Israel’s Adultery Forgiven

Have you ever felt like God has been distant in your life, much like how Hosea’s wife, Gomer, strayed? Just as God pursued Gomer out of love, He seeks to restore you, too. Spend time in prayer this week, inviting the Holy Spirit to reveal places in your heart where you’ve wandered. Write down any areas where you feel disconnected from God and bring them before Him in confession, embracing His unconditional love and grace to draw you back.

¹⁶⁽¹⁴⁾ “But now I am going to woo her – I will bring her out to the desert and I will speak to her heart. ¹⁷⁽¹⁵⁾ I will give her vineyards from there and the Akhor Valley as a gateway to hope. She will respond there as she did when young, as she did when she came up from Egypt. ¹⁸⁽¹⁶⁾ “On that day,” says Adonai, “you will call me Ishi [My Husband]; you will no longer call me Ba‘ali [My Master]. ¹⁹⁽¹⁷⁾ For I will remove the names of the ba‘alim from her mouth; they will never again be mentioned by name.

After that, Adonai will restore and comfort Isra’el. God will give her vineyards, and she will sing as when she came up from the land of Egypt. She will call Him Ishi (My Husband), not Ba’ali (My Master). The people will be cleansed from Ba’al worship, even to the degree of forgetting the names of the Ba’als.

²⁰⁽¹⁸⁾ When that day comes, I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds in the air, and the creeping things of the earth. I will break bow and sword, sweep battle from the land, and make them lie down securely. ²¹⁽¹⁹⁾ I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in grace and in compassion; ²²⁽²⁰⁾ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you will know Adonai.

The nation will dwell in safety and peace because of the covenant God will make with the beasts of the field and other animals, rendering all wild animals harmless. Warfare will also be ended. Israel will be married to the Lord forever, under righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy, bound by God’s faithfulness.

^23(21) “When that day comes, I will answer,” says Adonai, “I will answer the sky, and it will answer the earth; ²⁴⁽²²⁾ the earth will answer the corn, wine, and oil, and they will answer Yizre‘el [God will sow]. ²⁵⁽²³⁾ I will sow her for me in the land. I will have pity on Lo-Ruchamah [Unpitied]; I will say to Lo-‘Ammi [Not-My-People], ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

When that day comes, Yizre’el will no longer mean scattered, but sown. The people will be sown in their own land; heaven and earth will join in blessing and making them fruitful.

Hosea Takes Back His Wife

3 ¹ Adonai said to me, “Go once more, and show love to [this] wife [of yours] who has been loved by her boyfriend, to this adulteress—just as Adonai loves the people of Isra’el, even though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [offered to them].” ² So I bought her back for myself with fifteen pieces of silver and eight bushels of barley. ³ Then I told her, “You are to remain in seclusion for a long time and be mine. You are not to be a prostitute, and you are not to be with any other man; and I won’t come in to have sex with you either.”

Adonai told Hosea to go to the public market and buy back his faithless wife from her sin. The purchase price, fifteen pieces of silver and eight bushels of barley, was that of a female slave. For many days, there were no marital relations; later, she would be restored to her full marital status. This pictures the past, present, and future of Isra’el. Unfaithful to Adonai, she ran after other lovers (idols). But God brought her back.

Israel’s Own Redemption

³ I said to her, “You must live with me many days. Don’t be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.” ⁴ For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. ⁵ Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days. ^[1]

Verse 4 describes her present condition: without a king, prince (or royal family), sacrifice (that is, the Levitical sacrifices have been suspended), sacred pillar (idol), ephod (symbol of the Levitical priesthood), and teraphim (household gods).

Next, we will continue to explore Hosea.

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[1] Hosea 2:14-3:5