Hos 3:3-5 | KingComments | STEP | Hosea takes Gomer home and places her under house arrest. Again that is a picture of what God will do to Israel. Israel has been deported and has lived isolated among the peoples for centuries. But there will come a time when they will return and seek the LORD. Gomer, too, is isolated; she sits like a slave in her own house. But Hosea has no contact with her either. This disciplinary measure, a withdrawn life in solitude and excluded from all intercourse with a man, serves to make her come to her senses. She will no longer have the opportunity to commit adultery and commit fornication with other men. Nor will she have a normal relationship with her husband. We can also apply this situation to personal life. It could be that someone is in solitary confinement with his life. He is tired of sin. He doesn’t do evil anymore, but there is also no doing good. There is no real life. If someone starts to realize that, then God can give real life. This situation can also be applied to a Christian community. They have removed evil. Then, out of fear of evil, they have isolated themselves in such a way that there is nothing at all seen from them. When they start to realize this, the time will come for God to give real life. However, if one continues to stay in that ‘isolation cell’, there is a good chance that the misery will become greater than it once was ( ). “Many days” indicates an indefinite period of time. Gomer does belong to Hosea that whole period – he bought her, after all –, but there is no question of a normal relationship. She has to sit like a widow until he comes to her. As said, this is the situation of Israel after God has brought the people back from exile. When much later the Lord Jesus came to His people, they did not want Him. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” ( ). Not only did they not receive Him, but they also even rejected Him! What the result of this is, is said in the following verse.

‏ Hosea 3:3-5

Back, But Kept at a Distance

Hosea takes Gomer home and places her under house arrest. Again that is a picture of what God will do to Israel. Israel has been deported and has lived isolated among the peoples for centuries. But there will come a time when they will return and seek the LORD. Gomer, too, is isolated; she sits like a slave in her own house. But Hosea has no contact with her either.

This disciplinary measure, a withdrawn life in solitude and excluded from all intercourse with a man, serves to make her come to her senses. She will no longer have the opportunity to commit adultery and commit fornication with other men. Nor will she have a normal relationship with her husband.

We can also apply this situation to personal life. It could be that someone is in solitary confinement with his life. He is tired of sin. He doesn’t do evil anymore, but there is also no doing good. There is no real life. If someone starts to realize that, then God can give real life.

This situation can also be applied to a Christian community. They have removed evil. Then, out of fear of evil, they have isolated themselves in such a way that there is nothing at all seen from them. When they start to realize this, the time will come for God to give real life. However, if one continues to stay in that ‘isolation cell’, there is a good chance that the misery will become greater than it once was (Mt 12:43-45).

“Many days” indicates an indefinite period of time. Gomer does belong to Hosea that whole period – he bought her, after all –, but there is no question of a normal relationship. She has to sit like a widow until he comes to her. As said, this is the situation of Israel after God has brought the people back from exile. When much later the Lord Jesus came to His people, they did not want Him. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn 1:11). Not only did they not receive Him, but they also even rejected Him! What the result of this is, is said in the following verse.

Israel Is Without …

In this verse some particulars are brought to the fore that have not been discussed in the two previous chapters. Hosea 1 gives the general position in which the people find themselves and in which they are placed by God’s judgment. In Hosea 2 several details are filled in in more detail. Hosea 3 gives clarity about the humiliation and the isolated position of Israel. And not for a moment, but for an indefinite period of time, with at the end of that period her introduction in the abundant blessing.

In this one verse the whole situation in which Israel has found itself for many centuries comes to the fore. No Jew can deny that this verse aptly represents the actual situation. The period of “many days” is the time after the cross. All that time the people have been “without king or prince”, i.e. without a recognized government with an official head of state. This applies especially to the ten tribes, which are scattered.

They are also “without sacrifice”. They have no worship in which they approach God on the basis of sacrifice. But they are also without “[sacred] pillar”. These pillars are the pillars consecrated to the idols that Israel has had to destroy (Exo 23:24), but that have gained a foothold in Israel (2Kgs 3:2 ; 2Kgs 10:26-28 ; 2Kgs 17:10). The sacred pillar represents the idolatrous worship that Israel has taken over from the surrounding peoples. Thus, the people will be without true, but also without false means of worship.

Finally, they will be “without ephod”, which is the high priestly garment. There is no priestly mediation to consult the LORD. But the “household idols” are also lacking. These are the teraphim, the idols for the worship of ancestors. Instead of priestly consultation, there is also no consultation of the idols through the images designed for that purpose.

It may be called a wonder that, despite the lack of what seems necessary to exist as a people, Israel has continued to exist for centuries. It is yet another proof of the truth and reliability of the Bible, which attributes unconditional promises of God to Israel. That God is using this time of Israel’s ‘isolation’ to gather the church is a truth that is unfolded not in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament.

Israel Returns to the LORD

The word “afterward“ with which this verse begins is still in the future and refers to the time of Christ’s return to earth and His blessed reign. “David their king” is the Lord Jesus, the true David. David means “the beloved”. “Their king” is an indication for the Messiah. At His first coming there was hardly any search for Him. Yes, a few magi from the east, who have seen His star, come to worship Him. And also Herod is looking for Him, but only to kill Him. Furthermore, there are still a few people who recognize Him. But the people as such? They have rejected Him. In the future it will be different (Eze 37:23-24).

God has not finished with His people forever. Israel is also not incorporated into the church as a people. The individual Jew who repents is incorporated into the church, but then ceases to be a Jew (Col 3:11). “In the last days”, the Israelites will be attracted by “His goodness”, even overwhelmed by it. The expression “trembling” indicates reverence, which is accompanied by shame at the fact that they have left Him.

The final restoration of Israel under the blessed government of the Messiah, in which the people will enjoy all the promised blessings, begins when the people repent. Repentance is the first necessary step to get in touch with God. This happens when a man, or a people, realizes that he has lived with his back to God. When a person repents from that path, he turns around and can, thus, look to God.

Whoever looks God in ‘the face’, cannot help but acknowledge that He is holy. Man himself can only acknowledge that he is unholy and sinful and that God must judge him for that. But now he has turned towards God, because he is attracted to God’s goodness. God must punish man who persists in his sins. But man who confesses his sins finds compassion with Him.

With Israel, the moment of repentance has come when through the action of God’s Spirit the people confess their sin – their rejection of the Lord Jesus, their Messiah – and repent (Zec 12:10). The sadness that comes from the acknowledgment of their sin is a sadness in agreement with God. Such sadness over committed sins “produces a repentance without regret [leading] to salvation” (2Cor 7:10). Whether it concerns a people or a few, all true restoration begins with this.