Faithful God (Part Six): The Hard Way Home

Transcript

JROT 6
Faithful God (Part Six): The Hard Way Home
11/6/2022
Hosea 3:1-5
Jesse Randolph

Okay, well I would invite you to open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4, starting in verse 27, Deuteronomy 4:27. This would be God’s second giving of the Law where we see God giving the following words to Moses. Deuteronomy 4:27, “The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you. There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all of your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”
God gave these words to Moses sometime around 1405 B.C. before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. Before their conquest of the land. Before the days of the Judges. Before the days of Saul, David, and Solomon. Before the days of the divided kingdom. And some 650 years before time that the prophet Hosea lived in and ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel. And now, some 650 years after God gave these words to Moses in Deuteronomy 4 events were unfolding exactly as God had indicated they would in the prophetic book we’ve been studying on Sunday evenings known as the book of Hosea. Go ahead and flip with me if you would back to the book of Hosea, our subject of study for Sunday evenings for the next foreseeable few weeks or months or years or decades, time will tell; but Hosea chapter 3 is where we will be tonight.

As we put a bow on this first major section of Hosea tonight, you will recall I mentioned at the outset of our series that there are really two sections in the book of Hosea. Chapters 1-3 represent one major section which we will be finishing up tonight. Then chapters 4-14 represent the other, second major section. What we’re going to be looking at, at the end of this first major section of Hosea tonight, spanning the first three chapters of this book and as we do so I think it would be good as we typically have done each Sunday evening to review where we’ve been to sort of get a marker to indicate where we are to review what we’ve seen so far.

If you’ve been here for any of these Sunday nights or you’re just popping in for the first one, let me tell you it’s been quite the wild ride. Back in Hosea chapter 1 we saw how Hosea’s household was first formed. We saw that “the word of the LORD” came to Hosea in chapter one, verse one. In giving Hosea that “word”, we saw that God commanded Hosea to “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry,” it says in 1:2, a wife of whoredom other translation would render it. It says “have children of harlotry” with that woman. God ordered Hosea to do so, to take this harlot, to take this prostitute to be his wife so that God could teach a lesson to Israel. A lesson about her own spiritual whoredom. Her own idolatry. We see that in Hosea 1:2 where it says, “for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.” We saw in Hosea 1:3 that Hosea immediately followed the Lord’s command and took Gomer, the prostitute, to be his wife. We saw, in Hosea 1:3-9, that Gomer, Hosea’s wife, the prostitute gave birth to three children, only one of whom was Hosea’s. The other two which came from her other lovers. We saw that God directed Hosea to give the children specific names. Names that were hopeless and ominous. Jezreel meaning “bloodshed,” or “scattered.” Lo-Ruhamah meaning, “no mercy” or “no compassion” and Lo-Ammi - meaning, “not my people.”

As we turned the corner from the end of Hosea 1, this was a few weeks ago now and started Hosea 2 some rays of hope began to poke through. Starting in Hosea 1:10 and with that little word “Yet.” And over the course of the next few verses 1:10-11 and 2:1 we saw the tone change. We saw the focus shift to this hopeful future day for Israel. A day where God would restore His people. A day on which God would renew of His promises to His people. A day on which there would be the reconciliation of the divisions that then existed between the southern tribes of Judah and the northern tribes of Israel. A day on which a king, who we saw would be the Messiah would be reinstated. A day on which Israel would return to her land. As we saw, these were all, in that three-verse section between verse section of chapter one and chapter two, we saw that these were all future-oriented prophecies which will one day come to fruition in the future Millennial Kingdom of the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the World, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then, the scene turned negative once again, a couple weeks ago when we looked at Hosea 2:2-13. There we saw Yahweh, through the lens of the broken nuptials of Hosea and Gomer portraying the judgment He was about to bring on His people Israel. That section, Hosea 2:2, began with these words from Hosea to Gomer in Hosea 2:2. “Contend with your mother, contend,” it says, “for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.” Now things have gotten so bad at that point between Hosea and Gomer that he didn’t even deliver this message directly to her. Rather, like a couple in a custody dispute he had the kids deliver the message to her on his behalf. After that we saw God proceeded to issue threat upon threat against His people of judgment that would come upon them in the future. They were all marked with these words “I will.” Hosea 2:3, “I will strip her naked and expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, make her like desert land and slay her with thirst.” Hosea 2:6, “I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.” Hosea 2:9, “I will take back My grain at harvest time and My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.” Hosea 2:10, “I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her out of My hand.” Hosea 2:11, “I will also put an end to all her gaiety, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festal assemblies.” Hosea 2:12, “I will destroy her vines and fig trees.” Verse 13, “‘I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and her jewelry and follow her lovers.”
God was going to bring all of this judgment on Israel in this 8th century B.C. context because, ultimately, as we saw at the end of verse 13 God says “She forgot Me.” “She forgot Me.” Israel had forgotten the LORD.

