EXPOSITION
This short chapter contains two sections, of which the first, comprising Hosea 3:1-3, is a symbolic representation; and the second, consisting of Hosea 3:4 and Hosea 3:5, gives the explanation. The prophet bestows his affections on a worthless wife, who, notwithstanding his tender love to her, proves utterly unfaithful and lives in adultery. He does not cast her off, but, in order to reclaim her and bring her to repentance, he places her in a position of restraint, where she is obliged to renounce all intercourse with her paramours. Thus it was with Israel. They had had multiplied experience of God's loving-kindness and tender mercies, but in spite of all his benefits, great and manifold, they were alike ungrateful and unfaithful. The remainder of the chapter foretells the long and sorrowful abandonment of Israel, as though forgotten by God and forsaken by man; and closes with an outlook into the far-off future, when Israel's correction would issue in their conversion, so that they would return to the Lord their God and David their king in the latter days.