Hosea 3, Buy Her Back

Hosea has married an unfaithful woman, who has children with him but still acts like a prostitute The woman represents unfaithful Israel,

Hosea 3:1-3, "Buy her back"

The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."  

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you."  

Hosea is instructed to go out and buy back his prostitute wife. He is to love her as if she had not turned away. So Hosea goes and purchases his wife, for fifteen shekels of silver and a large amount (about ten bushels) of barley. The reason for this purchase is unclear. Is it a bridal dowry (Wood) or the price for a slave (Kidner)? Is it the amount of a debt that the woman owes?

Hosea 3: 4-5, After the defeat, a return

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.   

The analogy is clear: just as Hosea is to woo his wife, YHWH is wooing Israel. But for a time, Isreal will live without a prince or king, without sacrifices or sacred stones, ephod or idol. Sacrifices and priests in the linen ephod (which would include the Urim and Thummim; see Exodus 28) were parts of righteous worship; sacred stones and idols part of sinful worship. In the future judgment for Israel, none of these will be available. But in a later Day, the people will return trembling to God and receive His blessings. As alson mentioned in Ezekiel 37:24, the new king in this later day will be David.

First published June 9, 2025; updated June 9, 2025