Hosea 3: 1 NASB
Then the Lord said to me,
“Go again, love a woman
who is loved by her husband,
yet an adulteress,
even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel,
though they turn to other gods
and love raisin cakes. ” (lit.cakes of grapes)
The Lord loves the sons of Israel
Then the Lord said to me again, “Show love to a woman”.
Here it says “a woman”, not “Gomer”. Some assume that Gomer had died, and that Hosea married an other woman.
This would fit Israel, who spiritually died after leaving God, and the other women, the Gentiles, the ‘not my people’ who loved, other (false) gods, who will now be loved by God.
Another man loves her, but you must love her.
She goes after other men, but you must continue to love her.
You must love her in the same way that the Lord loves Israel’s people.
But they continue to worship other gods.
And they like to offer fruit to these gods.”
The word love can mean different things in the Hebrew language.
- It includes a kind of love about sex.
- It includes a love from God
- And it also includes a kind of love when a man loves his wife
Hosea must love the woman who is an adulteress. He must buy her
Hosea 3: 2 NASB
So I bought her for myself
for fifteen shekels of silver
and a homer and a half of barley.
If we would put this to dollars: 15 shekels was about $ 9.60. And 1½ homer of barley was about $ 63.00. Totaling to about $ 72.60
More interesting however is to know that 15 shekels was in those days the redemption price for a slave, showing a redeeming from her slavery to her sins.
And further he determines: only with me you will have a long time association.
It must show that she is only his.
It will be an apprenticeship.
Hosea 3: 3 NASB
Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days.
You shall not play the harlot,
nor shall you have a man;
so I will also be toward you. ”
Jeremiah 3: 1 NASB
God says, “If a husband divorces his wife
And she goes from him
And belongs to another man,
Will he still return to her?
Will not that land be completely polluted?
But you are a harlot with many lovers;
Yet you turn to Me, “declares the Lord.
From this prophecy Israel, that had gone again on the old sinful path, must learn that they are only from the Lord.
This also applies to us who, despite knowing about the love of God. Over and over again, give first place in our lives, to things that we find here on earth.
We must recognize that we are no better than Israel.
He loves her. That is why He keeps her away from everything that can tempt her. He keeps her away from the wine, from the frequent sacrificial feasts.
These will no longer intoxicate her.
Where should you be kept away from?
From which temptation must He keep you away?
God loves you,
▪︎ and therefore He will keep you away from what does no good to you,
▪︎ and therefore sometimes He will say no, and not give you what you want so badly.
Here the Lord is referring again to the coming exile.
Then they will be converted to the Lord, purified by judgment.
Trembling, they will eventually come to His goodness.
Do you know a more amiable Prince?
Hosea 3: 4-5 KJV
For the children of Israel
shall abide many days
without a king,
and without a prince,
and without a sacrifice,
and without an image,
and without an ephod,
and without teraphim:
Afterward shall the children of Israel [will] return,
and seek the Lord their God,
and David their king;
and shall fear the Lord
(they will come trembling to the Lord)
and his goodness in the latter days.
These 7 predictions are fulfilled:
- For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king,
- and without a prince,
- and without a sacrifice,
- and without an image,
- and without an ephod,
- and without teraphim:
- afterward the children of Israel return [to their country]
These 3 predictions are still unfulfilled:
- They will seek the Lord their God,
- They will seek David their king;
- They will fear the Lord and His goodness in the last days.
Jeremiah 30: 9 NASB
But they shall serve the Lord their God
and David their king,
whom I will raise up for them.
Ezekiel 34: 23-24 NASB
²³Then I will set over them one shepherd,
My servant David,
and he will feed them;
he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.
²⁴And I, the Lord, will be their God,
and My servant David will be prince among them;
I the Lord have spoken.
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