Hosea 3 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Of her friend — Her husband. An adulteress — Either already tainted, or that certainly will be tainted with that vice. According to the love — Let this be the emblem of my love to the children of Israel. And love — Love the feasts of their idols, where they drink wine to excess.

Fifteen pieces of silver — It was half the value of a slave, Exodus 21:32. An homer of barley — About fourteen bushels. Of barley — The meanest kind of provision; and suited to a low condition, all this is, to set forth Israel's indigence and ingratitude, and God's bounty to Israel.

Abide for me — Thou shalt wait unmarried, until I espouse thee.

For — Now the parable is unfolded, it shall be with Israel as with such a woman, they and she were guilty of adultery, both punished long, both made slaves, kept hardly, and valued meanly, yet in mercy at last pardoned, and re — accepted tho' after a long time of probation. Without a king — None of their own royal line shall sit on the throne. A prince — Strangers shall be princes and governors over them. Without a sacrifice — Offered according to the law. An image — They could carry none of their images with them, and the Assyrians would not let them make new ones. Ephod — No priest as well as no ephod. And without teraphim — Idolatrous images kept in their private houses, like the Roman household gods; in one word, such should be the state of their captives; they should have nothing of their own either in religious or civil affairs, but be wholly under the power of their conquering enemies.

Return — Repent. And David — The Messiah who is the son of David. And his goodness — God and his goodness; that is, the good and gracious God. God in Christ and with Christ shall be worshipped. The latter days — In the days of the Messiah, in gospel — times.