Resource Detail

2026 Hosea Lesson 3

GO, SHOW YOUR LOVE

Hosea 3:1-5

Key Verse: 3:1

1. What does the Lord command Hosea to do (1)? Why does this command sound shocking or unreasonable? What does it reveal about the nature of God’s love for Israel despite their unfaithfulness?
2. Why does Hosea have to pay a price to bring his wife back (2)? What does this tell us about the seriousness of her condition? How does Hosea’s action point to what Jesus has done for us?
3. Why do you think Hosea sets clear boundaries after bringing the woman back (3)? What does this passage teach us about the relationship between love and commitment?
4. Why does God remove Israel’s king, sacrifices, idols, and even religious structures (4)? How are God’s hope and faithfulness to restore Israel revealed in this passage (5)?
5. How does this passage challenge the way you understand God’s love, discipline, and faithfulness? What is one concrete way you can practice God’s love in your daily life this week?

2026 New Year Message Juan Seo (Feb 8, 2026)

GO, SHOW YOUR LOVE

Hosea 3:1-5

Key Verse 3:1

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

Today, we are resuming our study of the book of Hosea. Our passage is Hosea chapter 3. It’s a very short chapter—only five verses—but a beautiful gospel message is hidden in this chapter.

Please look at verse 1. “The Lord said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.’” From this verse, we learn that Gomer, Hosea’s wife, had left her husband and gone away from him. This immediately raises a question for us: why did Gomer leave Hosea? Verse 1 tells us that she was loved by another man. Some translations say that Hosea’s wife had a lover. In other words, Gomer left because she gave her heart to another man. She chose someone else over her own husband. She walked away from her marriage in order to live with her lover.

If you are a husband, imagine this: what if your wife left home because she fell in love with another man? How would you feel? Now, let me ask wives as well: what if your husband left you because he fell in love with another woman? How would that make you feel? I sincerely hope that nothing like this ever happens to anyone in our church. This should never happen. Some of you who are not married might be thinking, “This has nothing to do with me.” But imagine that the person you deeply love—your boyfriend or girlfriend—leaves you because they fall in love with someone else. How would you feel? We would be deeply wounded. We would be shocked. We would say, “How could my wife do this? How could my husband do this?” We would struggle to believe it. We would want to know if it is really true. Some people would start checking where their spouse goes, who they meet, and what they are hiding. They would secretly check their spouse’s smartphone. Others might go even further and hire a private investigator to find evidence. And once the truth is confirmed, anger would explode. In our modern world, people often respond by exposing everything—sharing evidence publicly—and then moving toward divorce. These kinds of stories are common in TV dramas, movies, and real life. But in Hosea’s time, the situation was even more serious. According to Jewish law, both the man and the woman caught in adultery were condemned to be stoned to death. When adultery happened, most people believed the law had to be enforced. That was considered justice. That was how social order was maintained.

But what does God command Hosea to do? God says to him, “Go, show your love to your wife again.” At first, this command sounds completely unreasonable. How could God say something like this? If we were in Hosea’s place, we would find this command impossible to understand. It would feel as if God didn’t understand our pain at all. But is that really true? Not at all. In fact, God understood Hosea’s heart better than anyone else. Why? Because God Himself was in the very same situation. God explains the meaning of His command: “Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” The relationship between Hosea and his wife represents the relationship between God and the people of Israel. God and Israel were bound together by a covenant, like a marriage covenant. God promised to protect them, to provide for them, and to bless them. And Israel promised to love God wholeheartedly and worship Him only. That was the covenant relationship they entered into. But Israel didn’t keep that covenant. Again and again, they broke it. They abandoned God and turned to the idols of Canaan. They worshiped Baal, the idol of prosperity, and Ashtoreth, the idol of pleasure. They trusted these idols more than they trusted God. They believed that these idols had the ability to make them successful and happy, while God was powerless.

Can you imagine how God’s heart must have felt? God’s heart was deeply wounded. He felt betrayed. He felt frustrated. And yet, God still loved the people He had chosen. Because God is faithful, He couldn’t abandon the people with whom He had made a covenant. He couldn’t simply let them walk toward destruction. So God decided to restore the broken relationship. Over and over again, God sent prophets to proclaim His love and to call the people back to God. He kept telling them, “Come back to me.” And now, through Hosea’s marriage, God shows His love in a visible and personal way. God humbly lowered Himself. He laid aside His pride, opened His arms, and pleaded with Israel to return.

How did Hosea respond to this command from God? Look at verse 2. “So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.” Hosea didn’t hesitate to go and seek his wife. Amazingly, he obeyed God’s command and went to bring her back. This was not an easy decision. It was a costly act of obedience. How was Hosea able to obey a command like this? It was because he understood God’s heart. He had taken God’s love deeply into his own heart. He understood that it was not only about his marriage, but about God’s love for His people. That is why Hosea was willing to use his own life as a message from God. Through his obedience, he wanted others to see what God’s love is really like.

But the passage says that Hosea paid fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley to bring his wife back. That raises a question. Why did Hosea have to pay to bring his wife home? The Bible doesn’t explain the details. Scripture is silent about Gomer’s situation. But one thing is very clear: Hosea had to pay a price to take her back. And from this, we can reasonably assume that Gomer had fallen into a state of slavery. Most likely, she had been put up for sale in the slave market. How did this happen? We just imagine what may have taken place. Gomer left her husband and went to the man she thought would make her happy. For a time, she may have enjoyed the wealth, attention, and pleasure that man provided. But as time passed, he grew tired of her. In reality, he never truly loved her. He only used her to satisfy his own desires. He was a cruel man who had no concern for her life. And when Gomer was no longer useful to him, he sold her. She was placed in the slave market.

