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. The prophet is to take back his wife, though unfaithful, as foretold (Hosea 1:2). He purchases her from her paramour, stipulating she should wait for a long period, living on coarse fare, and kept apart as a slave, before she should be restored to her full conjugal rights. So Israel is to live for a long period without her ancient rites of religion, and yet be free from idolatry; then at last she shall acknowledge Messiah, and know Yahweh's goodness restored to her. GO YET - `Go again,' referring to Hosea 1:2 (Henderson). The wife 'whom he had taken and raise...

The substance of this chapter is, that it was God’s purpose to keep in firm hope the minds of the faithful during the exile, lest being overwhelmed with despair they should wholly faint. The Prophet had before spoken of God’s reconciliation with his people; and he magnificently extolled that favor when he said, ‘Ye shall be as in the valley of Achor, I will restore to you the abundance of all blessings; in a word, ye shall be in all respects happy.’ But, in the meantime, the daily misery of the people continued. God had indeed determined to remove them into Babylon. They might, therefore, have despaired under that calamity, as though every hope of deliverance were wholly taken from them. Hence the Prophet now shows that God would so restore the people to favor, as not immediately to blot out every remembrance of his wrath, but that his purpose was to continue for a time some measure of h...

1-3 The dislike of men to true religion is because they love objects and forms, which allow them to indulge, instead of mortifying their lusts. How wonderful that a holy God should have good-will to those whose carnal mind is enmity against Him! Here is represented God's gracious dealings with the fallen race of mankind, that had gone from him. This is the covenant of grace he is willing to enter into with them, they must be to him a people, and he will be to them a God. They must accept the punishment of their sin, and must not return to folly. And it is a certain sign that our afflictions are means of good to us, when we are kept from being overcome by the temptations of an afflicted state....

CHAPTER III _By the prophet's taking back his wife, for whom he (her friend_ _or husband) still retained has affection, though she had proved_ _unfaithful; by his entering into a new contract with her; and_ _by his giving her hopes of reconciliation, after she should for_ _some time prove, as in a state of widowhood, the sincerity of_ _her repentance; is represented the gracious manner in which God_ _will restore the Jews from the Babylonish captivity_, 1-4. _It is also very strongly intimated that the whole house of_ Israel will be added to the Church of Christ in th

GO YET, LOVE A WOMAN, BELOVED OF HER FRIEND, YET AN ADULTERESS - This woman is the same Gomer, whom the prophet had before been bidden to take, and whom, (it appears from this verse) had forsaken him, and was living in adultery with another man. The “friend” is the husband himself, the prophet. The word “friend” expresses, that the husband of Gomer treated her, not harshly, but mildly and tenderly so that her faithlessness was the more aggravated sin. “Friend or neighbor” too is the word chosen by our Lord to express His own love, the love of the good Samaritan, who, not being akin, became “neighbor to Him who fell among thieves,” and had mercy upon him. Gomer is called “a woman,” in order to describe the state of separation, in which she was living. Yet God bids the prophet to “love her,” i. e., show active love to her, not, as before, to “take” her, for she was already and still his wi...

EXPOSITION This short chapter contains two sections, of which the first, comprising Hosea 3:1, is a symbolic representation; and the second, consisting of Hosea 3:4 and Hosea 3:5, gives the explanation. The prophet bestows his affections on a worthless wife, who, notwithstanding his tender love to her, proves utterly unfaithful and lives in adultery. He does not cast her off, but, in order to reclaim her and bring her to repentance, he places her in a position of restraint, where she is obliged to renounce all intercourse with her paramours. Thus it was with Israel. They had had multiplied experience of God's loving-kindness and tender mercies, but in spite of all his benefits, great and manifold, they were alike ungrateful and

THEN SAID THE LORD UNTO ME,.... Or, as the Targum, "the Lord said unto me again''; for the word yet or again is to be joined to this, and not the following clause; and shows that this is a new vision, prophecy, or parable, though respecting the same persons and things: GO, LOVE A WOMAN BELOVED OF HER FRIEND, YET AN ADULTERESS; not the prophet's wife, not Gomer, but some other feigned person; beloved either of her own husband, as the Targum and Jarchi, notwithstanding her unchastity and unfaithfulness to him; or of another man, as Aben Ezra, who had a very great respect for her, courted her, and perhaps had betrothed her, but had not yet consummated the marriage; and, though a harlot, loved her dearly, and could not get off his affections from her, but hankered after her; or of the prophet, as Kimchi, who paraphrases it, "thou shall love her, and be to her a friend;'' to protect and...

CHAPTER 3 ISRAEL'S PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE _ 1. The past (Hosea 3:1) _ 2. The present (Hosea 3:4) 3. The future (Hosea 3:5) Hosea 3:1. The command here is not that the Prophet should enter into relation with another woman, but it concerns the same Gomer, the unfaithful wife. It seems she left the prophet and lived in adultery with another man. “And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a wife, who is beloved of her friend and who is an adulteress; just as Jehovah loves the children of Israel, who have turned towards other gods, and love raisin cakes” (correct translation; used in the idolatrous worship). She is not called “thy wife,

The prophet, bidden yet again to love a woman, who is loved by another and is an adulteress, in this respect imitating Yahweh's love for His unfaithful people, buys her out of slavery and subjects her to a purifying seclusion (Hosea 3:1). In the same way Israel shall be deprived for a time of her civil and religious institutions (? in exile), in order to return later under Yahweh, a purified and happy people. The reference is still to Gomer, though this is denied by Marti, who regards the piece as a later addition to the Book. [8] According to the usual interpretation, after her unfaithful conduct had led to her repudiation by her husband, Gomer had sold herself voluntarily into bondage to one of her paramours. The prophet, however, who has been led to see in his domestic tragedy a parable of God's relation with Israel, is taught to forgive and redeem his wife by seeing God's readiness t...

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. GO YET. Go again. See notes on Hosea 1:2. LOVE. Not "take", as in Hosea 1:2, or love again. A WOMAN. Not "Gomer" (Hosea 1:3) again, but another; hence we must believe that Gomer had died; and that this was. second marriage with its own special signification. HER FRIEND: i. e. Hosea himself. YET, &C.. though [she has become] an adulteress. Referring to Israel's present condition in this Dispensation (App-12). ADULTERESS: i. e. an idolatress; and denotes only. woman of the northern tribes. ACCORDING, &C. This is the manifestation of Divine love. CHILDREN. sons. LOOK TO OTHER GODS. Refe