As we saw last week, we turned the corner to verses 14-23 rounding out the rest of Hosea 2, we saw that God hadn’t forgotten Israel. She had forgotten Him but He hadn’t forgotten her. He hadn’t forgotten His bride. So, as we wrapped up Hosea 2 last Sunday evening we witnessed a rather stunning reversal as we worked through another series of “I will” statements. But this time these “I will” statements were coming from the lips of the Lord with this intent not to point to the judgment, the future judgment of His people, which still was coming by the way in the form of of Assyrian invaders. Instead, these “I will” statements, the ones we saw last week, were rooted in God’s tenderness toward His people. His care for His people. His love for His people which would be displayed most poignantly in Israel’s glorious future.

In that section of Hosea, last week’s section we saw, God say these words, “I will allure her.” “I will give her her vineyards from there.” “I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth.”
“I will also make a covenant for them.” “I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land.” “I will betroth you to Me.” “I will sow her for Myself in the land.” “I will have compassion on her.” “I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’” On a future day the blemished bride, Israel, would be wooed again, brought back, and made God’s own once more.

Well, that day hasn’t yet come. We still sit here today in the year 2022 in this parenthetical period known as the church age. To this day, Israel is still stiff-necked, and rebellious, and apostate. Christian preachers like me are called to preach texts like the one we’ll be in tonight to saints like you as we all wait for the appearing of not only Israel’s blessed hope, but ours. The Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, our text for tonight takes us one last time into the life of Hosea and Gomer. We’re going to encounter one last time this unlikely marriage and what it portrays about the marriage between Yahweh and Israel. Let’s look at our text for this evening. That would be Hosea chapter 3, and it’s a shorter chapter so we’ll do the whole chapter tonight, Hosea 3:1-5. Hosea 3:1 God’s word reads, “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.’ So, I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and half of barley. Then I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so, I will also be toward you.’ For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.” This passage breaks down neatly into three sections. Section 1 is verse 1 where we see love expressed. Section 2 is verses 2-3 where we see redemption pictured. Section 3 is verses 4 and 5 where we see restoration promised.

Let’s jump right in with verse 1, where we see love expressed. So, it’s love expressed, verse 1, redemption pictured, verses 2 and 3, restoration promised, verses 4 and 5. In verse 1, we see love expressed. I will read it again. It says, “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.’ Here we go again.

Last time, we saw Gomer and Hosea receding from the scene and we saw Yahweh providing positive words of encouragement about this future hope for Israel. Here, though we’re back to the spotlight again being placed on Hosea and Gomer and this passage, what it does is it jerks the hearer back to the sinful realities of the present, there in the 8th century B.C.; and what this troubled and tumultuous relationship between Hosea and his bride illustrates about the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. Here in verse 1, though, the focus is exclusively on Hosea and Gomer and right away we see these words, it says, “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Go again’.” Now, again back in Hosea 1:2 at the start of this section of Hosea’s prophecy we encountered these words. Hosea 1:2 where it says, “The LORD said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry.’” But now in Hosea 3:1, it’s not “the LORD said to Hosea,” it’s rather, “the LORD said to me.” Hosea is now recounting this event in the first person, then comes this command. “Go again.” The first time in Hosea 1:2 the command was “Go” and we saw there that his obedience, Hosea’s obedience, to that command was immediate. After we saw the word “Go” we saw the words in verse 3, “So he went.” Now, the command in Hosea 3:1 is to “Go again.” Hosea’s devotion to God is being tested yet again because he was, as the text here says, he was to “love a woman who is being loved by her husband, yet an adulteress.”

“Love a woman”? Which woman? Who is this woman? Is it Gomer? Is it someone else? Now though this “woman” is not directly identified here as “Gomer” we can still safely surmise that this is, in fact, Gomer. The same “woman” we’ve been talking about all along in chapters 1-2. There are at least a couple of reasons why can arrive safely at this conclusion, that this woman here in 3:1 is Gomer. First, the analogy of what is being communicated here requires it. Rember it was Israel who stood in the relation of “wife” to Yahweh, from beginning to end. No other nation, no other “wife,” was in the same relation to God. So, if this “woman” here in Hosea 3:1 was someone other than Gomer it would actually ruin the analogy that this section of Hosea’s prophecy is attempting to develop. Unless the “woman” here was Hosea’s wife there would be no point in comparing his love for her with that of Yahweh toward idolatrous Israel.

