THE Lord SAID to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
2So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.”
4For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5Afterward 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.
Original Meaning
THIS SHORT NARRATIVE describes God’s plans for restoring the relationship between Hosea and his wife (3:1–3) and between himself and his people (3:4–5). In contrast to chapter 1, which is a third-person account about Hosea’s family, this story is told in the first-person singular. The unnamed “woman” in 3:1–3 is most likely Gomer,1 and the restoration mentioned here happens after chapter 1. These events are a symbolic lesson to Hosea’s audience that God’s marvelous love will surely bring about a restoration of his covenant relationship with his people.2
The restoration process begins as an act commissioned and motivated by God (3:1), not as a human desire initiated by Hosea himself. The exhortation directs Hosea to love a woman of prostitution (or “an adulteress”), who is loved by another man. This is a call to reestablish his marriage relationship with Gomer even though she has already rejected him. The Hebrew word for “love” (ʾhb) has a broad spectrum of possible meanings: to have sexual relations, to fall in love, to express a deep emotional care and commitment, to make an alliance; here it must describe Hosea’s acts and words that will win back his wife’s affections.
Hosea’s love is to be patterned after God’s love, for God sets the model in his love for his adulterous people, who turned away from him to love other gods.3 This divine comparison identifies the kind of love Hosea needs to exhibit. It is not selfish, remorseful, or a begrudged requirement, but an excited giving of one’s self to people who do not deserve to be loved. This type of love is not lust or a brief emotional infatuation; it boldly expresses a yearning for a personal relationship that once existed in the past. This divine love for undeserving people is somewhat incomprehensible since both lovers (Gomer and Israel) willingly have betrayed their husbands and given their love to someone else.
Hosea’s emotional response to this exhortation is missing because the story is not a chronicle about his own possible misgivings, doubts, or anger. The focus is on the positive act of loving and the restoration that love brings. When the people of Israel hear of the incredible love God has for them, his grace will make restoration possible.
Hosea’s love is demonstrated by his action of buying his wife, an act that can be compared to paying the bride price. But why would Hosea need to make payments for someone who is already his wife? Possibly she is indebted in some way to someone else and is not free to go home with Hosea. Some compare the price of fifteen shekels of silver plus a homer and lethek of barley to the price of a slave4 (thirty shekels of silver for a slave in Ex. 21:32, fifty shekels of silver for a bride price in Deut. 22:29), but we have no idea what a female slave cost in the time of Hosea. It is better to suppose that Hosea is simply paying off Gomer’s debts. As a result of this gracious act of freeing the woman from her bondage, Gomer is now free to live with him for the foreseeable future (Hos. 3:3).5
Some believe the series of restrictions on Gomer in 3:3 are acts of love designed to reform her.6 This is partially due to the translation some give of the last line as “even I will not go in to you,” rather than the positive assurance that “I will live with you” (NIV). The NIV is closer to the cryptic Hebrew text since there is no negative particle in this last line.7 Therefore, it seems that Hosea is giving a balanced plan for the restoration of the marriage relationship rather than a harsh, punitive judgment that ends with the unsatisfying conclusion that they will never be intimate again. No, there is a positive restoration of relationships between God and Israel (3:4–5), and it is expected in Hosea’s life too.
The three steps to restoration are: (1) Having won Gomer’s release from a former creditor’s control, Hosea gives her a positive message of his commitment to care for her for many days; (2) Hosea sets down the conditions of this new relationship—she must not have anything to do with her sinful past relationships with other men; and (3) Hosea will again be her husband.
This restoration of relationships between Hosea and Gomer is parallel to the restoration between God and Israel (3:4–5). No mention is made of punishment, only of Israel’s living for “many days” without all those things that led them astray and away from God. Israel’s political life (led by a wicked “king [and] prince”) caused the people to stumble, so those leaders will be removed. Various religious practices (“sacrifice . . . sacred stones . . . ephod [and] idols”) caused a break in the people’s relationship with God, so they too will be removed. Just as Hosea cut Gomer off from the men who led her into adultery, so God will remove the factors that have caused Israel to destroy her relationship with him.
Then, “in the last days,” the covenant relationship between God and Israel will be restored. Israel will seek to serve God and be willing to follow their messianic king from the line of David (3:5; cf. the similar but more general promise in 1:11). Both Hosea and God will love their wives and give them the blessings of their renewed covenant relationship (cf. the blessings in 2:21–23).8
Bridging Contexts
THE PATHWAY OF LOVE. This short narrative describes the restoration of Gomer and Israel in the briefest terms. We must take care so that a minimal amount of information is implied between the lines. We do not have a complete compendium of chronological information that explains everything that happens. This story does not resolve the moral problems one might have with God’s command that Hosea return to this unworthy spouse. In fact, the unloveliness of the one loved only emphasizes the depth of the love expressed by God and Hosea.
Since few people today will ever receive a specific exhortation from God to restore a spouse involved in prostitution, one must focus on the broader theological aspects of God’s love for Israel and the practical implications of Hosea’s love for Gomer in order to begin applying this passage today. God’s love is not fully explained in the limited context of Hosea 3, but one does learn that it is not quenched by human failures or disloyalties (3:2).
God loved his people when they were few in number (Deut. 7:7–8), and he graciously gave them the land of Israel in spite of their stubbornness (9:4–6). His acts of love were regulated by his choices (7:7), his promises (7:8; 9:5), and his faithfulness to his covenant (7:9). God did not base his love on Israel’s goodness or acceptance of a few religious ceremonies. Rather, it was a spontaneous force that has no justification or rationale;9 it is an inexplicable mystery whereby God relates his grace, compassion, and commitment to people. First John 4:16 simply summarizes this point by saying that “God is love.”
