#DailyDevotion Jesus Has Purchased Us To Be His Own
Hosea 3 “Go,” the LORD told me, “and again love a woman who, loved by a friend, is an adulteress, just as the LORD has loved Israel while they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”2So I bought her for myself for six and a half ounces of silver and nine bushels of barley. 3But I told her, “Sit at home for me a long time. Don’t be a prostitute or offer yourself to any man, and I will be yours.” 4The Israelites will sit a long time without a king or a prince, without a sacrifice or a pillar, and without a priest’s apron or family idols. 5After that, Israel will come back and search for the LORD their God and David their king, and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His blessings in that last time.
The LORD again sends the prophet into prophetic action. It is unclear if this is the prophet getting another wife other than Gomer from chapter 1 or if it is Gomer after her adulteress affairs after she married Hosea. What is clear is she has taken on a lover. More than that, she apparently had sold herself to this lover because Hosea is buying her for six and a half shekels of silver and nine bushes of barley. According to some sources the was the common price for a slave.
The LORD tells us here He loved Israel while Israel ran after other gods and enjoyed the delicacies that took place during said worship. It does seem the LORD would not fully give up on Israel though she prostituted herself to other gods. So the prophet has the woman stay at home for a long time with the command to no longer be an adulteress or prostitute. He apparently will withhold himself from here at this time. At the end of the time, he would take her to wife and be her husband. So this is to symbolize what is to come in the near future for both Israel and for Judah. We know Israel is taken away, but a remnant of them settles near Jerusalem from every tribe. After Israel is taken away, then Judah follows in being taken away to Babylon. During that seventy year period, they have no temple worship and no king. Afterwards, they do not have a Davidic king but are ruled by other nations. It would be five hundred years before the LORD raises up David among them, that is, the LORD Jesus Christ.
After Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father, He sends His apostles into the world to gather Jesus’ spiritual Israel. According to Rodney Stark, in his book, “The Rise of Christianity,” most Jews throughout the Roman empire convert to following Jesus as LORD and Savior, their Davidic King. The remnant that remains unfaithful is just that a remnant. There was a large enough remnant in and around Jerusalem to twice rebel against the Romans. Yet, this was the smaller amount.
The LORD’s spiritual Israel is still coming into being. Some from the unbelieving remnant of Israel, most from the world at large. All these follower of Jesus are Abraham’s children according to Romans 9. Yes, this Israel is coming back to the LORD, searching for Him and David their king. We come before Him trembling looking for life and salvation. In His great love for us, He bestows it upon us in the New David, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Heavenly Father, look mercifully upon the Bride of Christ, Your Israel, call us into it so we may, through faith in Jesus, receive Your blessings forever and ever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.