Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 3:3
And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for [another] man: so [will] I also [be] for thee.
3. Thou shalt abide for me many days ] Rather, shalt sit still (as Isa 30:7, Jer 8:14 in A. V.). Gomer is to lead a quiet secluded life; her licentious course is cut short, and her conjugal intercourse may not yet be resumed. This is to last for ‘many days,’ i.e. as long as is necessary to assure Hosea of Gomer’s moral amendment.
so ( will) I also ( be) for thee ] i. e. Hosea plights his troth that he will form no connexion with any other woman but Gomer. ‘Ego vicissim tibi fidem meam obligo’, Calvin. Others, with Aben Ezra and Kimchi, understand, instead of ‘will be’, ‘will not go in’, taking the clause as a contrast to that which precedes (‘but I will not go in unto thee’). Ewald renders, ‘and yet I am kind unto thee’. It is possible that some short word (such as ‘so’ or ‘not’) has dropped out of the text.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou shalt abide for me many days – Literally, thou shalt sit, solitary and as a widow Deu 21:13, quiet and sequestered; not going after others, as heretofore, but waiting for him; Exo 24:14; Jer 3:2); and that, for an undefined, but long season, until he should come and take her to himself.
And thou shalt not be for another man – Literally, and thou shalt not be to a man, i. e., not even to thine own man or husband. She was to remain without following sin, yet without restoration to conjugal rights. Her husband would be her guardian; but as yet, no more. So will I also be for thee or toward thee. He does not say to thee, so as to belong to her, but toward thee; i. e., he would have regard, respect to her; he would watch over her, be kindly disposed toward her; he, his affections, interests, thoughts, would be directed toward her. The word toward expresses regard, yet distance also. Just so would God, in those times, withhold all special tokens of His favor, covenant, providence; yet would he secretly uphold and maintain them as a people, and withhold them from falling wholly from Him into the gulf of irreligion and infidelity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Thou shalt abide for me many days] He did not take her home, but made a contract with her that, if she would abstain from her evil ways, he would take her to himself after a sufficient trial. In the meantime he gave her the money and the barley to subsist upon, that she might not be under the temptation of becoming again unfaithful.
So will I also be for thee.] That is, if thou, Israel, wilt keep thyself separate from thy idolatry, and give me proof, by thy total abstinence from idols, that thou wilt be my faithful worshipper, I will receive thee again, and in the meantime support thee with the necessaries of life while thou art in the land of thy captivity. This is farther illustrated in the following verses.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This verse is the form of contract, or the articles of agreement, between the prophet and this woman.
Abide for me; dwell with me, and expect and wait in an unmarried condition, until I see it fit to espouse thee.
Many days; it is not said how long, but a slave, as she is represented here, may not think this severe; the preferment will compensate her waiting.
Thou shalt not play the harlot: this is the third condition, she is to live chaste and modest, not to do as she had done. This was to settle her in a virtuous life, and to prove whether she would betake herself to a life praiseworthy.
Thou shalt not be for another man; she is bound to marry, none other, nor to commit adultery with any other.
So will I also be for thee; in due time I will accomplish the contract, and, as I wait, so I will be for thee. So the deed is mutually sealed and signed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. abide for meseparate fromintercourse with any other man, and remaining for me who haveredeemed thee (compare De 21:13).
so will I also be fortheeremain for thee, not taking any other consort. AsIsrael should long remain without serving other gods, yetseparate from Jehovah; so Jehovah on His part, in this long period ofestrangement, would form no marriage covenant with any other people(compare Ho 3:4). He would notimmediately receive her to marriage privileges, but would testher repentance and discipline her by the long probation; still themarriage covenant would hold good, she was to be kept separated forbut a time, not divorced (Isa50:1); in God’s good time she shall be restored.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I said unto her,…. Having bought or hired her; this was the covenant or agreement he made with her,
thou shall abide for me many days; dwell alone in some solitary and separate place, and have no conversation with any, especially with men; live like a widow that has lost her husband, and so wait for a long time till the prophet should think fit to take her to his house and bed:
thou shall not play the harlot, and thou shall not be for another man; neither prostitute herself, as she had done to her lovers; nor marry another, but keep herself chaste and single:
so will I also be for thee; wait for thee, and not take another wife; or will be thy husband, after having made proper trial and full proof of thy conduct and behaviour: the Targum paraphrases it thus;
“say, O prophet, to her, O congregation of Israel, your sins are the cause that you are carried captive many days; ye shall give yourselves to my worship and not err, nor serve idols, and even I will have mercy on you.”
