Hosea 3

 

Hosea 3

Chapters 1-3 all have the same theme - Hosea and his family are pictures of God and Israel, and this is the conclusion. The rest of Hosea, chapters 4-14, are stand-alone chapters. As you can see, chapter 3 is very short.

3:1 Then 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.
3:2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
3:3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
3:4 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:
3:5 Afterward 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.

In chapter 1 Hosea was told, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms. Here he is to find and love an adulteress. I think this is the same woman, that they married, had three children (ch 1), then she left him. She may be living with another man at this point. The LORD again makes it clear that all this represents God and Israel. 

According to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel - Hosea was to go find her and love her, just as the LORD loves his people, even though they have left him.

I confess, I don’t understand v 2-3, I mean, Buy her? from who? Perhaps she fell on hard times and sold herself into prostitution? The point is, here was a woman who had fallen upon hard times through bad decisions, but Hosea restored her. And this is a picture of what God will do for Israel. Israel fell into adultery and whoredom by prostituting herself to the false gods of the Canaanites, and she would pay a dear price for her sin: she would be removed from the land and scattered among the nations (v 4).

the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice  - Don’t be deceived, sin is costly. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. (James 1:15-16) We saw the promise of grace and restoration in chapters 1 and 2, and here it is again.

Afterward - a synonym for in the latter days, which occurs at the end of the verse.

Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God – What a promise! They fell into sin and idolatry and refused to turn to the LORD, as a result they went into captivity; but in the latter days the children of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God, they will repent and return to the LORD.

and David their king - This means Messiah or Christ. This tells us when this will happen, in the days of the Lord Christ. Must be at the second coming because this hasn’t happened yet.

"This is the Son of David, the same, of whom God says, I will set up One Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David, and He shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a Prince among them (Ezekiel 34:23-24).He who was to be raised up to David, a righteous Branch and who was to be called the LORD our Righteousness (Jer 23:5-6); David’s Lord, as well as David’s Son. Whence the older Jews, of every school, Talmudic, mystical, Biblical, grammatical, explained this prophecy, of Christ. Thus their received paraphrase is: 'Afterward the children of Israel shall repent, or turn by repentance, and shall seek the service of the Lord their God, and shall obey Messiah the Son of David, their King.' " (Albert Barnes)

They shall fear the LORD and his goodness – All this - return, seek, fear the LORD, David their king – means they will be saved. Is this not what the Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:26-27

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Paul seems to be conflating or combining two verses: Isaiah 59:20, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer (he is quoting the Greek Septuagint) and Jeremiah 31:31-34, my covenant…when I take away their sins.

In 2019 I did a series, Christ in Jeremiah, in which the final post asked and answered the question, “Does Israel still have a future as a nation? Or, Hath God cast away his people?” You can read the entire (excellent!) post here. 

When God makes a covenant and promises salvation he means it, according to the love of the LORD to the children of Israel. What does this mean for me? I am the LORD, I change not. He is gracious, loving, and faithful still. “How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Saviour’s love for me!”