Hosea 3 Footnotes

Assuming that Hosea took back the unfaithful Gomer, his action was consistent with that of other OT prophets who acted out their messages with dramatic signs (Ezk 24:16-19; see note on Is 20:2-4). In doing something unusual, they hoped to gain the people’s attention. Normally such signs concerned future events, not the present condition of the nation. Hosea’s “sign”—if it was that—was not a dramatization of Israel’s unfaithfulness but of the Lord’s mercy. No sign of Israel’s sin was needed; that was evident enough in the people’s own behavior.