The whole is explained in the following words:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And I said to her, Many days wilt thou sit for me: and not act the harlot, and not belong to a man; and thus will I also towards thee.” Instead of granting the full conjugal fellowship of a wife to the woman whom he had acquired for himself, the prophet puts her into a state of detention, in which she was debarred from intercourse with any man. Sitting is equivalent to remaining quiet, and indicates that this is for the husband’s sake, and that he imposes it upon her out of affection to her, to reform her and grain her up as a faithful wife. , to be or become a man’s, signifies conjugal or sexual connection with him. Commentators differ in opinion as to whether the prophet himself is included or not. In all probability he is not included, as his conduct towards the woman is simply indicated in the last clause. The distinction between and , is that the former signifies intercourse with different paramours, the latter conjugal intercourse; here adulterous intercourse with a single man. The last words, “and I also to thee” (towards thee), cannot have any other meaning, than that the prophet would act in the same way towards the wife as the wife towards every other man, i.e., would have no conjugal intercourse with her. The other explanations that have been given of these words, in which v e gam is rendered “and yet,” or “and then,” are arbitrary. The parallel is not drawn between the prophet and the wife, but between the prophet and the other man; in other words, he does not promise that during the period of the wife’s detention he will not conclude a marriage with any other woman, but declares that he will have no more conjugal intercourse with her than any other man. This thought is required by the explanation of the figure in Hos 3:4. For, according to the former interpretation, the idea expressed would be this, that the Lord waited with patience and long-suffering for the reformation of His former nation, and would not plunge it into despair by adopting another nation in its place. But there is no hint whatever at any such though as this in Hos 3:4, Hos 3:5; and all that is expressed is, that He will not only cut off all intercourse on the part of His people with idols, but will also suspend, for a very long time, His own relation to Israel.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Hence he adds, I said to her, For many days shalt thou tarry for me, and thou shalt not become wanton, and thou shalt not be for any man, that is, ‘Thou shalt remain a widow; for it is for this reason that I still retain thee, to find out whether thou wilt sincerely repent. I would not indeed be too easy towards thee, lest I should by indulgence corrupt thee: I shall see what thy conduct will be: you must in the meantime continue a widow.’ This, then was God’s small favor which remained for the people, even a sort of widowhood. God might, indeed, as we have said, have utterly destroyed his people: but he mitigated his wrath and only punished them with exile, and in the meantime, proved that he was not forgetful of his banished people. Though then he only bestowed some scanty allowance, he yet did not wholly deprive them of food, nor suffer them to perish through want. This treatment then in reality is set forth by this representation, that the Prophet had bidden his wife to remain single.
He says, And I also shall be for thee: why does he say, I also? A wife, already joined to her husband, has no right to pledge her faith to another. Then the Prophet shows that Israel was held bound by the Lord, that they might not seek another connection, for his faith was pledged to them. Hence he says, I also shall be for thee; that is, ‘I pledge my faith to thee, or, I subscribe myself as thy husband: but another time must be looked for; I yet defer my favor, and suspend it until thou givest proof of true repentance.’ “I also”, he says, “shall be for thee”; that is, ‘Thou shalt not be a widow in vain, if thou complainest that wrong is done to thee, because I forbid thee to marry any one else, I also bind myself in turn to thee.’ Now then is evident the mutual compact between God and his people, so that the people, though a state of widowhood be full of sorrows ought not yet to succumb to grief, but to keep themselves exclusively for God, till the time of their full and complete deliverance, because he says, that he will remain true to his pledge. “I will then be thine: though at present, I admit thee not into the honor of wives, I will not yet wholly repudiate thee.”
