Why was Hosea ordered to take back an unfaithful spouse? (3:1)
3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.
Hosea 3:1
ESV - 1 And the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.
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Asked July 19 2018
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
I would say that Hosea was ordered to do this by God (just as God had earlier (in Hosea 1) ordered him to marry that same woman -- who was described as a harlot -- and to have children with her) in order to provide a living example to Israel of the way in which God had repeatedly forgiven the nation of Israel and taken them back as His chosen people, despite their ongoing unfaithfulness to Him through their idolatry and worship of false gods, and their eating of food that had been offered to those idols and gods, as noted in the verse cited in the question.
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