We visit an antiques shop and find Grandmother’s old dining set, sold long ago, and now worn and in need of repair. What is to be done? Let it go with a wistful look? Or negotiate for it, knowing that our purchase price is just the initial cost in bringing it back to its former glory?
How does God react when he finds Israel once again in the depths of sin? Does he remember the glories of her previous days, and then move on with no more than a wistful backward glance? Or does he draw her back to him, no matter the labors involved?
Our best example of God’s reengagement with Israel is found in Hosea 3:1-4. In this passage, we are given an object lesson based on Hosea and the adulteress.
Let’s look at each of the four verses.
Verse 1: The Lord tells Hosea to continue to love his wife, even though she has left him to become another man’s lover.
The Lord compares the love he expects of Hosea to the love God has for Israel. Israel has abandoned God for other gods. They have become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of him. Even so, God still loves his chosen people.
Verse 2: Hosea pays fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley to redeem his wife.
Hosea was not being generous. The redemption price for a slave was thirty pieces of silver and so much barley. Hosea’s low price was indicative of the hurt he had been put through by his wife, and he was redeeming her only by God’s command. She was worn out, used up, and worthless in his eyes.
Verse 3: Hosea vows that his wife will no longer give herself to other men. She must be abstinent for a time. However, after a probation period, she will once again be his, and he will continue to be her husband, giving himself to no other woman.
This is a test of her faithfulness. Will her repentance and strength of will hold her from wrongdoing, or will she revert to her former adulterous behaviors? Still, if she shows she wishes to be restored to her husband, she will one day be received back with full marital honors.
Verse 4: The Lord makes a direct correlation between Hosea and his wife, and the children of Israel.
Israel had once again fallen into idolatry and self-serving behaviors. Yet, she was still loved by God. Her punishment? She would have neither a king; nor a prince; nor a sacrifice; nor an image; nor an ephod; nor teraphim. However, one day, for thirty pieces of silver—or the price of a slave—Christ would hang on the cross, and Israel would be given the opportunity for full restoration.
What do we love enough that when we find it tattered and torn, and battered by life’s cruelty, we will offer a price, and make the effort to restore it to its former glory? Our health? Our family? Our finances? Our relationship with God?
What we value we restore. What we walk away from with no more than a wistful look was never of real value anyway.
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Code: FGO.F.21.13b.vp