Introduction
‘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.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then 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 behave the same way toward you.” For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. Afterward 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.’ Hosea 3:1-5
Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife
God tells Hosea to go and love his wife again. Gomer had left Hosea and given herself over to adultery and prostitution. However, God commands Hosea to bring her back as his wife.
God would bring Israel back into a relationship with Him in the same way. Surely we see the love of God in all of this, 1 John 4:8 / 1 John 4:16.
We read of Hosea’s obedience, 15 shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley is the price he paid to have her back, although we’re not told from whom, he bought her back.
The suggested value of the silver and barley was the price of a slave. So he had to buy her back from slavery. Her faithfulness is a condition of her coming back.
It is obvious that Gomer would have been unclean when Hosea took her home and so, she would have had to go through a period of purification.
Israel will be without leaders and their religious symbols, without a king or prince in captivity. God ruled as King in the post-captivity until the coming of David their king, who was King Jesus, Daniel 2:44 / Daniel 7:13-14.
The last days are the days of the Messiah when Jesus would reign and establish His kingdom, Acts 2:16-17.
In these first three chapters, Hosea has learnt about the sins of Israel through his marriage and how God responded through love.
