1Und Jehova sprach zu mir: Gehe wiederum hin, liebe ein Weib, das von ihrem Freunde geliebt wird und Ehebruch treibt: wie Jehova die Kinder Israel liebt, welche sich aber zu anderen Göttern hinwenden und Traubenkuchen lieben. 2Und ich kaufte sie mir für fünfzehn Silbersekel und einen Homer Gerste und einen Letech Gerste. 3Und ich sprach zu ihr: Du sollst mir viele Tage also bleiben, du sollst nicht huren und keines Mannes sein; und so werde auch ich dir gegenüber tun. 4Denn die Kinder Israel werden viele Tage ohne König bleiben und ohne Fürsten, und ohne Schlachtopfer und ohne Bildsäule , und ohne Ephod und Teraphim. 5Danach werden die Kinder Israel umkehren und Jehova, ihren Gott, und David, ihren König, suchen; und sie werden sich zitternd wenden zu Jehova und zu seiner Güte am Ende der Tage.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 ISRAEL'S CONDITION IN THEIR PRESENT DISPERSION, SUBSEQUENT TO THEIR RETURN FROM BABYLON, SYMBOLIZED. (
Ос 3:1-
Ос 3:5)
The prophet is to take back his wife, though unfaithful, as foretold in
Ос 1:2. He purchases her from her paramour, stipulating she should wait for a long period before she should be restored to her conjugal rights. So Israel is to live for a long period without her ancient rites of religion, and yet be free from idolatry; then at last she shall acknowledge Messiah, and know Jehovah's goodness restored to her.
Go yet--"Go again," referring to
Ос 1:2 [HENDERSON].
a woman--purposely indefinite, for thy wife, to express the separation in which Hosea had lived from Gomer for her unfaithfulness.
beloved of her friend--used for "her husband," on account of the estrangement between them. She was still beloved of her husband, though an adulteress; just as God still loved Israel, though idolatrous (
Иер 3:20). Hosea is told, not as in
Ос 1:2, "take a wife," but "love" her, that is, renew thy conjugal kindness to her.
who look to other gods--that is, have done so heretofore, but henceforth (from the return from Babylon) shall do so no more (
Ос 3:4).
flagons of wine--rather, pressed cakes of dried grapes, such as were offered to idols (
Иер 7:18) [MAURER].
2 I bought her--The price paid is too small to be a probable dowry wherewith to buy a wife from her parents; but it is just half the price of a female slave, in money, the rest of the price being made up in grain (
Исх 21:32). Hosea pays this for the redemption of his wife, who has become the slave of her paramour. The price being half grain was because the latter was the allowance of food for the slave, and of the coarsest kind, not wheat, but barley. Israel, as committing sin, was the slave of sin (
Ин 8:34;
Рим 6:16-
Рим 6:20;
2Пет 2:19). The low price expresses Israel's worthlessness.
3 abide for me--separate from intercourse with any other man, and remaining for me who have redeemed thee (compare
Втор 21:13).
so will I also be for thee--remain for thee, not taking any other consort. As Israel should long remain without serving other gods, yet separate from Jehovah; so Jehovah on His part, in this long period of estrangement, would form no marriage covenant with any other people (compare
Ос 3:4). He would not immediately receive her to marriage privileges, but would test her repentance and discipline her by the long probation; still the marriage covenant would hold good, she was to be kept separated for but a time, not divorced (
Ис 50:1); in God's good time she shall be restored.
4 The long period here foretold was to be one in which Israel should have no civil polity, king, or prince, no sacrifice to Jehovah, and yet no idol, or false god, no ephod, or teraphim. Exactly describing their state for the last nineteen centuries, separate from idols, yet without any legal sacrifice to Jehovah, whom they profess to worship, and without being acknowledged by Him as His Church. So KIMCHI, a Jew, explains it. The ephod was worn by the high priest above the tunic and robe. It consisted of two finely wrought pieces which hung down, the one in front over the breast, the other on the back, to the middle of the thigh; joined on the shoulders by golden clasps set in onyx stones with the names of the twelve tribes, and fastened round the waist by a girdle (
Исх 28:6-
Исх 28:12). The common ephod worn by the lower priests, Levites, and any person performing sacred rites, was of linen (
2Цар 6:14;
1Пар 15:27). In the breast were the Urim and Thummim by which God gave responses to the Hebrews. The latter was one of the five things which the second temple lacked, and which the first had. It, as representing the divinely constituted priesthood, is opposed to the idolatrous "teraphim," as "sacrifice" (to Jehovah) is to "an (idolatrous) image." "Abide" answers to "thou shalt abide for me" (
Ос 3:3). Abide in solitary isolation, as a separated wife. The teraphim were tutelary household gods, in the shape of human busts, cut off at the waist (as the root of the Hebrew word implies) [MAURER], (
Быт 31:19,
Быт 31:30-
Быт 31:35). They were supposed to give responses to consulters (
4Цар 23:24;
Иез 21:21, Margin;
Зах 10:2). Saul's daughter, Michal, putting one in a bed, as if it were David, proves the shape to have been that of a man.
5 Afterward--after the long period ("many days,"
Ос 3:4) has elapsed.
return--from their idols to "their God," from whom they had wandered.
David their king--Israel had forsaken the worship of Jehovah at the same time that they forsook their allegiance to David's line. Their repentance towards God is therefore to be accompanied by their return to the latter. So Judah and Israel shall be one, and under "one head," as is also foretold (
Ос 1:11). That representative and antitype of David is Messiah. "David" means "the beloved." Compare as to Messiah,
Мф 3:17;
Еф 1:6. Messiah is called David (
Ис 55:3-
Ис 55:4;
Иер 30:9;
Иез 34:23-
Иез 34:24;
Иез 37:24-
Иез 37:25).
fear the Lord and his goodness--that is, tremblingly flee to the Lord, to escape from the wrath to come; and to His goodness," as manifested in Messiah, which attracts them to Him (
Иер 31:12). The "fear" is not that which "hath torment" (
1Ин 4:18), but reverence inspired by His goodness realized in the soul (
Псал 130:4).
the latter days--those of Messiah [KIMCHI].