Hosea 3
1Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.” 2So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.” 4For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. 5Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
Introduction
Hosea 3
God is still by the prophet inculcating the same thing upon this careless people, and much in the same manner as before, by a type or sign, that of the dealings of a husband with an adulterous wife. In this chapter we have, I. The bad character which the people of Israel now had; they were, as is said of the Athenians (Act 17:16), "wholly given to idolatry," (Hos 3:1). II. The low condition which they should be reduced to by their captivity, and the other instances of God's controversy with them (Hos 3:2-4). III. The blessed reformation that should at length be wrought upon them in the latter days (Hos 3:5).
Cross-references: Acts 17:16 · Hos 3:1 · Hos 3:2 · Hos 3:5