But how does this view harmonize with the first prediction, according to which God seems to have divorced his people? Their concurrence may be easily explained. The Prophet indeed said, that the body of the people would be alienated from God: but here he addresses the faithful only. Lest then the minds of those who were healable should despond, the Prophet sets before them this comfort which I have mentioned, — that though they were to continue, as it were, single, yet the Lord would remain, as it were, bound to them, so as not to adopt another people and reject them. But we shall presently see that this prediction regards in common the Gentiles as well as the Jews and Israelites.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Shalt abide for mei.e., shalt abide in seclusion at my discretion. The many days are an indefinite period of amendment, while watchful care was being exercised over her. During this time she is to withdraw herself from her paramour and also from her husband.
Will I also be for thee.Better, to thee: i.e., I will have no intercourse with thee. So Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and others. That this was only to be a temporary discipline is evident from Hos. 3:4 and Hosea 6.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Gomer cannot be immediately restored to her full privileges as wife.
Abide Remain inactive; in what sense the latter part of the verse states.
For me As my possession.
Many days Until the prophet shall feel assured that he may safely restore her to her full privileges.
Shalt not play the harlot Living, in seclusion, she is to discontinue her shameful career. Not be for another man [“any man’s wife”] The preceding expression points to the cessation of illegitimate intercourse, but even the legitimate conjugal intercourse is not to be resumed for a while.
So will I also be for [“toward”] thee He will abstain from all intercourse and yet remain loyal to Gomer during the probationary period. That this is the meaning seems evident, though a slight alteration may have to be made to get it from the original.
For the prophet’s purpose it is not necessary to describe further his domestic experience; he turns immediately, Hos 3:4, to the application of the experience described in Hos 3:3. As the reclaimed Gomer must pass through a probationary period, in which, she is compelled to abstain even from legitimate pleasures before she is restored to complete favor, so Israel must pass through a long period of seclusion, when she will be deprived of all her religious and civil institutions, before she can enjoy the blessings of Jehovah pictured in Hos 2:15 ff.
Children of Israel The northern kingdom, to which Hosea primarily addresses himself.
Abide Remain inactive so far as national activities are concerned. The things enumerated are those thought essential to the nation’s life; their withdrawal will be a serious loss.
King The secular as well as the religious head of the nation.
Prince During the period of the monarchy the term designates all civil and military officers, not only members of the royal family.
Sacrifice In the popular conception bringing of sacrifices covered almost all religious requirements; the inability to bring them would appear a very serious loss to the people. For the prophet’s estimate see Hos 6:6. This threat seems to imply the expectation of an exile; in a foreign and unclean land sacrifices might not be offered (Hos 9:4). Image [“pillar”] See on Mic 5:13.
Ephod This term seems to be used in the Old Testament with two distinct meanings. In Exo 28:6-14, is described the high priest’s ephod or garment; in many passages this is the meaning of the word. There are other passages, however, where this meaning seems unsuitable; for example, Jdg 8:24-27. The root meaning of the word is generally thought to be to cover, to overlay. From this it has been inferred that in some passages the ephod is an image of Jehovah overlaid with silver and gold (Jdg 8:24-27; Jdg 17:5; 1Sa 21:10 ; 1Sa 23:6, etc.). This would give acceptable sense here. Whatever its exact form, it was undoubtedly something used in connection with the consulting of the oracle. (See article “Ephod” in Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible.) The statement does not necessarily imply that Hosea regarded the ephod as valuable, or that he considered its removal a serious loss. He puts himself in the place of the people; they would consider the loss of all these things a serious calamity.