Second, the command here is not to “take” as it was back in Hosea 1 when Gomer was not yet his wife. Here, the command is to “love.” “To love.” To receive one who is already his through marriage back into his house so that he can provide for her. Those are evidences, those are thoughts that point to this “woman” in verse 1 being Hosea’s wife, meaning, Gomer, not just some random woman.

Then we get this curveball when God tells Hosea here to “love a woman who is being loved by her husband, yet an adulteress.” Now when we first see that language, in the NASB, it can be a little perplexing because on the surface it appears to be saying that Hosea was to love a woman, Gomer, who was being loved by her husband. In fact, isn’t that what it literally says there on the page of your NAS translations? Well, Gomer’s husband was no other than who? Hosea! So how was that supposed to work? Here’s the answer. The Hebrew word for “husband,” “rea” has multiple different meanings and usages. It can mean not only “husband.” It can mean “companion,” it can mean “friend,” it can mean “paramour.” It can mean “lover.” In fact, if you survey the few different translations that are out there and how they handle this passage you see the range of meaning that’s out there. The NKJV renders this passage “love a woman who is loved by a lover.” The NIV says, “though she is loved by another.” The KJV renders it “a woman beloved of her friend.” The ESV says “go again, love a woman who is loved by another man.” The new Legacy Standard Bible says, “go again, love a woman who is loved by her companion.” The TEV, Today’s English Version, says “a woman who is committing adultery with a lover.” The CEV, the Contemporary English Version, says “an unfaithful woman who has a lover.” And then, again, the NAS says, “love a woman who is being loved by her husband.” I favor the translation of this Hebrew word “rea” cannot be be “husband” as we see here in the NAS but rather one of the “lover” translations. The “paramour” translation that we see in some of the other translations because I think it more faithfully represents the context of what’s happening here in this passage. Including the fact that the words that follow are these, “yet an adulteress.” This rendering, to say “love a woman who is loved by her lover” it also fits more readily with writings of other prophets who in describing similar settings and situations this spiritual adultery they were proclaiming God’s word against, they would use that same translation “lover.” In fact, to see what I mean go with me over to Jeremiah chapter 3, Jeremiah 3. Jeremiah’s of course writing to the southern tribes in a similar time period as Hosea, and he has a similar concern for the people of Judah, and we’ll see the NAS here translate it “lover.” The same word. Look at Jeremiah 3:1 it says “God says if a husband divorces his wife, and she goes from him and belongs to another man will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a harlot with,” here’s the word, “many lovers yet you turn to Me, declares the Lord.” Or look down at verse 20 of the same chapter. Jeremiah 3:20. It says, “surely as a woman treacherously departs from her,” here’s the word, “lover so you have dealt treacherously with Me oh house of Israel, declares the Lord.” That I believe is the most accurate rendering of what we see here in Hosea 3:1, is that Gomer is now loved by another man, another lover, which makes her as we see her in verse 1, “yet an adulteress.” The point is that she’s gone from being a prostitute to being Hosea’s wife to now being an adulteress. Which, by the way, was a crime punishable by death under the old Law.

Now can you imagine Hosea’s thought process at this point? “This is the one you paired me with, God?” “This is the one you directed me to marry?” “She already had an unsavory trade before I met her and now that I’ve married her she’s gone and ran off with another man.” But we must remember that all that Hosea was going through with Gomer though these real events which were surely inflicting real pain upon this real prophet of God. These were ultimately picturing and illustrating God’s relationship with Israel. We see that at the end of verse 1 after it says “Go, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress,” look what it says next. “Even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel though they turned to other gods and loved raisin cakes.” There we have it. There’s the link. Hosea is not only to “go and take” this woman in marriage. He already did that back in chapter 1, verse 3. He is to “go and love” this woman though she’s showing this love to another man. Hosea is to “go and love” her “even as the LORD loves,” it says, “the sons of Israel.” This otherwise inexplicable love the prophet had toward his faithless wife corresponded, as a type to the love of God toward faithless, idolatrous Israel, “even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel.” The LORD told Hosea here to “love” and devote himself to his adulterous wife once more. A woman who was sexually stained. A woman of subordinate social status. A woman who was damaged goods. Hosea was to do so knowing that his love for Gomer would showcase God’s love for Israel even though this people was idolatrous and disgraceful and stiff-necked and stubborn and unworthy.

