Central Idea

Hosea must again love the one who is unlovely due to her own misplaced and tainted love, for so shall the Lord act in grace toward Israel.

Who is Hosea to love now?

Some might argue that the woman Hosea is instructed to love in our passage is not the same (Gomer) as in chapters 1 and 2. However, "again" in vs1 along with the reality that the parallels to which the living analogy points (God and Israel) have not changed, lead me to reject this notion. Nonetheless, to dwell on this is to miss the point. The significance of God's instructions to Hosea are in what they point to with regard to the Lord and his people.

Is there significance in the amount Hosea pays to buy Gomer back?

We find some interesting and relevant instructions in Lev 27:1-8. There, the Lord gives specifications to how much someone should pay if they have made a "special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons." Putting all the questions that arise from such an idea aside, it is interesting to see how much a female is valued at (between the ages of 20 and 60), namely 30 shekels of silver. But how does this relate to what Hosea pays?

To add it up, we must also reference Lev 27:16 where a homer of barley is set at the worth of 15 shekels of silver. Thus, with the first two portions of Hosea's payment, he has equaled the amount set in Lev 27:4. But there is a third portion to Hosea's payment, a lethech of barley. What do we find when we search the scriptures to understand what a lethech is? Absolutely nothing--this word appears here and here only in the Bible.

So what does all this mean? Hosea pays the full value required to purchase Gomer, and beyond. How much beyond is left a mystery lest we think of these things only in terms of math. The point is rather (as we look to where the living analogy points) God's full purchase of his people and beyond, leaving no doubt that those in Messiah are indeed the "redeemed of the Lord."

What does Hosea mean when he says, "You must dwell as mine..."?

In a sentence: Gomer must cease her adulteries and enter a time of abstinence in preparation for reuniting to Hosea. Much of this understanding hinges on "You shall not...belong to a man" which carries with it the combined idea of marriage and consummation throughout the Scriptures. (A similar period of waiting to complete a marriage is found in Deut 21:10-13 where God gives instructions on how to make a captive of war your wife.)

How does this relate to Israel?

As Hosea is told to love again undeserving Gomer, so God will love Israel again. But also, as with the humans in this living analogy, there will be a period set of spiritual abstinence in which Israel will be stripped of their "whoring" but not yet fully reunited to the Lord.

The list of withouts in vs4 is worth comment. Most all of these items were good, God-honoring things when used in a pure way (all but "household gods"). Some were even commanded to be apart of regular worship of God (sacrifice, ephod). But the book of Hosea makes clear that they had all turned sour and evil. The kings were evil (5:1,7:7) and the princes too (7:16,9:15). Israel's sacrifices were corrupt (4:19,8:13) as were there pillars (10:1-2). "Household gods" are clearly idolatry, leaving only the ephod without explicit reference in Hosea showing its wicked usage (though biblical history shows that this was the use of the ephod in Israel the vast majority of the time).

And so Israel is stripped of her tools for idolatry. How? The timing of the book (Hosea preaching during the final days of the northern kingdom before they were brought to Assyria) along with content in other chapters point to captivity.

A promise of returning, not based on returning.

This is really important. At many points throughout throughout the Bible we find promises based upon the condition of returning (repentance). The LORD uses Hosea at several points to command that the people return to him (12:6,14:1,2) and also criticizes the Israel for superficial returning (2:7,6:4,7:16). But here (and 14:7) are different. Here we find a sovereign, unstoppable promise that the people shall return. It is this promise in 3:5 that gives hope as the command to return is sounded throughout the book. (For more on a promise of returning, see Jer 29:13, 50:4.) 

Transformed people or ethnic Israel to return and seek God?

In previous arcs we have contended that passages speaking to the future restoration of Israel have had a transformed Israel in mind that included both continuity and discontinuity with ethnic Israel (equating to all those "in Messiah"). This interpretation has been based upon surprising language in these contexts along with Paul and Peter's usage of these texts. Here, however, the focus seems to be more strictly ethnic Israel. There are three hints that lead me to this conclusion.

1. The immediate repetition of the subject: "children of Israel" in vs4 (speaking clearly of ethnic Israel as it points to exile) and vs5.
2. The people are said to not just return and seek the LORD, but also "David their king," a clear referent to Messiah. While just a hint, this seems to be of the flavor of passages like Zech 12:10 where a people who have rejected Jesus as Messiah (as a whole) now turn to him.
3. We find here primarily a promise of entrance, not of the thing entered. Whereas the New Testament clearly brings all promises of eternal substance together in Messiah (2Cor 1:20, Gal 3:16-22), it also affirms particular promises of ethnic groups entering into those promises at particular times in history (Rom 11:25-27). This passage seems to me to be of the latter kind.

Nonetheless, understand that there is still great sweetness for all, Jew or Gentile, in this passage. God's free love toward his people (see below), his full purchase of them and more, and the sweet dynamic of "fear[ing] to the LORD and his goodness" (see below) are for all--and only those--in Messiah. 

Love is the issue.

What we love and whether God loves us are the big questions of this passage as laid out in vs1. Four times the word love appears in this single verse, showing itself to be the issue. Here are the uses:

1. Hosea is not just commanded to marry Gomer again as his duty, but to love her.
2. Gomer, though, is loved by another (or with re-vocalization "loves another"--either way bringing the same implication of affections bound up where they ought not to be).
3. Why then ought Hosea to love her?! Because the LORD loves Israel.
4. And not based upon her worth, for Israel worships other gods, highlighted by her love for idolatrous treats.

Certainly #3 is the most incredible. God loves his people! By no inherent reason in them, God loves them. He loves them because he loves them. This is the free love of God, where God does not just promise good if they turn from their whoring, but promises to heal their apostasy himself (14:4)!

What does it mean to "fear to the LORD and to his goodness"?

There is no word for "come" in the Hebrew of vs5, yet this translation is warranted. Over-literally, the text reads, "and they shall fear to the LORD and to his goodness". And so the oddity is found in the preposition. As in English, to "fear to [something]" is very strange. But it is not all-together unfounded. Let's look at the two other places in the scriptures where this verb-preposition combo appears.

In Micah 7:17 we read, "to the LORD our God they will fear, and they will be afraid of you [God]." So the Hebrew parallelism here clearly shows us that at least part of the meaning of fearing to something is being afraid of it. But in Jer 36:16, we see that is not all that is contained in this phrase. There we read, "When they heard all the words, they feared, each man to his friend." Here, the people are not afraid of their friends, but rather they are turning to their friends because they are afraid. Is it possible to see both these senses at work in Hos 3:5? Yes, and it is glorious!

Take first the situation. The people are returning and seeking the LORD and his Messiah ("David their king"), and so they are turning to God. But this is in light of being stripped of everything (vs4) by this God who has shown himself to be feared. Second, let us notice the objects. They will fear to the LORD--the great I Am who is holy and sovereign and whose presence, even by faith-filled saints, causes cries of "Woe is me!" (Is 6:1-5). But the second object is the LORD's goodness. Not his wrath or anger, but his grace and kindness.

And so we find an incredible dynamic, reminiscent of Ps 2:11-12 and Rev 15:4. 

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.