UHoseya 3:1

Izhibhalo Ezingcwele

1 Wathi uYehova kum, Phinda, uye uthande umfazi, ethandwa nguwabo, ekrexeza; njengoko uYehova abathandayo oonyana bakaSirayeli, bebheka thixweni bambi nje, bethanda izicumba zeerasintyisi.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Go yet: Hosea 1:2, Hosea 1:3

friend: Jeremiah 3:1, Jeremiah 3:20, *marg. Matthew 26:50

according: Hosea 11:8, Deuteronomy 7:6, Deuteronomy 7:7, Judges 10:16, 2 Kings 13:23, Nehemiah 9:18, Nehemiah 9:19, Nehemiah 9:31, Psalms 106:43-46, Jeremiah 3:1-4, Jeremiah 3:12-14, Jeremiah 31:20, Micah 7:18-20, Zechariah 1:16, Luke 1:54, Luke 1:55

look: Psalms 123:2, Isaiah 17:7, Isaiah 17:8, Isaiah 45:22, Micah 7:7

love flagons: Hosea 4:11, Hosea 7:5, Hosea 9:1, Hosea 9:2, Exodus 32:6, Judges 9:27, Amos 2:8, Amos 6:6, 1 Corinthians 10:7, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 1 Peter 4:3

wine: Heb. grapes

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 18:20 - loved David Song of Solomon 2:5 - flagons Song of Solomon 5:16 - friend Isaiah 54:4 - thou shalt forget Jeremiah 11:15 - my Jeremiah 31:32 - although I was Ezekiel 4:1 - take Ezekiel 16:32 - General Ezekiel 23:37 - they have Ezekiel 24:24 - Ezekiel Hosea 2:5 - their mother Hosea 7:14 - assemble Hosea 10:11 - and loveth Hosea 12:10 - used James 4:4 - adulterers

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then said the Lord unto me,.... Or, as the Targum,

"the Lord said unto me again'';

for the word yet or again is to be joined to this, and not the following clause; and shows that this is a new vision, prophecy, or parable, though respecting the same persons and things:

go, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress; not the prophet's wife, not Gomer, but some other feigned person; beloved either of her own husband, as the Targum and Jarchi, notwithstanding her unchastity and unfaithfulness to him; or of another man, as Aben Ezra, who had a very great respect for her, courted her, and perhaps had betrothed her, but had not yet consummated the marriage; and, though a harlot, loved her dearly, and could not get off his affections from her, but hankered after her; or of the prophet, as Kimchi, who paraphrases it,

"thou shall love her, and be to her a friend;''

to protect and defend her, as harlots used to have one in particular they called their friend, by whose name they were called, and was a cover to them. The sense is, that the prophet was to go to the people of Israel, and deliver this parable to them, setting forth their state and condition, and their behaviour towards God, and his great love to them, notwithstanding all their baseness and ingratitude; it was as if a woman that was either married or betrothed, or that either had a husband or a suitor that so dearly loved her, that though she was guilty of uncleanness, and continued in it, yet would not leave her; and which is thus expressed by the Targum,

"go, deliver a prophecy against the house of Israel, who are like a woman dear to her husband; and though she commits fornication against him, yet he so loves her that he will not put her away:''

according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel; or such is the love of the Lord to them; for though they were guilty of idolatry, intemperance, and other immoralities, yet still he loved them, and formed designs of grace and goodness for them. And thus, though God does not love sinners as such; yet he loves them, though they are sinners, and when and while they are such; as appears by his choice of them, and covenant with them, by Christ's dying for them while sinners, and by his quickening them when dead in trespasses and sins:

who look to other gods; or "though they look to other gods" c; look to them and worship them, pray unto them, put their trust in them, and expect good things from them:

and love flagons of wine, or "tubs of grapes" d; or of wine made of them; or lumps of raisins, cakes or junkets made of them and other things, as the Septuagint; and may respect either the drunkenness and intemperance of the ten tribes; see Isaiah 28:1, they loved, as Kimchi says, the delights of the world, and not the law and commandments of God; or the feasts that were made in the temples of their idols they loved good eating and drinking, and that made them like idolatry the better for the sake of those things; see Exodus 32:6, for the Heathens used to eat and drink to excess at their sacrifices: hence Diogenes e the philosopher was very angry with those who sacrificed to the gods for their health, yet in their sacrifices feasted to the prejudice of their health.

