LOVE THAT RESTORES SINNERS

Passage: Hosea 3:1-5

Key verse: 1b

NIV

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.(A) Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.(B)”

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels[a] of silver and about a homer and a lethek[b] of barley. 3 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 behave the same way toward you.”

4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,(C) without sacrifice(D) or sacred stones,(E) without ephod(F) or household gods.(G) 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek(H) the Lord their God and David their king.(I) They will come trembling(J) to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.(K)

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Footnotes
  1. Hosea 3:2 That is, about 6 ounces or about 170 grams
  2. Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek possibly weighed about 430 pounds or about 195 kilograms.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway

ESV

Hosea Redeems His Wife

3 And the Lord said to me, (A)“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a (B)homer and a lethech[a] of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must (C)dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel (D)shall dwell many days (E)without king or prince, (F)without sacrifice or (G)pillar, without (H)ephod or (I)household gods. 5 Afterward (J)the children of Israel shall return and (K)seek the Lord their God, and (L)David their king, (M)and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the (N)latter days.

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Footnotes
  1. Hosea 3:2 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; a lethech was about 3 bushels or 110 liters
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Source: BibleGateway
1. Though she is an adulteress (1-3) God commanded Hosea to do something very difficult. His wife had left him and sought other lovers and had become a slave. God told Hosea to buy her back from slavery, take her into his home, and love her again. This was a concrete expression of God's forgiving, redeeming love for Israel and for all of us sinners. We can learn such love through practicing forgiveness and restoration in our own lives. 2. They will seek the Lord and his king (4-5) Hosea's estrangement from his wife, followed by their reconciliation, mirrored the salvation history of Israel. God made Israel suffer many years without a king and without the temple worship, so that they might earnestly seek God with their hearts. Then they would be ready to humbly receive God's outpoured blessings; they would be ready to receive their true Lord and King, Jesus the Messiah.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the trials in my life that have made me return to you. Help me to practice your amazing restorative love.

One Word: God's love redeems lost sinners