two verses.
At the moment – the time of Hosea prophesying – kings lead an
idolatrous people, an unfaithful people but there will come a
time when that will be stopped and the exile we now know about
will take place, purifying their hearts so afterwards when the
Lord restores them to their land, they will come with open repentant
and contrite hearts. Hosea buying back Gomer from her unfaithful
life is to portray this.]
Continue
to Chapter 4