Go Again, Love a Woman – Hosea 3

Yahweh ties up the loose strings in Hosea’s marriage, using this, again, as an illustration of how He will deal with Israel.  Hosea has experienced a lot of pain with his wife, as has Yahweh.  But we may infer from Yahweh’s joy at Israel’s restoration, that Hosea’s restored relationship with his wife was joyous finally.

And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.  (Hosea 3 ESV)

Hosea is instructed to redeem his wife, Gomer, from slavery after her adulteries have led her to ruin.  The price is relatively small, indicating how desperate her situation is.  She must “dwell” as Hosea’s for many days without the normal aspects of marriage as a kind of purification period.  This is all parallel to how Yahweh will deal with Israel, the exiled northern kingdom.  She will come under Yahweh’s safe care but will not have the conditions she had while in apostasy and idolatry.  She will have no king or prince (the leaders who led her into idolatry), no sacrifice (to the Baals) or pillar (a ritual of some sort in Baal worship), no ephod (a breastplate that had come to be used in idolatrous fashion) or household gods (images of Baal and other gods for use in private shrines).  This period of privation will lead them to once again love Yahweh their God and desire the Davidic king whom they separated from years before after Solomon’s death.

We may feel that God could never love us again when we draw so far away from Him and dishonor Him, but He is ready to lavish His love upon us after His discipline corrects us and He is eager to have us in relationship and for us to enjoy His goodness.