INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 3 In this chapter is an order to the prophet to love an adulterous woman beloved of her friend, and by this parable to express the love of God to Israel, and their ingratitude to him, Hosea 3:1, the prophet's execution of that order, making a purchase of her, and a covenant wi... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
SO I BOUGHT HER TO ME FOR FIFTEEN PIECES OF SILVER,.... Or, "fifteen shekels", which was about one pound seventeen shillings and six pence of our money, reckoning a shekel at two shillings and six pence; though some make it to be but two shillings and four pence; this was but half the price of a ser... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAID UNTO HER,.... Having bought or hired her; this was the covenant or agreement he made with her, THOU SHALL ABIDE FOR ME MANY DAYS; dwell alone in some solitary and separate place, and have no conversation with any, especially with men; live like a widow that has lost her husband, and so w... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ABIDE MANY DAYS WITHOUT A KING, AND WITHOUT A PRINCE,.... Without any form of civil government, either regal or without any civil magistrate, either superior or subordinate, of their own; being subject to the kings and princes of other nations, as the ten tribes were... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTERWARD SHALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL RETURN,.... The ten tribes of Israel, and also the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are included in the name of Israel, as Aben Ezra interprets it; and these are joined together in parallel places; see Jeremiah 30:3 for though they did not go into captiv... [ Continue Reading ]