For a time the Lord and Israel will be separated, so to speak, because He will allow the nation to be conquered and the majority of its people scattered throughout foreign lands. Just as a husband and wife might separate or even divorce due to one partner's adultery, the Lord and Israel will be living apart (in a sense) for a while. In Chapter 3 we learn that Hosea and his wife are currently living apart too. She has left him for another man. But just as the Lord will instruct Hosea to woo his wife back, the Lord will woo Israel back just as He promised to do in Chapter 2.
Hosea is speaking here: "The Lord said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.'" (Hosea 3:1)
Does Hosea really love his wayward wife? He must because if that were not the case the Lord could not say, "Show your love to your wife again." The Lord uses the expression "your love" as if it is something that actually exists in Hosea's heart toward Gomer. He also uses the word "again", suggesting that Hosea has felt love and has demonstrated concern and compassion toward her in the past. I think that, in spite of knowing ahead of time that she would not be faithful to him and in spite of having her commit adultery time and time again, Hosea really does love Gomer and really does desire to have a good marriage with her.
That's not so hard to imagine. Many people continue to love a spouse who has betrayed them, even a spouse who has betrayed them on multiple occasions. In spite of knowing that their spouse has not treated them with love, they yearn to have a monogamous and happy marriage with them. They have a deep desire to see that person's heart change so they can reconcile with them. I believe this is how Hosea feels about Gomer. I believe this is how the Lord feels about Israel too, for He always knew the people would fall into idolatry even though He begged them not to, and He chose them in spite of knowing they would be this way, and He loves them in spite of them doing all the things He pleaded with them not to do. The Lord deeply desires to have a mutually beneficial, loving, faithful relationship with Israel. Because He intends to continue making overtures of reconciliation to Israel, He commands Hosea to go and make overtures of reconciliation to Gomer.
Hosea does as the Lord commands. "So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, 'You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.'" (Hosea 3:2-3) What does Hosea mean when he says he "bought her"? I think perhaps he bribed her away from the man who was currently keeping her as a mistress by reminding her with this sum of money and barley that he is capable of providing all her needs. Some commentators think she actually ended up in slavery somehow, perhaps by running up debts while she was living apart from him and being unable to pay her debts. Or it may be that she took up with a boyfriend/pimp, which is something that still happens in our own day, and Hosea had to pay the silver and barley to her pimp in order to get the man to release her.
We don't know for certain what he means when he says he "bought her" but we can compare this situation to the way the Lord bought us. He paid a high price for us with the blood of His Son even though we are unfaithful rebellious sinners just like Gomer was. The Lord still saw something of value in us, not because we actually were valuable or because He needs us, but because He loves us. Love is what places a value on even the most one-sided of relationships. Hosea cares enough about Gomer in spite of her unfaithfulness to pay a sum (to make a sacrifice, to give up something) for her even though she has brought him nothing but heartache. In this same way, when we were lost sinners we brought the Lord nothing but heartache, but He cared enough about us to make a sacrifice for us.
The Bible allows divorce in the case of infidelity. The story of Hosea and Gomer isn't included in the Bible to forbid anyone to divorce an adulterous spouse. The Lord recognizes infidelity as legitimate grounds for divorce and it is not a sin to divorce an unfaithful spouse. But I think the story shows us that working toward reconciliation is always the best course if the unfaithful spouse is willing to repent and be faithful from then on. When Hosea goes to get his wife back, he asks her to be faithful to him and promises that he will be faithful to her in return. When the Lord spoke in our previous chapter about being reconciled to Israel, He wasn't saying He would reconcile even if Israel refused to ever be faithful to Him; He was foretelling a day in which Israel would be faithful to Him. He spoke about how Israel would cling only unto Him, forsaking all others. He said in that time the names of false gods would never again be on her lips but that Israel would call only Him her "husband". So we see that although we have the Scriptural right to divorce an unfaithful spouse, if there is any way to be reconciled and to live together monogamously and happily, this would honor the Lord. If a couple can reconcile and be faithful to each other and live together according to God's commandments for marriage, this will reflect the way the Lord accepts our repentance and enters into a covenant with us.
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