Hosea Three

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Hosea 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.

adulteress. Evidently the harlot Gomer, in spite of Hosea's love for her, in spite of their marriage, and even after bearing him two sons and a daughter, had again committed adultery. She left her husband, just as Israel had again and again departed from the love of God on her behalf. Nevertheless, Hosea was instructed to love and redeem Gomer yet again, in order to illustrate God's undying love for His own people. “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

Hosea 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:

fifteen pieces of silver. This is half the price of a slave (see Exodus 21:32), an indication of the depth to which Gomer had sunk in her harlotry.

an homer. One-and-a-half homers is roughly ten bushels, barley being considered only as animal food.

Hosea 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.

Hosea 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:

many days. The “many days” thus prophesied have continued now for almost two thousand years. The children of Israel have been without a king and a prince ever since Nebuchadnezzar deposed and blinded King Zedekiah, after slaying his sons before his eyes (2 Kings 25:7). So far as known, the children of Israel also abandoned their pagan images and teraphim when the Babylonians took them into captivity about 590 b.c. Furthermore, they have been without sacrifices and priestly ephods ever since the Romans destroyed the temple in a.d. 70.

ephod. The embroidered outer vest worn by the Israelite priests.

teraphim. Small images, representing gods; also used as tokens of ownership.

Hosea 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.

children of Israel return. After these “many days,” during which the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24) run their course, and “the fulness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25) is “[taken] out of them [as] a people for His name” (Acts 15:14), then the children of Israel will return to seek the Lord in the latter days.

David their king. Not only will they seek God as they had known Him in ancient times, but also will acknowledge “David” as their king. That is, they will recognize Jesus as the long-awaited “son of David,” who was also the Son of God whose “throne shall be established for ever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Luke 1:31-33; Matthew 22:41-45). In a secondary application, it may also be that David himself, resurrected with all Old Testament saints, will again rule over earthly Israel during the millennium, when the apostles also will be “judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (note Matthew 19:28; 27:52-53; 1 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 20:4; Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23-24).