Hosea 1:3

3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Hosea 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 1:3

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim
In the course of prophesying he made mention of this person, who was a notorious common strumpet; and suggested hereby that they were just like her; or these were fictitious names he used to represent their case by Gomer signifies both "consummation" and "consumption" ^F12; and this harlot is so called, because of her consummate beauty, and her being completely mistress of all the tricks of one; or, being consummately wicked, a perfect whore, common to all; and because her ruin and destruction, persisting in such practices, were inevitable, and so a fit emblem of the present and future condition of Israel. Diblaim may be considered either as the name of a man, a word of the same form with Ephraim; or of a woman, the mother of Gomer; or else of a place, the wilderness of Diblath, ( Ezekiel 6:14 ) and signifies "a cake of dried figs" ^F13; which, in that country, was reckoned delicious eating; and so denotes, either that both the sin and ruin of this people were owing to their luxury, or indulging themselves in carnal pleasures, through the great affluence they were possessed of; or that their original was from a wilderness, and for their sins should be reduced to a desolate state again:

which conceived and bare him a son;
whose name, and what he was an emblem of, are declared in the following verse. The Targum is,

``and he went and prophesied over them, that if they returned, it should be forgiven them: but, if not, as fig tree leaves drop off, so should they; but they added, and did evil works.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F12 A rad. (rmg) "perfecit, desiit", Gussetius.
F13 Vox (Mylbd) "significat massas ficuum compressarum et siccatarum", Rivetus, Tarnovius.

Hosea 1:3 In-Context

1 The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 {At the beginning when Yahweh spoke} through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom, because the land commits great whoredom {forsaking Yahweh}."

3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And Yahweh said to him, "{Name him} Jezreel; because in a little while {I will punish} the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

5 {On that day} I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."