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Gomer again, but another; hence we must believe that Gomer had died; and that this was
a second marriage with its own special significance". The notes also state that it is
"referring to Israel's present condition in this present dispensation", and "an adulteress:
an idolatress: and denotes only a woman of the northern tribes". However, this view
hardly seems in accord with the statement in chapter 2: 2:
"Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let
her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight . . . . .".
"For their mother hath played the harlot . . . . ." (2: 5).
The woman Hosea is now told to love, is one "beloved of her friend". The word
translated "love" and "beloved" is, in both cases aheb: love a woman loved of her friend.
Hosea was told to express the love he already had "according to the love of the Lord
toward the children of Israel". The theme of Hosea's prophecy is that although the
nation of Israel has been unfaithful to Jehovah, He will yet take her back. The words of
Hosea to this woman are significant:
"Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not
be for another man: so will I also be for thee" (3: 3).
Immediately Hosea continues "For the children of Israel shall abide many days
without a king, etc.". If therefore, Hosea is `acting out' in his personal life the love of
Jehovah for Israel, it would seem most likely that the "woman beloved of her friend" is in
fact Gomer. Or are we to understand from this acted prophecy that Israel having turned
from Jehovah to other gods, is to be rejected by Him, and replaced by Him by another
nation equally idolatrous? Hosea's action is to be "according to the love of the Lord
toward the children of Israel". Whether this interpretation of the facts is correct or not, it
is clear from the whole of this book, as well as from other Scriptures that the adulterous
nation of Israel is to be punished by Jehovah for her sins, and "after many days" will be
restored, and will "fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days" (3: 5).
Hosea says of the `woman beloved of her friend', `so I bought her', and the price he
paid was that of a slave. Gomer, if it is she, had not only fallen into adultery, but had also
become a slave needing redemption. How perfectly the picture fits Israel! But we must
not be side-tracked whether the `woman' was Gomer, or some other. The message of the
lived-out lesson is that in spite of all Israel's unfaithfulness, Jehovah still loved them, and
when they have been for `many days' without king, prince, priest, asherah or idol, then
when they return and seek Jehovah they shall become once more "My people", and
`beloved' or pitied. The importance of the message is underlined in that it was enacted in
the life of the prophet, stressed in the symbolism of the names of the characters involved,
and put to them plainly in the clearest of verbal terms. No one had any excuse for failing
to understand the message of Hosea.
Hosea:
salvation.
Gomer:
the measure of iniquity was full.
Jezreel:
the consequent scattering.
Lo-ruhamah:
Israel had forfeited Jehovah's mercy.
Lo-ammi:
Israel's present condition..