Teraphim Another uncertain word. That they were idols is clear from Gen 31:19; Gen 31:30; Gen 35:2-4; Jdg 17:5, etc. Sometimes they must have been of considerable size (1Sa 19:13-16). It is generally thought that they were household gods, and as such they have been compared with the Roman lares and penates. Whether they can be regarded as household deities exclusively must remain uncertain in view of Eze 21:21. That they were the images of ancestors and that they prove the prevalence of ancestor worship in Israel is more than can be naturally inferred from the Old Testament references. Dr. Foote, after careful investigation, concludes that the ephod is a pouch used in connection with the giving of oracles, while the teraphim are the lots used for determining the oracles.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And I said to her, “You shall abide for me many days; you will not play the harlot, and you will not be any man’s wife, so will I also be toward you.”
Then Hosea informed her of the terms of the marriage. She would have to dwell with him and wait many days before he would come in to her. And in that time she was not to seek out anyone else, or even have relations with him. By this means he would prove whether she did wish to be a faithful wife or not. And his attitude would be the same towards her. He would seek nothing from her. This was to be a picture of Israel’s position as regards YHWH. While YHWH had purposed to restore Israel, they would still be subject to a long period of separation from Him and from all that religiously they held dear. They had to demonstrate that they were ready for a new relationship. Meanwhile He too would be separate from her. Israel in her exile would never have true with her prophets in exile as Judah would have.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 3:3. Thou shalt abide, &c. By these conditions which the prophet makes with the woman whom he was to take, that she should humble herself, and not run about after others, as formerly, but remain sequestered and solitary, and that for many days, &c. must be meant, with respect to Israel, that God, though he separate himself for a long time from them, and humble them by reducing them to a low condition, and restraining them from their idolatry and former luxury; yet will not so utterly reject them, but that he will in due time, upon their repentance, again receive them. So will I also be for thee: that is, though he thus require her to sit solitary and sequestered, yet his care shall not be withdrawn from her. He will all the while bear a kindness and respect to her, that he may at length, upon her true contrition, enlarge her. See Pocoke.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
There is a great beauty in this verse, as well as a great and blessed doctrine veiled under it. Jehovah Jesus might very justly have put away forever his Israel for their whoredoms, and made the divorce binding; but not so according to the riches of his grace. Israel shall be divorced, if divorced at all, only many days, that is, until the fulness of the Gentiles be completed; then will the Lord call his ancient people home, and their union with him, their glorious head shall be shown, that Israel could never be for another; neither could Jesus be but for them. Reader! consult those sweet scriptures in confirmation of the doctrine, and the beauty and grace of it will abundantly appear. Rom 11 throughout. Hos 2:7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 3:3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for [another] man: so [will] I also [be] for thee.
Ver. 3. Thou shalt abide for me many days ] Even till the last days, Hos 3:5 , or last year, as Ezekiel hath it, Eze 38:8 . Thus they have abode, or sat (as a desolate widow, so the Hebrew hath it), 700 years before Christ, and above 1600 years since, in a most forlorn condition; crying out in their, daily prayers to God, Veniat regnum tuum, bimherah, beiamenu, Let thy kingdom come speedily, even in our days. And again, Aedifica templum tuum, aedifica, aedifica, cito, cito, cito; Lord, build, build, build thy Temple quickly, quickly, quickly. But God’s time is not yet come; for they are not yet throughly humbled. Were they but ripe, he is ready; when help is seasonable, his fingers itch (saith one) to be doing, as the mother’s breast aches when it is time the child had suck, Exo 12:40-41 . At midnight were the firstborn slain and Israel sent away, because then exactly the 400 or 430 years of their captivity in Egypt were expired. So Dan 5:30 , “In that night was Belshazzar slain”; because then exactly the seventy years were ended. God promiseth to take this Church again to wife, but having found her formerly so fickle and faithless, he would for a long time try her, and keep her unmarried as a probationer: he would lay her (as we do filthy garments) a soaking and a frosting for many hundred years, to try them, “and to purge, and to make white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed,” Dan 11:35 . And to presume to prescribe to him in this case is to set the sun by our dial. As he never fails his in his own time, so he seldom comes at ours. Here, then, our strength is to sit still, Isa 30:7 , and not to start up, and say, as that impatient prince did, “What should I wait for the Lord any longer?” 2Ki 6:33 . Shall Christ lose his right in his wife, because he takes her not by the day set down in our calendar? possibly the calendar of heaven hath a postdate to ours. Sure it is, that we are apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment, as those, Jer 8:20 , that looked for help that summer at farthest, but were deceived. See the disease and the remedy put together, Hab 2:2-3 , and learn to wait. God will surely bring us to it if we belong to him: and thereby inure us both to patience and continence as here.
