The Father Redeems His Beloved
Our Father tells Hosea to go and love an adulterous woman again, and he buys her back for silver and barley. She is to stay with him without other men for a long, plain stretch, matching Israel's coming years without king, sacrifice or idol before they return.
3 1Our Father told me again: "Go, love a woman loved by another, an adulterous woman—like your Father loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." a a v1 Raisin cakes were sweet offerings used in pagan fertility worship; Israel's love for them pictures spiritual unfaithfulness.
2So I bought her back for myself: fifteen pieces of silver and about nine bushels of barley. b b v2 The silver and grain together came to about the price of a slave; Hosea pays to win back his own unfaithful wife — a picture of our Father redeeming the children who left him. 3Then I said to her, "Stay with me many days: don't prostitute yourself, don't belong to another man—and I'll do the same for you."
4The children of Israel will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or household idols. c c v4 An ephod was a priestly garment used to seek God's guidance; its absence signals complete loss of access to him. 5Afterward Israel's people will return, seek their Father and David their king, and come trembling to our Father and his goodness in the last days. d d v5 The promised David who will reign is Jesus, the Son raised up from David's line — the king his returning children come home to.
