CHAPTER 3

(785 B.C.)

HOSEA AND THE ADULTERESS

¹Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the Children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. (The phrase, Then said the LORD unto me, signals another step that is to be taken by the Prophet, this one perhaps even more severe than the first. The short phrase, Go yet, means that the Lord is not through with His object lesson concerning Israel. That which will now be portrayed, even though painfully executed, will nevertheless portray the Love of God in a fashion that nothing else could.

The Command of the Lord to Hosea is to love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress. The idea of the entirety of this scenario is that Gomer, who was an adulteress, and which symbolized the idolatry of Israel, proved faithless to the Prophet and fell into degraded bondage. Nevertheless, Hosea was commanded still to love her, to redeem her from slavery, to remain faithful to her for a lengthened period, and then to fully restore her.

The phrase, Beloved of her friend, is striking indeed! It means that Gomer was loved by Hosea, but she had forfeited by her misconduct the right to use the honorable words of wife and husband. Therefore, the word friend instead would be used, because she was yet an adulteress.)

²So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley (the redemption price of a slave was thirty pieces of silver [Ex. 21:32] and so much barley. Fifteen pieces of silver and so little barley marked the worthlessness of this slave. No one can fully understand the pain and suffering evidenced in the words, So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver. Gomer was now used up, therefore, wanted and desired by no one!

One can only guess at the hurt that filled Hoseas heart as he stood before Gomer. She was no doubt dressed in rags and had been reduced by abuse to less than a slave. She must have reasoned, How could he love me after all this?

He could do so, because, about 800 years later, One would hang on a Cross, Who had also been sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. That One took her place of suffering that she might take His Place of Glory.

And thus it is with us all!):

³And I said unto her, You shall abide for me many days; you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be for you. (The idea is: Gomer had left Hosea for many days and had now come back to him, even though in a deplorable condition; now she would be his wife again. This symbolizes Israel, who will come to Christ at the Second Coming. She will then call Him Ishi, i.e., my Husband; and she will never again play the harlot.)

⁴For 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 (Gomer leaving Hosea and going back into whoredoms typify Israel leaving the Lord, which has now lasted for nearly 2,000 years, i.e., many days):

ISRAEL TO BE RESTORED UNDER THE MESSIAH

⁵Afterward shall the Children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and His Goodness in the latter days. (While Verse 4 is in the state of fulfillment, Verse 5 remains to be fulfilled. The words, His Goodness, should be translated His Gracious One, that is, the Messiah [14:2; Eph. 1:6].

The phrase, Latter days, refers to the coming Kingdom Age.)