I. Introduction
a. Role of a Prophet
i. To be a prophet, one must be a spokesperson for God.
ii. The term “The word of the Lord came to” so and so.
iii. Prophets came from all walks of life.
iv. Many of the early prophets only spoke to individuals, while in the later Hebrew history, the prophets spoke to the people.
v. Sometimes God gave a prophet like Hosea words to speak to the people of Israel and Judah. Other times God would call the prophet to act out his message.
1. He told Isaiah to walk around with no clothes on as a living picture of the horrors of war and exile.
2. He ask Ezekiel to lay on his side and eat a starvation diet which he would cook over animal dung – depicting the horrors of war inflicted on the people, which would come if they did not repent of their sins.
3. He asked Amos to hold up a plumb line to show the people how out of balance their lives were.
4. Hosea was told by God to marry a prostitute.
b. Hosea is a prophet whose life represents God’s relationship with Israel
i. In chapter 3, Hosea was told by God to make an unthinkable purchase.
II. The Unthinkable Product (3:1)
a. Hosea was to buy back to very woman who had cheated on him.
i. Hosea knew that Gomer had not changed her ways.
ii. Yet God told him to love her again.
b. God was asking Hosea to show mercy to Gomer, just as he was willing to show mercy to Israel.
i.
III. The Unthinkable Price (3:2-3)
a. For Hosea the Price was fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and lethech of silver.
i. Each of the shekels was about the weight of a half dollar; the homer was slightly over five bushels and the lethech was approximately one half a homer.
ii. The varied of items suggest that Hosea was hard pressed to raise the purchase price of his wife; having to resort to both grain and silver instead of one or the other.
iii. The price of a slave was about 30 shekels of silver; this was a considerable price for a poor man in the eighth century.
iv. Hosea paid the full market value of a slave to purchase Gomer. This shows the desperate circumstances of Gomer.
b. Verse 3 shows the discipline required by Hosea
i. Forgiveness which is genuine is neither easy nor is it cheap.
IV. The Unthinkable Promise (3:4-5)
a. Here Hosea draws a parallel between the disciplined return of Gomer and the renewal of Israel.
i. First, the Israelites will return to the Lord.
1. There must be repentance before there can be restoration.
ii. Second they will seek the Lord.
1. To seek the Lord implies a daily worship of him.
iii. Third, they will fear the Lord.
1. He Hebrew term used here is the word dhp. It designates dread and terror.
2. Israel will be in terror of the Lord, having learned that not following him results in hard discipline.
V. Closing
a. God not only made an unthinkable purchase for Israel, He made one for you and me.
i. God’s unthinkable Product
1. Romans 3:10
2. Romans 3:23
ii. God’s Unthinkable Purchase
1. Romans 5:6-8
2. John 3:16
iii. God’s Unthinkable Promise
1. 1 John 5:11-13
2. Romans 10:13
3. Romans 10:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angles nor demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depths, nor any other thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
b. God has purchased an adulterous people, will you accept him today.
