Join us in this Hosea 3 verse by verse Bible study. Our discussion questions, verse by verse commentary, and applications can help you or your small group get the most out of this book as you grow in understanding and obedience.
Hosea 3 Bible Study and Questions – Hosea Loves and Forgives Unconditionally
Hosea 3 Bible Study Video
Hosea 3 Podcast
Outline
I. God’s instruction to Hosea (1)
II. Hosea redeems Gomer (2-3)
III. The meaning of this allegory (4-5)
I. God’s instruction to Hosea (1)
Discussion Questions
• Give a short review of the history of Hosea and Gomer’s relationship (from chapter 1).
• Why would God command Hosea to do this?
• What does this verse teach us about God?
• How is Hosea’s love for this adulteress similar to God’s love for Israel?
• Why does God mention the fact that they love “cakes of raisins?”
Cross-References
Romans 1:25 – Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Psalm 115:4-8 – Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
Colossians 3:5 – Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Romans 5:8 – But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 4:8 – Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. God commands Hosea to do a difficult task. What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do? It is likely that the answer to that question is not as difficult as what God told Hosea to do. He commanded Hosea to love his wife who had proven unfaithful and was currently with another man. In chapter 1, God told Hosea to marry Gomer, and Hosea knew full well what Gomer was going to become. That was a difficult challenge, but Hosea obeyed. Yet at that time, Gomer’s unfaithfulness was a still future event. It was going to happen, but in a way, it was theoretical, certainly intangible.
Now it was happening. Gomer deserted Hosea, to whom she had born three children, and ran off with another man. Would you be willing to forgive your spouse who did this to you? Many of us would say “yes” right now before it ever happens. The real challenge would be in actually forgiving our spouse if it ever did happen.
Obeying God is not easy. He may ask you to do something you never could have imagined you would be able to do. Forgiving people who have hurt us deeply is one of the most difficult things God asks believers to do.
Corrie Ten Boom is one example. She was the daughter of a watchmaker in Holland during WWII. She and her family hid Jews in their house to protect them from Nazis when she and her sister Betsy were taken as prisoners to Ravensbruck. While there, they were seriously mistreated. Betsy passed away. After the war was over, Corrie was freed. God led her to travel around and talk about forgiveness, trying to bring healing to a broken land.
While in one church sharing about forgiveness, to her horror she saw one of her guards from Ravensbruck in the congregation. Afterwards, he came up to her. He wanted to know if it was really true that she could forgive and that God could forgive. He told her that he was a guard in Ravensbruck (not knowing that she remembered who he was.) Then he reached out his hand and asked for forgiveness.
For Corrie, time seemed to stand still. Her body was paralyzed. The man in front of her had been cruel and evil. Her sister had died. She knew she should forgive. That is what she was teaching people about, but faced with that decision in that moment it was the most difficult thing she could imagine.
Finally, she said a silent prayer asking for help from the Lord. At that moment He helped her. She was able to extend her hand and offer forgiveness, as a warmth and love filled her heart for this guard. Embracing him, she told him that she did forgive him.
Another example is Richard Wurmbrand, who was a Romanian minister serving under the Soviet Union’s occupation of Romania. He was imprisoned and tortured for his faith and commitment to keep sharing the gospel, even with Russian soldiers. His most notable crime was publicly saying that communism and Christianity were not compatible. He was tortured in prison for fourteen years. Voice of the Martyrs was later established by Richard and his wife. You can watch a movie called Tortured for Christ about his life. At the end of the movie it quotes Richard as saying even after enduring so many years of torture by the hand of the Russians he still loved them, and he wanted to see them saved.
Their examples and the life of Hosea show us that forgiveness, while difficult, is possible.
Application: What difficult task has God asked you to do? Is there someone in your life who has hurt you whom you need to forgive? If so, will you go to them this week and tell them that you forgive them?
2. Go again – God told Hosea to “go again.” Here we learn a couple of key lessons about forgiveness.
A. You should take initiative to forgive others and restore relationships. It is tempting for us to wait for the offending party to ask for forgiveness before we forgive them. Often, this is pride rearing its ugly head. In our hearts we may be thinking, “He is the one in the wrong. I will forgive him, but he should come and ask me first.”
The humble in heart will be willing to take initiative to seek restoration. It is not easy to be the first person to speak up after a fight. It is not easy to pick up the phone and call an estranged family member and open the lines of communication again.
It was not easy for Jesus to come out of heaven to this world to show us God’s forgiveness. It was not His responsibility. He was not at fault. Our sin broke the relationship, not His. But He took initiative to “go” from heaven and to “come” to us. He pursued us.
Application: Is there a broken relationship in your family? Is there a grudge in your heart against someone or vice-versa? If so, you need to take the initiative to go to that person and seek restoration.
Matthew 5:23-24 – So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
B. You may need to do this again and again. God tells Hosea to “go again.” It wasn’t the first time he had to go to her. Forgiveness is not a “once and I am done” proposition. Forgiveness is needed again and again, especially for those with whom you are closest.
Think about your own family. You are together almost 24/7 for years. For spouses it is decades. Sins start to add up! How many times have you sinned against your spouse? How many times has your spouse sinned against you? I hope you are not really counting! But it is a lot. Harsh words, pride, selfish acts, these add up over time. It might be that you are happy to forgive the first time, the second time, maybe even the third time, but what if your spouse (or another family member) just keeps doing the same sin against you again and again?
Peter had the same question for Jesus.
Matthew 18:21-22 – Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Peter thought forgiving up to seven times was very benevolent. In Jewish culture rabbis taught that you should forgive two or three times for the same offense. Peter was willing to go far beyond that. But Jesus’ standard was incredible. God wants us to forgive again and again and again without limit.
The story of Hosea shows us that the severity of the sin does not negate our responsibility before God to forgive even more than once.
3. Love as the Lord loves the children of Israel – Hosea’s marriage is a picture of God’s relationship with Israel. Hosea was supposed to represent God’s love for Israel in his own undying love for Gomer. And here we see the standard God wants us to follow, and that is