Verse 1 then ends with these words, “even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” First, is this reference to Israel “turning to” other gods, those words “turn to” are an idiom representing apostasy. They’re speaking of apostasy. We see that same phrase used in places like Leviticus 20:6 which says, “As for the person who turns to mediums and spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person.” Or Deuteronomy 31:18 says, “But I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to,” same word, “other gods.” Israel had, in fact, turned to other gods. Going back to their days of wandering on the peninsula at Sinai God had warned them. All the way back then, Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods.” He warned them again in Deuteronomy 5:7 “You shall have no other gods.” Now, in Hosea 3:1 they were doing the very thing He proscribed. “They were turning to other gods.”

There’s this seemingly out-of-the-blue reference in the midst of this mention of this of Israel’s infidelity of “raisin cakes.” Why are we talking about “raisin cakes,” Hosea? Why this leap from adultery to “raisin cakes”? Well, “raisin cakes” were sweets in these days that were made of pressed, dried grapes, they were prized as a delicacy at this time. However, though the cakes themselves were sweet the purposes for which they were used were not. See, by Hosea’s time “raisin cakes” had become a part of the normal part of the offerings that were offered up to these false idols, these false gods. These raisin cases were feasted on when there would be this dedicated time of worship of the false idols.

On first glance, it sort of seems a little ridiculous thing to highlight raisin cakes. But I think that’s the point here. Hosea here is highlighting how ridiculous it is that the people of Israel were choosing to worship Baal because of the sweet cakes that were offered to them in the process of their false worship. They were taking in these sweet cakes offered to Baal when they failed to recognize as Hosea 2:8 points out that it was actually Yahweh who was supplying them with all of their needs, not just their raisin cakes. But their grain, their wine, their silver, their gold, their oil, and every other thing that sustained their very lives.

Now, as we get ready to move on from verse 1 I do want you to note this four-fold repetition of the word “love” here in verse 1. We see the verb love four times describing different people, different things, different objects, all in this one verse. I’ll read the verse again just to set the context. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet and adulterous even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” The Hebrew verb to love is “ahav.” It occurs four times right as we’ve just read dominating the vocabulary. It’s clearly the theme of what’s happening in that passage. That Hebrew verb “to love” has a wider range of meaning than our English term “to love.” The Hebrew term encompasses divine love, parental love, general human social love, romantic love, all of them. What we’ve seen here in verse 1 is different usages of that word “ahav” “to love” being used. Hosea “loves” his wife, but his adulterous wife, Gomer, “loves” other men, evil. Yahweh “loves” Israel, but Israel “loves” raisin cakes. Doesn’t that sound so silly? That’s exactly what’s being portrayed. The incongruity is obvious and it’s outrageous. Both “brides” pictured here, Israel and Gomer don’t deserve the love they’ve been shown. But they get it anyway.

Let’s move on to verse 2-3 where we see redemption pictured, redemption pictured. Hosea here is still writing in the first person and now he says these words. He says, “So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and half of barley. Then I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so, I will also be toward you.’” The language should sound familiar to you if you’ve been tracking with us in this study through Hosea so far because there’s that parallel again going back to Hosea 1. Remember that command in Hosea 1:2: “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry”, and now we see here in 1:3 it says, “he went and took Gomer.” Immediate action. No complaints. No delay. That’s what we saw back in chapter 1. Faithful and immediate obedience to the command of God. Borrowing from this morning’s sermon in James, Hosea was not just “quick to hear,” he was “quick to do.” Now look at Hosea again in chapter 3. It says “go love a woman” in verse 1, and what does it say in verse 2? “So, I bought her.” “Go love a woman.” “So, I bought her.” Immediate obedience once again. Just as he immediately obeyed back in chapter 1 Hosea is now showcasing for us immediate obedience in chapter 3. Note that his response here to God’s command in 3:1 was not something like, “OK, God you said I need to go love a woman, so I love her now.” Is that okay with You? “Just like you said I should I love her now.” No. He didn’t want to just say the right thing to get himself out of a situation he didn’t want to be in. No, actually it’s quite the contrary. He ran right into the situation. He obeyed the Lord, and he bought back his bride. “So, I bought her.”

