3. The restoration of Hosea's and Yahweh's wives ch. 3

Like the first section in this series of messages that develop the figure of marital unfaithfulness (2:2-8), this last section also blends the prophet's personal experience with that of Yahweh. This is the strongest affirmation of Gomer and Israel's restorations.

 The restoration of Hosea's wife 3:1-3

3:1 Yahweh told Hosea to seek out in love the woman whom he formerly loved, Gomer, even though she was an adulteress.³⁷His action would be similar to that of the Lord Himself who loved the Israelites even though they had become spiritually unfaithful to Him. They had turned from following Him to worship other gods, and they loved the raisin cakes that were evidently part of their worship (cf. Jer. 7:18; 44:19).

3:2 Hosea obeyed the Lord and sought out his wife. He had to pay 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley (about 9 bushels) since she had apparently become the property of someone else. Fifteen shekels of silver was half the price of a slave (Exod. 21:32), and barley was cattle food. A homer and a half cost about 15 shekels of silver.³⁸So Hosea evidently paid the price of a slave for his wife.

3:3 After Hosea had brought Gomer home, he told her to stay with him from then on. She was not to play the harlot or to have a lover any longer. He also promised to be faithful to her.³⁹

 The restoration of Yahweh's wife 3:4-5

3:4 The Lord explained that the Israelites would remain for a long time separated from their idolatrous practices. During this time they would not have a king or leader (i.e., national sovereignty), sacrifices or sacred pillar (or stone, i.e., formal religious activity), ephod or household idols (Heb. teraphim, i.e., methods of divination, cf. Judg. 18:27-31).⁴⁰They would have none of the things that marked them as God's people or that they had used to worship idols.

3:5 After this period of cleansing, the Israelites would return to the Lord. They would seek Him as their God and a Davidic king as their ruler (cf. 2:7; 5:15; Deut. 4:29). They would approach the Lord with a healthy sense of fear because of His rich blessings. This would happen "in the last days,"namely, the days of Israel's national restoration (i.e., the Millennium; cf. Deut. 4:30; Isa. 2:2; Mic. 4:1).