Hosea 3

What we now call Hosea chapter 3 is a brief section containing only five numbered verses. In spite of its brevity, it contains a thorough summary of the themes of the book.

There is a current of interpretation of verse one that has God instructing Hosea to buy back his wife. Although this interpretation is not entirely ruled out by the text, I must point out that the original text says lech ehav ishah ...Literally "go love a woman" not "love your wife again" which in Hebrew would be lech ehav et ha ishcha. Moreover, all the translations I could consult (Spanish, Portuguese, English -- two translations -- , French, and even the Septuagint in Greek) all agree with the Hebrew reading.

So the text does not specifically say "Buy your wife back." As I pointed out in previous posts, the purpose of the book is not to give us a biography of Hosea's family life. Rather, God has Hosea carry out demonstrations of God's intention for the people of the covenant and interpret their meaning, or rather let God comment on their meaning.

Hosea obeys God by buying a woman for a small dowry of little worth from whoever owned her. He tells her that she will no longer "play the whore" (NRSV) and that no one will have intercourse with her, not even Hosea. That is the extent of the events in this section.

There are two sections of commentary by God. The first, in verse one, is "...just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods..." (NRSV). That is the point of having Hosea buy the woman as an object lesson. It should be clear at this point that whether Hosea buys back his wife Gomer or another woman is not the point of the text. The point is that God loves his people even though God is no longer under obligation to do so because the people have broken the covenant agreement repeatedly for centuries.

The other section of commentary is found in verses 4 and 5. The Israelites are to remain out of relationship with God for a long time, even being deprived of king, prince, and the sacrificial rites. After that they "shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days (NRSV)."

The commentary is given for us and it can be dangerous not to give it the importance it clearly is meant to have.