With those words “So I bought her” we immediately learn how far Hosea’s adulterous wife had fallen. How tightly she was gripped not only by her own sin but apparently by someone else who now laid claim to own her. We aren’t given the exact reason here as to why she had to be bought back. Was she indebted? Was she now a slave? Was she now back to being a prostitute and it was now her owner who needed to be paid? Was this compensation that needed to be paid to her lover? We aren’t given those details here. But we are given the purchase price, in verse 2, “fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and half of barley.” The purchase price that’s recorded here “fifteen shekels of silver” plus the “homer and a half” meaning roughly 9 ½ bushels of barley matches up with the purchase price of a common slave back in these days. So, it does appear that Gomer had somehow managed to sell herself into slavery. Whether that meant she was back to prostituting herself or whether that means she sold herself to that singular “lover” that she now had of verse 1 is not obvious from the text. Another thing that’s not given, another detail that’s not given is how Hosea felt about this whole ordeal. But it’s hard not to think about it ourselves. What this must have been like for him. To be in Hosea’s situation, to go through this emotional turmoil and angst the situation must have cost him in that way. I mean imagine Hosea walking up to the front door of whoever it was she was now with and giving that man as he opened the door the customary Israelite greeting and explaining who he was. Explaining what he was there to do. Peering over the shoulder of that man in the doorway to see if his wife might be back there somewhere, to see if he could spot his wayward wife. Then, imagine Hosea kind of turning around and sort of rummaging through his money sack to reach in for the fifteen shekels of silver and then motioning behind him to the nine bushels of barley on the cart behind him and making his offer and swallowing his pride and saying, “excuse me sir, I’d like to buy my wife back.” After all Gomer had done to Hosea. After all the pain and heartache and turmoil she had caused him. We see here in verse 2 love in action. Love expressed.

Now I know that this is a text about Hosea and Gomer. I know, zooming out a bit, that this a text and this is a book, about Israel and God. I know that we are a church of Jesus Christ. I know that this text is not about the church of Jesus Christ. I know that this text in Hosea 3 this is not about Christians. I know that this text is not about the church. I know that Hosea could have never imagined that people in a place called Lincoln, Nebraska nearly 3,000 years after his prophecy would one day be learning about his story. But it’s impossible to ignore some of the parallels between what we see here in Hosea’s “redemption” of Gomer and Christ’s “redemption” of the Christians in this room. Hosea purchased Gomer with silver and barley. Christ purchased us with His precious blood. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Both then and now God loves His people. Both then and now God shows a willingness to purchase His people. And both then and now God restores His people to Himself.

Getting back to the setting of Hosea look at what comes next, in verse 3. It says, “Then I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so, I will also be toward you.’” With this verse we’re, if I can say it this way, we’re able to sort of listen in on the awkward car ride conversation between Hosea and Gomer on the way home after he’s paid the price. He’s just purchased her. He’s just bought her back under the most humiliating circumstances. She’s not only a proven prostitute she’s a proven adulteress. Hosea, while surely spent emotionally from all of this is now also very much financially worse off for it too.

Now under the Mosaic law of this time Hosea owned Gomer. She was his property, and he was free to do with her what he pleased keeping in mind that she was already guilty of a capital offense through her adultery. So, she’s already on very thin ice and now Hosea addresses her. By the way, this is the only time in this book that we see Hosea speaking directly to his wife. Remember back in Hosea 2:2, he spoke through his children to their mother. Now we see him for this one and only time speaking directly to his wayward wife, this is what he says in verse 3, “‘You shall stay with me,” says Hosea, “for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so, I will also be toward you.’” Hosea here is saying to Gomer now that she has been bought back that her sinful life is over. Her days of prostitution and adultery are now done. She would remain at home with him, isolated from all possible lovers, all possible sources of sexual immorality. Hosea was going to enforce her chastity and she had no say in the matter. That’s all very clear from what he says here in verse 3, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man.”

