In that day Israel will call Jehovah her Husband (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; Ezek. 16:8) and will no longer call Him Baali (meaning “my Master”—Hosea 2:16). For Jehovah will take away the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they will no longer be remembered by their name (v. 17).
Jehovah will make a covenant for Israel in that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven, and the creeping things of the earth (v. 18a). Just as God made for us a covenant with the living things at Noah’s time, so He will make such a covenant for Israel at the time of restoration. Because of this covenant, the beasts, the birds, and the creeping things will be in a good order. Also, God will break bow, sword, and battle from the land, and He will cause Israel to lie down in safety (v. 18b).
Jehovah will betroth Israel to Himself forever (v. 19a). Indeed, He will betroth her to Himself in five of His attributes—righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, compassions, and faithfulness—and she will know Jehovah (vv. 19b-20).
In that day Jehovah will answer the heavens, and the heavens will answer the earth with rain to enable the earth to grow things (v. 21). Then the earth will answer the grain, the fresh wine, and the oil, and they will answer Jezreel, which symbolizes sowing (v. 22).
Jehovah will sow Israel for Himself in the land of Palestine (v. 23a). He will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah (meaning “she has not obtained compassion”), and He will say to Lo-ammi (meaning “not My people”), “You are My people.” And they will say, “My God” (v. 23b).
Hosea 3:1-5 speaks of the confirmation of God’s faithful restoration of Israel.
“Then Jehovah said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by her companion yet who is an adulteress, even as Jehovah has loved the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes” (v. 1). Here Jehovah told Hosea to love Gomer, a woman of adulteries, again. This symbolizes that Jehovah will love the children of Israel again, though they have turned to other lovers (other gods) and loved raisin cakes (pleasures for self). Apparently, God stopped loving Israel when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and again when Titus the prince of Rome destroyed Jerusalem. To this day Israel has been left alone, apparently without God’s love, yet God still cares for Israel in His own way.
Hosea was very obedient to God. He had married Gomer already, and she had borne him three children. Then she probably left him and committed adultery with her lovers. Later, as a symbol of His intention to love the children of Israel again, Jehovah told Hosea to love Gomer again, and Hosea did so.
Hosea told Gomer, the woman of harlotries, to abide with him many days without going about as a harlot nor being another man’s, and he would be the same toward her (vv. 2-3). According to verse 4, this symbolizes that the children of Israel would abide for many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without pillar (for worship), and without ephod and teraphim (idols in homes). These “many days” began when the Babylonians burned the temple. For seventy years the Jews did not offer sacrifices. The temple was rebuilt, but it was utterly destroyed by Titus in A.D. 70. From that time, Israel has been without king, without prince, and without their worship by offering sacrifices to God. Furthermore, from that time until the present, a period of nearly two thousand years, the Jews have not worshipped idols.
Later, as verse 5 reveals, the children of Israel will return and seek Jehovah and David their king (Christ in the millennium—Rev. 20:4, 6), and they will come with fear to Jehovah and to His goodness in the latter days (in the restoration age—Matt. 19:28).
What Hosea did in obedience to God’s command regarding Gomer was a confirmation of what God promised to do regarding Israel. God told Hosea to love Gomer again as a symbol of His intention to love Israel again. Today Israel is a Gomer, but the day is coming when God will restore her to Himself.
This restoration will be the result of the manifestation of Christ. Once again I would emphasize the fact that in the prophetic books four things are covered repeatedly: God’s chastisement on the Jews, God’s punishment upon the nations, the manifestation of Christ, and the restoration. God’s chastisement and punishment will issue in the manifestation of Christ, and the manifestation of Christ will bring in the age of restoration, the millennial kingdom, which ushers the old and ruined universe into the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem. If we see these four things, we will see what a hope we have in Christ.