Hosea · chapter 3 of 14
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Hosea 3 tells how God commands Hosea to love again a woman loved by another and an adulteress, just as the Lord loves Israel though they turn to other gods. Hosea buys her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley, and asks her to stay with him many days. So Israel will spend a long time without king or worship and afterward will return to seek the Lord.
Hosea 3 is a short chapter, written in the first person, that accompanies Hosea 1 and 2. After the judgment and the promise, the prophet receives a command that shows in action God's tenacious love. The prophet's gesture makes visible what God will do with Israel: purchase, discipline and restoration.
The Lord speaks to Hosea again and commands him to go and love a woman loved by another and an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. The text does not name the woman. Many understand her to be Gomer, Hosea's wife, while others think of a different woman. In any case, Hosea's gesture illustrates God's love.
Hosea buys her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. He tells her that she will stay with him many days, that she must not play the whore or belong to another man, and that he will act the same way toward her. It is not an act of domination but of rescue and commitment: the price is paid to bring her back, and a faithfulness is asked of her that he promises too.
Then the prophet explains what the gesture represents. The children of Israel will remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods, that is, without the political and religious structures, legitimate and illegitimate, in which they trusted. After that time, they will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they will come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
God commands Hosea to love a woman loved by another and an adulteress, as the Lord loves the children of Israel though they turn to other gods. God's love does not depend on Israel being faithful: it is a love that keeps on loving.
Hosea buys her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. The price shows that restoration has a cost, and that the one who loves is the one who pays it.
Hosea asks the woman to stay with him many days and not belong to another, and he will be the same toward her. It is an invitation to mutual faithfulness, not the punishment of a master.
Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek the Lord and David their king, and come in fear to his goodness in the latter days. The end of the story is the return to God and his promised king.
5 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To go and love a woman loved by another and an adulteress, as the Lord loves the children of Israel. — Hosea 3:1
Answer: Fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. — Hosea 3:2
Answer: To stay with him many days, without playing the whore or belonging to another man. — Hosea 3:3
Answer: Many days. — Hosea 3:4
Answer: They will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. — Hosea 3:5
Hosea 3 shows a love that pays a price. Christians see in this purchase an echo of what Christ did in redeeming his people. In a class or small group you can reflect on what it means to be loved by God without having earned it and what changes in our lives when we truly believe it.
It also speaks of a time of waiting. God does not restore at once, and the many days without what seemed to sustain them served to teach Israel to depend on him alone. When we feel that God has taken away what we took for granted, this chapter invites us to ask whether he is preparing a deeper return to him.
Hosea 3 closes the first part of the book, centered on the prophet's marriage, with the certainty that God's love recovers his people. From Hosea 4 the messages of Hosea are addressed directly to Israel, with concrete charges against priests, leaders and people.
The text does not give her name, only a woman loved by another and an adulteress. Many interpreters identify her with Gomer, so that the chapter tells how Hosea recovers her after her unfaithfulness. Others think of a different woman or a symbolic act. In any case, the point of the chapter is God's love for Israel.
They are measures of volume for grains such as barley. The text gives the price in silver and barley without explaining the equivalence. Many scholars note that the total would be a modest sum, suggesting a ransom price more than a market value, though the text does not explain it.
The northern kingdom had separated from the house of David. Hosea announces that when Israel returns to the Lord, it will also return to the king God promised to David. Christians see in that expectation a fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the son of David.