Thou shalt not play the harlot, &c.
For I also will be for thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
abide . . . many days. See the signification in verses: Hos 4:5. Compare Jer 3:1, Jer 3:2.
abide. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 21:13). App-92. See the signification of the sign in verses: Hos 4:5, and compare Jer 31:1, Jer 31:2. Hebrew. yashab = to dwell (sequestered). Same word as in Deu 21:13. Not the same word as in Hos 11:6.
many days. In the case of the sign = a full month. The signification is seen now, in the present Dispensation.
man. Hebrew ‘ish. App-14.
be. Supply [“do”]. The above Structure is according to the order of the words in the Hebrew text, not the Authorized Version.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thou shalt abide: Deu 21:13
Reciprocal: Gen 38:24 – played the harlot Jer 2:20 – playing Jer 23:4 – I Eze 38:8 – many days Dan 8:26 – for 1Co 7:4 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 3:3. The prediction we are now considering was made before Israel had even gone into exile, although as far as the Lord was concerned, the separation was a surety since with Him all things of the future are as certain as if a present fact. This makes it logical to use the idea of this verse, The wife, though taken back (in the Lord’s foresight), was not to be received into her former intimacy with her husband until she had been tried, to see if she could be weaned away from the unfaithful life that she had been following before. The trial will be described In the next verse.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 3:3. And I said, Thou shalt abide for me many days The Vulgate renders this, Dies multos expectabis me, non fornicaberis, Thou shalt wait for me many days; thou shalt not commit fornication. The meaning is, that she should remain in a state of separation from the prophet, and every other man, sequestered and solitary, for many days, that there might be proof of her reformation. Thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee As there is nothing in the Hebrew for the word another, so the sentence may be more accurately translated thus, Thou shalt not have a husband, neither will I have thee, namely, for a wife. Bishop Horsley renders it, And thou shalt not have to do with a husband, neither will I with thee; that is, thou shalt continue for some time in a state of widowhood, or without commerce with man. The Hebrew phrase here used, , properly means, Thou shalt not have a husband, and is so rendered by our interpreters, Eze 44:25. And to the same sense, without the negative particle, Rth 1:12. Thus the LXX. render it, ; (compare Rom 7:3;) and so also the Vulgate, et non eris viro. By these conditions, which the prophet makes with the woman whom he takes, that she should humble herself and not go after other men, as formerly, but remain separate from every man, must be meant, with respect to Israel, that though God should separate himself from them for a long time, and humble them by reducing them to a low condition, and restraining them from their idolatry and former luxury; yet he would not so utterly reject them, but that he would, in due time, upon their conversion, again receive them. This was intended, 1st, To be an emblem of the state of the Jews during the Babylonish captivity; when snatched, as it were by force, from the objects of their impure love, they continued in their exile equally separated from their God and their idols; but with this difference, that their God retained toward them sentiments of affection, expecting on their part true repentance. And, 2d, The condition of the woman, restrained from licentious courses, owned as a wife, but without conjugal rites, admirably represents also the present state of the Jews, manifestly owned as a peculiar people, withheld from idolatry, but as yet without access to God, through the Saviour. Horsley.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for {d} me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for [another] man: so [will] I also [be] for thee.
(d) I will try you a long time as in your widowhood, whether you will be mine or not.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
After Hosea had brought Gomer home, he told her to stay with him from then on. She was his by right of marriage and by right of purchase. She was not to play the harlot or to have a lover any longer. He also promised to be faithful to her. Keil argued that Hosea meant that they would have no intimate relations. [Note: Keil, 1:69-70.] But this goes beyond what the text says.