With these new “house rules” by the way, though we haven’t quite gotten there yet, we’re already starting to see not only what will be in store for a reclaimed and bought-back Gomer but for a reclaimed and bought-back Israel when God brings that apostate nation back and causes her to walk in an entirely different manner of living. In Hosea’s case, the new rules he was laying down by the way, they were not meant to harm Gomer or to be unduly restrictive toward her. Rather, they were designed to protect her. To reform her. To transform her. To purify her all because Hosea loved her. So, it was and so it is with God and His relationship toward Israel. Yahweh is a jealous God, and He wants to see Israel, His bride, purified. To be purely His which ultimately is for her own good. There are these few additional words that we have to reckon with here at the end of verse 3 first where he says “so I will also be toward you.’” Now a lot of ink has been spilled over the years over the meaning of those words, “so I will also be toward you.’” I take the plain meaning here. Just as Gomer would not be allowed to “play the harlot” or “have a man” as it says, meaning, a man that’s not her husband, a man that’s not Hosea. Hosea is saying “Nor will you have me,” meaning, sexually. “During this same season, Gomer, “that you are prohibited from having intimate sexual relations” “with men who are not your husband,” “you will also be prohibited from having sexual relations” “with the one whom you were designed to have sexual relations with, your husband.” Meaning, total 180 here. Gomer has now been brought from a lifestyle of prostitution to a lifestyle of adultery to, now, a sexless marriage. She’s been taken from one extreme all the way to the other.

Now you might be thinking to yourself because you’ve all read the bible, you’ve read all the way through. You’ve gotten to the end of the book and the end of the story, the New Testament. You’re thinking didn’t Paul say something about this? This whole, like depriving one another in 1 Corinthians 7 that spouses are not to deprive each other of the very sexual relations that now Hosea is saying he’s going to deprive Gomer of? Yes, Paul did say that. To Christians. Let’s not read the New Testament back into the pages of the Old. Let’s realize that the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old and it’s not the lens through which we interpret the Old. We don’t read Scripture backwards. We read it forward, progressively, from Old to New. All of which is to say Hosea here did not have in mind what Paul would later say in 1 Corinthians 7 when he said what he said here to Gomer. Rather, what we see here in Hosea 3:3, is another illustration of the broader principle that we’re going to see developed in verse 4 which is that just as Gomer was to abstain from her physically adulterous ways now that she had been bought back to Hosea, Israel was to abstain its spiritually adulterous ways once she was bought back to God. In other words, as is true of much of what we see here in this rocky union between Hosea and Gomer, their relationship is painting a picture of these broader truths involving relationship between God and Israel. For Gomer that meant there would be no more prostitution, no more adultery, no more illicit relationships. For Israel that meant there would be no more toxic cocktails where they mix together worship of God, worship of Baal, and worship of various deities.

That takes us by the way right into our third point for this evening, and the final two verses of Hosea 3, verses 4-5, where we see restoration promised. Restoration promised. Look at verses 4 and 5. It says, “For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.” Here, we see an obvious transition in terms of the characters involved. It’s an obvious transition in terms of where we are now on the timeline of events being recorded here. Whereas in verses 1-3, the focus was on Hosea and Gomer and their very bumpy marriage some 750 years, by the way, before the birth of Christ. Now, in verses 4 and 5, the focus is on God and Israel and their coming reunion on a date only God knows on the other side of the cross of Christ. This is future grace expressed.
It begins with these words here in verse 4 which are words of purging, purification, and cleansing. Verse 4, “For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols.” Just as Gomer would be without the things that pleased her most, forbidden lovers, and sensuality, and sex for sale.

Israel was facing a time in its history in which it would be without the things that pleased it the most. Political stability, and religious syncretism. See the limitations placed here upon Gomer in verse 3, that she “not play the harlot.” That she not “have a man” as it says, as she was progressively purged of her various vices. Those run in parallel to the limitations that were to be placed on Israel in the years that would follow Hosea’s prophetic ministry. “When the sons,” as it says, “of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols.” Just as the very things that led Gomer astray, other lovers she would have no more. The very things that led Israel astray, her craving for political leadership, her drift toward false worship, she would have no more.

What was it that Israel would be deprived of in the years following Hosea’s prophetic warning here as they faced plunder and exile at the hand of the Assyrians? Well verse 4 tells us. First they’d be deprived of “King or prince.” Second they’d be deprived of sacrifices or “sacred pillars.” Third, they’d be deprived of ephods and household idols. Let’s work through each one of those. Let’s start with Israel being deprived of “king or prince.” A time was coming in Israel’s future history where Israel would have no king. Again, we’re in Hosea’s context here, 750 B.C.. There is a king in Israel at that time though a bad one. What he’s telling the people now is there’s coming a day when there would be no king. Now long before Hosea’s day Israel, as we know, had clamored for a king. Going all the way back to the days of Samuel and the Judges Israel wanted to be like all the cool kids, the nations that had kings. Eventually, God gave them their king. He gave them Saul. Then they had David. Then they had Solomon. It didn’t take long upon Solomon’s death for Israel, the kingdom to split in two; for it to be ruled by and large whether in the north or in the south by wicked kings. Though there were those kings who displayed relative goodness during that period of the divided kingdom, by and large that phase of Israel’s history was one of progressive moral and spiritual decay. All the way up to the day on which the final king in the north, Hoshea, not to be confused with Hosea, in 722 B.C. and the final king in the south Zedekiah who was toppled by the Babylonians in 586 B.C… bad king after bad king after bad king.

