常见问题
What does Hosea do in chapter 3?
Following God's instruction, Hosea buys back a woman described as an adulteress "for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley" (v.1-2), symbolizing God's costly love for unfaithful Israel.
What condition does Hosea set for her in verse 3?
He tells her, "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" - a period of restraint before restoration.
What does the chapter predict for Israel's future?
Verses 4-5 say Israel will go "many days" without king, prince, sacrifice, or idols, and afterward will "return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king" - a turning point similar to the return described in Jeremiah 50:4-5.
The purchase pictures Israel living many days without king or sacrifice before finally seeking 'the LORD their God, and David their king,' a theme Hosea 4 returns to from a different angle. That same later-day seeking appears in Jeremiah 50:4-5.
