The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 95

HOM:ILtES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. ,ere. 1-5.-Hosea detains Gomer in seclusion. This chapter, like eh. i., is written in prose; all the other twelve being rhythmical. It deals, as eh. i. does, with the personal life of Hosea, giving one further glimpse of the bitter domestic sorrow by which God made him a prophet. The same wonderful providence which had led him to marry Gomer at the first now impelled him to rescue her from the wretchedness into which she had fallen. And bis own quenchless love for his erring wife became a parable to him of Jehovah's infinite compassion towards Israel. I. HosEA's 1-"'EW RELATION TO GoMER. (Vers. 1-3.) For we take the" woman" here to be Gomer, and "her friend" to be the prophet, her husband. After she had borne him three children (eh. i. 3-9), she fell into adultery and forsook him. It would seem, too, that she by-and-by became the slave of her paramour. But Hosea, as he sat in his blighted home, thought of poor Gomer with compassionate tenderness. She was still " beloved of her friend." He felt that he must seek her out, and say to her (as King Arthur said to Guinevere), "I loathe thee, yet I love thee." He resolved to buy her back. Her ransom cost him in money only one-half of the ordinary price of a female slave ; the rest of the payment being made in barley-the usual coarse food of the class to which she now belonged. The inexpensiveness of t:he ransom shows to what a depth of degradation Gomer had fallen. This was so great, indeed, that the prophet could not at once restore her to her place at his table, or to the o~her rights of a dutiful wife. He will bring her home at first only as his ward. He will protect her from her sins. He will test her penitence by a length~ned probation, looki!lg forward, however, to the time when the "receiving" of her a.gain shall be as "hfe from the dead" to his long-widowed heart. It is pleasant to think of Gomer as not only rescued from her sinful courses, and by-and-by restored to her earthly hul!band, but as eventually also won back to the love of Jehovah. It is delightful to cherish the hope that the three children too became God's; their original names being purged of their vile associations, and becoming suggestive of spiritual blessing (Jezreel, Ruhamah, Ammi), so that .. When BOOn or late they reached that coast, O'er life's rough ocean driven, They would rejoice-no wanderer lost- A fawily in heaven I" (Bums.) IL THE l!YMDOLIC MEA:!':ING OF THIS NEW RELATION. (Vers. 1, 4, 6,) Generally, it is a sign of Jehovah's love towards Israel, notwithstanding her idolatry and sensuality (ver. 1). It reflects the deuasement to which sin leads, the discipline which God metes out to the penitent, and the irrevocable covenant of love which he makes wi_lh those wLo return to him. Hosea's family history stands out as a picture and a pred1c- CH, 111, 1-5, THE BOOK OF HOSEA,