God’s love is seen in the way he acts toward people. In this case he does not deal with Israel based on justice, but on the basis of undeserved love. His love is not blind, however; he knows when his people do not love him, and he makes every attempt to restore the love relationship between himself and his people. One method in the process of restoration is for people to humble themselves, confess their sins, and seek God’s face for forgiveness (2 Chron. 7:14). God can also draw his people back to himself through chastening (Amos 4:6–13) or severe punishment (Ezek. 5–7). In Hosea, God encourages restoration by removing those stumbling blocks (evil kings and priests) that have caused his people not to love him with all their heart.
The final way in which God’s love will be demonstrated is through the granting of the nation’s great messianic hopes and dreams (Hos. 3:5). The king from the line of David will reign in the last days (2 Sam. 7), and God will pour out his covenant blessings with abundance. This picture adds to the wonderful eschatological picture already presented in Hos. 1:10–11 and 2:16–23.
It is also helpful to reflect on the message that Hosea’s love for Gomer sends to the prophet’s audience. Although we do not know who that audience was or how they reacted, if one assumes that Hosea did what God commanded, a person can outline at least the basic changes people observed. They saw a man pay good money so that he could take back an undeserving wife who had betrayed him. They saw new love break out between two people; a broken marriage was restored. They saw a living human picture of God’s love through the prophet’s act of loving his unworthy wife.
This example of love probably did more to communicate God’s love for his people than a hundred prophetic sermons. God’s unbelievable commitment to his people also had a dramatic effect on Hosea’s own understanding of God’s love, on his view of his responsibility to love his wife, and on his agony over having a covenant partner who sinfully rejected his gift of love.
Contemporary Significance
SHOWING LOVE. In a world of war, violence, divorce, and all kinds of heartache, people do question the love of God. Although this passage does not directly address the issue of why there are so many problems in this world (sinful acts cause these problems in Hos. 1–3), it gives reassurance that God does graciously love his people even when they do not deserve it. Hosea is speaking of a situation where previous lovers (Gomer and Israel) have rejected their partner, so the most natural application is to deal with the question: If people fall into sin and turn their back on God, will he still love them? If people who have a relationship with God (like the Israelites) reject God’s love and prostitute themselves by loving someone or something else more than God, will God totally reject them?
Hosea’s answer is that no one has ever deserved or earned God’s love; it is always a free gift to those who are unworthy. Hosea 3:3–4 shows that God’s abundant blessings are interrupted by unfaithful actions, but his overpowering love is not quenched by temporary rejection. Since that love involves his emotional commitment of faithfulness to his people, he is steadfastly loyal to those whom he loves. It is overpoweringly persuasive and nearly irresistible; thus, it can soften and transform the hearts of rebellious people hardened by years of rejection. God’s love provides the best for his people, and it energizes him faithfully to carry out all his promises (3:5).
No one should ever question the availability of God’s love. The question, rather, is this: Will people respond to God’s love? Scripture assures us that God loves everyone in the whole world and does not want any to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Paul also reassures the church at Rome that nothing can separate them from God’s love (Rom. 8:38–39).
Although God’s love is evident, one does not always see it illustrated in the lives of his people that cross our paths every day. Those who are hurt often look for revenge or try to figure out how they can sue someone. Instead of loving the unlovely, it is far more common to hear people condemn them with harsh arguments, trash talk, and severe criticisms not aimed at restoration. Certainly no one wants to support sinful behavior by evil people, but if one wants to win them back and transform their behavior, someone must care about them.
Even “good people” need to be concerned that love is a central part of their motivation. Although some try to impress people with their philanthropic gifts to charity and others demonstrate their “faith” by supporting a good social cause or a missionary in Africa, the most important thing that people can give is love to those around them (1 Cor. 13). In the end, loving or not loving people is a conscious choice we make. We can also choose to hate people, or we can ignore them and treat them as unimportant. When we love someone, we naturally get to know them, care for them, and invest our lives in them. In many ways the opposite of love is self-centeredness and pride. Love is what binds people together (Col. 2:2; 3:14).10
A more specific application can focus on the love a man should have for his wife (Eph. 5:25–33; Col. 3:18–19). Although New Testament passages compare a husband’s love to Christ’s love for the church, another good model is Hosea’s love for Gomer. This means that a husband is not to act like the selfish and disrespectful Archie Bunker, the popular television husband who lorded it over his wife, Edith. Paul makes submission a central ingredient of marriage,11 but his emphasis on love is the key that motivates each partner’s desire to please and care for the other.
Although Hosea 3 says nothing about forgiveness, the prophet’s love for his spouse surely includes forgiving her, helping her start a new life with him, and accepting her back as his lover. There are people in the average church who are now experiencing or have already experienced some of the agony Hosea went through. Their ability to forgive and love again after being betrayed is a modern illustration of the deep commitment and love that is needed in every marriage. Before one plans to teach or preach on Hosea, it might not be a bad idea to talk to one of these people in order to get a firsthand feel for the emotional turmoil Hosea went through.
Finally, this passage emphasizes how the power of love and covenant commitment can overcome the horrors of sin in any relationship. Betrayal and rejection that is so personal is devastating, and it usually produces anger; but love can produce a much more powerful expression of grace and forgiveness. God has himself demonstrated this kind of love to us, and every believer is called to demonstrate it to others.