Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word
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⚙ Annotations & References ▾
Passage sections 1 ▾
The Unfaithful Wife narrative 1:1–3:5
Themes 4 ▾
Covenant 5 Kingdom of God 5 Exile and Return 5 Hope 5
People 1 ▾
David United Monarchy 5
Speakers 1 ▾
Hosea human 1-5
Historic voices 5 ▾
City of God 1× 4-5 John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible 1× 1-5 Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament 1× 1-5 Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary 1× 1 Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary 1× 2-5
Manuscript witnesses 5 ▾
Codex Sinaiticus Aleph c. AD 330-360 Codex Vaticanus B c. AD 300-325 Codex Alexandrinus A c. AD 400-440 Aleppo Codex (Crown of Aleppo) c. AD 930 Leningrad Codex (Codex Leningradensis) AD 1008
Cross-references 55 ▾
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What is Hosea 3 about?

At the LORD's word Hosea seeks out his estranged wife once more, purchasing her back for fifteen pieces of silver and a measure of barley and requiring her to dwell quietly with him, apart from her old adulteries. This purchased and restrained love enacts God's own dealing with Israel, who must first pass through many days without king or sacrifice, without ephod or idol, a stripping away of both true worship and false. Afterward, the prophet declares, the children of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king, fearing His goodness in the latter days. The bought-back bride so points beyond exile to the day when a scattered people will be gathered under the promised Son of David.

Historical backdrop

The Neo-Assyrian war machine was on the march again under Tiglath-Pileser III, and the northern kingdom of Israel was living its last decades. After the long prosperity of Jeroboam II, Samaria's throne turned over six times in about twenty years, four of its kings murdered by the men who replaced them, while Assyria perfected the policy that would erase the nation: the mass deportation of conquered peoples. The world Hosea walked was the fertile hill country of grain, new wine, and oil, where the Baal fertility cult had wound itself into the rhythm of the farming year. In 722 BC Sargon II took Samaria and carried Israel away.

Matthew Henry on Hosea 3
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Hosea 3
The Church Fathers on Hosea 3

Hosea 3

Hosea Chapter 3
3

1And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins.

2So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley; 3and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man’s wife: so will I also be toward thee. 4For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim: 5afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.

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What is Hosea 3 about?

At the LORD's word Hosea seeks out his estranged wife once more, purchasing her back for fifteen pieces of silver and a measure of barley and requiring her to dwell quietly with him, apart from her old adulteries. This purchased and restrained love enacts God's own dealing with Israel, who must first pass through many days without king or sacrifice, without ephod or idol, a stripping away of both true worship and false. Afterward, the prophet declares, the children of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king, fearing His goodness in the latter days. The bought-back bride so points beyond exile to the day when a scattered people will be gathered under the promised Son of David.