Now, writing in or around 750 B.C. from the northern kingdom of Israel, Hosea here is predicting a day that is coming where Israel will have no king. Their period, their history of self-rule will come to an end as another nation, Assyria, comes in to invade and topple the kingdom of Israel. That’s what’s underlying Hosea here saying, “they will remain for many days without a king.” By the way. Israel is in those days now, since the days of Hoshea, since the days of Zedekiah, they have had no king. To borrow from the book of Judges, there was no king, “there is no king in Israel.”

Verse 4 also says they will have no “prince.” Hosea 3:4, “They’ll be without king or prince.” That word for “prince” can be used to refer broadly to any male member of a royal family. It has wider connotations of a male figure in authority. It could be a chief, or a leader, or an official, or an officer. The idea here is “prince” is linked grammatically to the word “king.” So, the statement taken in its entirety “without king or prince,” what it’s really doing is pointing to that day when there will be a military defeat for Israel. A time through which Israel’s basic institutions will be taken away. Where her national sovereignty or her social infrastructure is eliminated as she is taken away, carted off, into exile.

Next, we’re told Israel will be left “without sacrifice or sacred pillar.” So, she’ll be without “king or prince” but also “without sacrifice or sacred pillar.” The word here for “sacrifice” is the regular term we would think of for an offering under the Old Testament system. “Sacrifices,” of course, were a legitimate and indeed, mandated form of Israelite worship in these days. The problem was that by the time of Hosea’s day what otherwise were these legitimately prescribed “sacrifices” had become contaminated by their association with the false worship of Baal. Which is also brought out with the reference to the “sacred pillars.” There’ll be without sacrifice or sacred pillar. The “sacred pillars” were pagan stone pillars which had been carried over from the false Canaanite religion of the land. Those were used, these sacred pillars, these stone pillars, to venerate and worship Baal. These pillars were often adjacent to the wooden poles that were used to worship Asherah, the female fertility goddess of the Canaanites.

By condemning both “sacrifice” and “sacred pillars” here in verse 4, what God is ultimately condemning here is religious syncretism. The mixing of darkness with light. The mixing of evil with good which He has always hated and condemned. Our God is a consuming fire. He’s a God who demands pure and wholly devoted worship. He will not share His glory with another. Continuing with this theme of Hosea’s foreseeing the collapse of Israel’s entire religious life both orthodox and otherwise, we’re told here in verse 4 that they would also be “without ephod or household idols.” Now, originally the ephod was worn. It was like a breastplate for the old Aaronic priests. They would wear it and it would contain in it a pocket for the Urim and the Thummim which were those light and dark dice that revealed “yes” or “no” answer to allow you to discern, back in those days God’s will and importantly then, to do God’s will. It was a prescribed originally and allowed form of garments for priests. By the time of Hosea’s day, many, many centuries later the ephod had no connection to that old practice of seeking and knowing and doing God’s will. Instead, it had become just a form, a ritual, a garment that was superstitiously worn as a part of pagan divination practices that were practiced in the land. The same with the “household gods.” Just as it sounds, “household gods” were used for similar purposes, cultic divination. Put them on your mantel, put them on your fireplace, put them next to your bed. You just sort of figure out what they’re saying to you about what god’s will for your life is.

The main idea, Israel, by this point in Hosea’s ministry, had begun mixing the holy with the forbidden. It had adulterated. It had polluted its religion. Now exile was coming their way. It was all going to be taken away from them. The kings and princes. The sacrifices and sacred pillars. The ephods and household gods. It was all going to be wiped away.