Gomer’s condition—falling into slavery—makes us think about our own spiritual condition. Jesus says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Sometimes we take sin too lightly. We think it is not a big deal. But the moment we sin once, we often begin to sin again. And before we realize it, we become slaves to sin. Let me give you an example. A college student goes to a party, and a friend offers him drugs. Out of curiosity, he tries it once. He felt relaxed and at ease. Later, as exams approach and the stress builds, he turns to drugs again. Soon, he starts actively looking for drugs. Over time, he moves on to stronger substances—things like heroin—and eventually even fentanyl. At that point, he is no longer in control. He cannot stop. He loses his job. His relationships with his family fall apart. One day, he is rushed to the emergency room because of an overdose. His life collapsed, and everything feels hopeless. This kind of story is common in America. It happens all the time. And this pattern of addiction is not limited to drugs. It can also happen with gambling, gaming, or pornography. Sin works like a drug. It slowly takes away our freedom. In the end, it makes us slaves. The final destination of that road is death.

We see this same truth in the story of the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8. She lived in a society ruled by the law. She knew very well that if she was caught in adultery, she could be put to death by stoning. And yet, she still fell into that sin. Why? Because she was already a slave to sin. She had lost the freedom and the strength to do what was right. Even though she knew where that road would lead, she could not escape. She was trapped. That is what sin does. It blinds us. It binds us. It takes away our ability to choose what is good. And that is why a life enslaved by sin keeps moving toward destruction.

According to Exodus 21:32, the value of a slave was set at thirty shekels of silver. Some scholars point out that when you add the fifteen shekels of silver to the value of the barley Hosea paid, the total comes close to thirty shekels. Hosea did not have enough silver. He was not a wealthy man. To bring Gomer back, Hosea gave everything he had. The important point is this: Gomer was in a condition like that of a slave—she had lost her freedom. And in order to save her, Hosea had to pay with everything he had.

What Hosea did is called redemption. Redemption means buying someone back by paying a price. In the ancient world, if a family member became a slave because of debt, a close relative could pay the price to redeem them. Redemption was not just a financial transaction. It restored a relationship, status, and dignity. Hosea paid the price to redeem his wife. He bought her back and restored her from the status of a slave to the status of a wife. Because of her sin, Gomer deserved judgment. She could have been stoned to death. She could have lived the rest of her life as a slave in misery. But because Hosea redeemed her, her life was completely changed. She was restored. This is what the grace of redemption looks like.

Have you ever watched The Chronicles of Narnia? In that story, there is a boy named Edmund. Edmund is tempted by the White Witch, who offers him something sweet—Turkish Delight. Edmund gives in to the temptation, and because of that choice, he ends up becoming a slave to the Witch. To rescue Edmund, the lion Aslan goes to meet the Witch. But the Witch demands a price, Aslan’s life. And Aslan accepts the deal in order to save Edmund. He is taken to the stone table and killed with a knife. As the Bible says, the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). A life had to be given to pay for Edmund’s sin. But because Aslan dies in Edmund’s place, the price of Edmund’s sin is fully paid. Someone innocent gives his life so that the guilty one can be set free. This is a picture of redemption.

In the same way, we also became slaves to sin because of our sin. We turned away from God and chased after the pleasures of this world—success, recognition, comfort, ambition. Instead of worshiping God, we lived serving idols. And we were facing eternal judgment. But God did not leave us there. Jesus Christ came into this world. He willingly took our place. He carried the cross for us. He suffered for us. And in the end, He was nailed to the cross, where He shed His blood and gave His life. Through His death, Jesus paid the full price for our sin. He redeemed us. Every debt was paid. And He gave us a new life. Because of His redemption, we have been set free from sin. We are no longer slaves. Our status has been completely restored. We were slaves, but now we are children of God. We were slaves, but now we belong to Christ. Now we have true freedom. So we praise Jesus—the One who paid the price for our sins, who redeemed us, and who restored us as God’s sons and daughters, and as a people who belong to Him forever.

Now look at verse 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.’” These words come after Hosea brings his wife back home. This is the direction he gives her. From this point on, Gomer is to live with her husband, Hosea, for many days. She is no longer to live the life she lived before. She must not return to prostitution. She must not be intimate with any other man. She is to be faithful to Hosea alone, as his wife. Also, Hosea promised that he would be faithful to his wife. True love always involves commitment. A marriage can only survive when both people commit themselves to each other.

The same principle applies to our relationship with God. We are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is a gift. But that doesn’t mean we are free to take that grace lightly and live however we want. When we are restored by grace, our lives are meant to move in a new direction. Because we have been restored to a relationship with God through Jesus, we are now called to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. We are called to turn away from idols and live for God alone. When Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery, He gave her direction. “I do not condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” As God’s people, this is how we are called to live in this world. We live out God’s love in our daily lives. We love God wholeheartedly, and as a result, we love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the direction God gives to those who have been redeemed. This is the life of those who have been restored by grace. May God bless each of us to serve God alone, love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Amen.