c והם פנים "quamvis respiciant", Piscator. d אשישי ענבים "dolia uvarum", Pagninus, Montanus, Zanchius; "soa", some in Drusius. e Laertius in Vit. Diogenis, p. 382.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Go yet, love a woman, beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress - This woman is the same Gomer, whom the prophet had before been bidden to take, and whom, (it appears from this verse) had forsaken him, and was living in adultery with another man. The “friend” is the husband himself, the prophet. The word “friend” expresses, that the husband of Gomer treated her, not harshly, but mildly and tenderly so that her faithlessness was the more aggravated sin. “Friend or neighbor” too is the word chosen by our Lord to express His own love, the love of the good Samaritan, who, not being akin, became “neighbor to Him who fell among thieves,” and had mercy upon him. Gomer is called “a woman,” in order to describe the state of separation, in which she was living. Yet God bids the prophet to “love her,” i. e., show active love to her, not, as before, to “take” her, for she was already and still his with, although unfaithful. He is now bidden to buy her back, with the price and allowance of food, as of a worthless slave, and so to keep her apart, on coarse food, abstaining from her former sins, but without the privileges of marriage, yet with the hope of being, in the end, restored to be altogether his wife. This prophecy is a sequel to the former, and so relates to Israel, after the coming of Christ, in which the former prophecy ends.

According to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel - The prophet is directed to frame his life, so as to depict at once the ingratitude of Israel or the sinful soul, and the abiding, persevering, love of God. The woman, whom God commands him to love, he had loved before her fall; he was now to love her after her fall, and amid her fall, in order to rescue her from abiding in it. His love was to outlive her’s, that he might win her at last to him. Such, God says, “is the love of the Lord for Israel.” He loved her, before she fell, for the woman was “beloved of her friend, and yet an adulteress.” He loved her after she fell, and while persevering in her adultery. For God explains His command to the prophet still to love her, by the words, “according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, while they look to other gods, literally, and they are looking.” The words express a contemporary circumstance. God was loving them and looking upon them; and they, all the while, were looking to other gods.

Love flagons of wine - Literally, “of grapes,” or perhaps, more probably, “cakes of grapes,” i. e., dried raisins. Cakes were used in idolatry Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:19. The “wine” would betoken the excess common in idolatry, and the bereavement of understanding: the cakes denote the sweetness and lusciousness, yet still the dryness, of any gratification out of God, which is preferred to Him. Israel despised and rejected the true Vine, Jesus Christ, the source of all the works of grace and righteousness, and “loved the dried cakes,” the observances of the law, which, apart from Him, were dry and worthless.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER III

By the prophet's taking back his wife, for whom he (her friend

or husband) still retained has affection, though she had proved

unfaithful; by his entering into a new contract with her; and

by his giving her hopes of reconciliation, after she should for

some time prove, as in a state of widowhood, the sincerity of

her repentance; is represented the gracious manner in which God

will restore the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, 1-4.

It is also very strongly intimated that the whole house of

Israel will be added to the Church of Christ in the latter

days, 5.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse Hosea 3:1. Go yet, love a woman — This is a different command from that mentioned in the first chapter. That denoted the infidelity of the kingdom of Israel, and God's divorce of them. He gave them up to their enemies, and caused them to be carried into captivity. The woman mentioned here represents one who was a lawful wife joining herself to a paramour; then divorced by her husband; afterwards repenting, and desirous to be joined to her spouse; ceasing from her adulterous commerce, but not yet reconciled to him. This was the state and disposition of the Jews under the Babylonish captivity. Though separated from their own idols, they continued separated from their God. He is still represented as having affectionate feelings towards them; awaiting their full repentance and contrition, in order to renew the marriage covenant. These things are pointed out by the symbolical actions of the prophet.

Beloved of her friend — Or, a lover of evil; or, loving another: for the Hebrew words אהבת רע mean one who loves evil or a friend: because רע signifies a friend, or evil, according as it is pointed. The former seems to be its best sense here; רע rea is a friend; רע ra is evil.

According to the love of the Lord — This woman, who had proved false to her husband, was still beloved by him, though he could not acknowledge her; as the Israelites were beloved by the Lord, while they were looking after other gods. The flagons of wine were probably such as were used for libations, or drunk in idol feasts. Others think that the words should be translated cakes of dried grapes, sweet cakes, consecrated wafers.