And now we come to verse 5. With all of the bleakness that we’ve already seen in this book I want you to allow this word, this first word in verse 5 to sink in. “Afterward.” “Afterword” meaning, after their “many days without king or prince.” After their many days without a sacrifice or pillar. Without the ephod or idols. After everything was going to be taken away from the Israelites it says in verse 5, “The sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.” Here in verse 5, we are looking through the lens of God’s long eschatological telescope. We’re looking past the period described now in verse 4 that we just went through. We’re looking past Israel’s upcoming period of exile. We’re looking past their eventual partial return to their land. We’re looking past the one-day arrival of their Messiah on earth, Jesus of Nazareth. We’re looking past their rejection of their Messiah. We’re looking past the period of being temporarily cut off. We’re looking past the present period in which the Gentiles would be grafted in the present church age. We’re looking past the period of tribulation that will occur on the earth when Christ takes His church out of this world through the rapture. We’re looking to the return of Christ the King, Christ their Messiah to this earth when He returns to the same place from which He departed. At that point, Hosea 3:5 says, “The sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king.” Meaning Israel will one day repent of her sin and seek the Lord in trembling. Israel will do so by turning to her Messiah, the ultimate Davidic king, Jesus, who is the Christ. That didn’t happen in Hosea’s day. That didn’t happen in Jesus’ day. That hasn’t happened in our day. That instead will happen, as it says at the end of verse 5, look at those last four words, “in the last days.” Which here, in context, with all that we see elsewhere in scripture, is referring to Israel’s future reception of Christ at His second coming as He ushers in His millennial reign. As He reigns over the earth from David’s throne. No longer, at that point, will Israel be whoring after stone pillars or household gods. No longer will Israel be cut off or distant from Yahweh. Israel at that point will finally worship the One that’s been promised to them. The One who came for them. The One who received scorn from them. The One who was put to death by them. Christ their King. With that, verse 5 closes with these words: “They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.” Israel “will come trembling to the LORD.” In a way similar to how we all come trembling to Him. When the scales fall off our eyes. When we recognize that unbridgeable chasm that exists between us sinful people and a thrice-holy God. And when we recognize that, for some reason through an otherwise inexplicable display of His grace and mercy and love God saw fit to bridge that chasm through the atoning work of death of Jesus Christ on the cross so that we might be reconciled to Him.

Just as we’ve all, in this room, experienced, if we’ve trusted in Christ, a holy sense of awe when we came to know in a saving way. To know the God, we once were in rebellion against. Just as it caused us to “tremble at His goodness” Israel will on her upcoming day of repentance tremble, “come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness.”

Which takes us all the way back. Turn with me if you will to Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy 4, again, written some six hundred and fifty years before what we’ve worked through here tonight, in Hosea. Deuteronomy 4:27. “The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you. There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all of your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you,” get this, “in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” There we have it. “In the latter days” Israel will return to the LORD her God and heed His voice. The whole history of Israel up to this point had been a trail of defection, sin, and apostasy. Yet God had not given her up. God still hasn’t given her up. Here’s how Harry Ironside, in his commentary on Hosea, sums up our passage for tonight. He says, “This,” Hosea 3, “will be the fulfilment of that to which all the prophets have looked forward, when Israel’s wanderings shall be over, their sins blotted out, themselves renewed, and a kingdom confirmed to them. In that day Jesus will be King over all the earth, sitting upon the throne of His father David, and reigning in glorious power and majesty.” On that day when Christ ushers in His Kingdom here on the earth, as He returns here with His Bride, the church, the days of Israel’s mourning will come to an end. The days of Messiah’s glory will arrive. What a great and glorious future for the people of Israel. What a great reminder for us, we who make up the church today. And what a great and faithful God that we’ll all have the privilege of worshiping together, forever.

Let’s pray. God thank you so much for Your word. Thank you for the rich storehouse of the truth that word contains. We are immanently privileged to be Your people. That’s all because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world. We are privileged to have this position where we sit here in this phase of history for You as Gentiles having been grafted into Your overall plans of redemption. What marvelous grace You’ve shown us. What marvelous patience You’ve shown us. What marvelous patience You’ve shown Your original people, Israel. God I pray that we would come away this evening with a renewed appreciation for Your patience, for Your mercy, for Your kindness, for Your grace in each of our lives. I pray that we would take the lessons from real people, real figures from history, people like Hosea and Gomer and seek to apply the truths that are admirable in them. Like Hosea with his relentless love in pursuit of his bride. Help us to have that sort of love and model that sort of love in the lives that we now live remembering that that’s a love that You showed to Israel as You pursued her and continue to pursue her and it’s also a love that You’ve shown us in the church. God thank you for this day. Thank you that we’ve had the privilege today to gather around Your word both morning and evening, to unpack it, to learn from it, to grown through it. May the word that we’ve received today transform us and change us to be more like Your Son Jesus. Help us to honor Him this week. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.