Book of Hosea Chapter 1 Vs. 3

 Hosea's Wife and Children

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. Hos. 1:3

So he went... Three things the prophet did:

1. He went—he did not argue with God as Moses did (Exo. 4:18).

2. He took Gomer for his wife (Hos. 1:3).

3. He became a father, Gomer having borne him a son.

and took Gomer... Gomer means completion; that is, filling up the measure of idolatry.

הָלַךּ

hālaḵ

A verb meaning to go, to come, to walk. This common word carries with it the basic idea of movement: the flowing of a river (Gen. 2:14); the descending of floods (Gen. 8:3); the crawling of beasts (Lev. 11:27); the slithering of snakes (Lev. 11:42); the blowing of the wind (Ecc. 1:6); the tossing of the sea (Jon. 1:13). Since it is usually a person who is moving, it is frequently translated "walk" (Gen. 48:15; 2Sam. 15:30). Like a similar verb dāraḵ, meaning to tread, this word is also used metaphorically to speak of the pathways (i.e., behavior) of one's life. A son could walk in (i.e., follow after) the ways of his father (2Chr. 17:3) or not (1Sam. 8:3). Israel was commanded to walk in the ways of the Lord (Deu. 28:9), but they often walked after other gods (2Kgs. 13:11).

and took...

לָקַח

lāqaḥ

A verb meaning to take, to get. Its exact meaning must be discerned from its context. It is used of grasping or seizing a person or an animal (Gen. 12:5; Exo. 17:5; Ezk. 8:3; Hos. 14:2,3). The ark was captured (1Sam. 4:11, 4:17, 4:19). It has the sense of keeping what one has (Gen. 14:21). It may mean in context to receive or acquire, to buy (2Kgs. 5:20; Pro. 31:16). It is used of a bird carrying or loading its young onto its wings (Deu. 32:11). It is used figuratively of obeying, "taking on" commands, instructions (Pro. 10:8). It is used of taking a wife (Gen. 25:1). With nāqām as its object, it means to take vengeance (Isa. 47:3). One's ear can "receive," hearken to God's Word (Jer. 9:20 [19]). It is used of one's heart sweeping away, carrying away oneself (Job 15:12). In its passive usage, it means to be brought in (Gen. 12:15; Est. 2:8, 2:16). It takes on the nuance of flashing, bolting here and there like fire or lightning (Exo. 9:24; Ezk. 1:4).

Gomer...

גֹּמֶר

gōmer

A proper noun designating Gomer:

A. A son of Japheth, Noah's son (Gen. 10:2-3).

B. It refers to the descendants, named as a people, who are among the hordes of Gog who will come against God's people (Ezk. 38:6).

C. The wife of Hosea, a daughter of Diblaim (Hos. 1:3).

the daughter...

בַּת

baṯ

A feminine noun meaning daughter. It designates a female child (Gen. 30:21; 34:1; Exo. 1:16, 1:22; Lev. 12:6). Combined with the phrase the king, it refers to a princess (2Kgs. 9:34; 2Chr. 22:11; Dan. 11:6). Properly modified, it can refer to a daughter-in-law (Ruth 1:11-13); sister (Ezk. 22:11); half-sister (Gen. 20:12); cousin (Est. 2:7); or granddaughter (Gen. 46:7). It is used to address a person politely (Ruth 3:10-11).

It is used to designate women in various ways: of a certain city, land, or nation (Jdg. 21:21; Song 3:11; Isa. 3:16-17); figuratively, it refers to a city as a daughter, e.g., daughter of Zion (Isa. 1:8; 10:32); villages may be referred to as daughters of a central city (Num. 21:25; Jos. 15:45). In more figurative uses, it depicts the character of a person when modified by the following words: daughter of a strange god (Mal. 2:11); or daughter of a troop, i.e., a city of troops or warriors (Mic. 5:1; 4:14; cf. Ecc. 12:4). The phrase daughter (KJV, apple) of an eye is found (Lam. 2:18, NASB, NIV, NKJV), meaning the pupil of the eye. The leech has two daughters that are never satisfied (Pro. 30:15). In at least one place, it refers to branches of a vine that climb a wall (Gen. 49:22, literally, daughter of walking up a wall).

of Dibliam...

דִּבְלַיִם

diḇlayim

A proper noun designating Diblaim (Hos. 1:3).

which conceived...

הָרָה

hārāh

A verb indicating to conceive, to become pregnant. Literally, it means for a woman to become pregnant (Gen. 16:4-5; 19:36; 25:21; 38:18). It is often followed by the verb to bear, give birth, wattahar wattēleḏ, she became pregnant and gave birth (Gen. 4:1, 4:17; 21:2; Exo. 2:2). It has several figurative or metaphorical uses: of Moses's conceiving Israel (Num. 11:12); of Israel's failed pregnancy (Isa. 26:18); of Assyria's conception of chaff (Isa. 33:11); of the godless who become pregnant with trouble and evil (Job 15:35; Psm. 7:14,15; Isa. 59:4).

and bare...

יָלַד

yālaḏ, לֵדָה

lēḏāh

I. A verb meaning to give birth, to beget, to deliver. It is commonly used of women bearing children (Gen. 3:16) as well as animals who brought forth young (Gen. 30:39). In the case of birds, it may refer to the laying or production of eggs (Jer. 17:11). In a more general sense, it is used of men becoming the father of children (Gen. 4:18). It is used in figurative expressions: evil people bring forth iniquity (Job 15:35); Moses is said to beget, bear, conceive the people of Israel (Num. 11:12); God begets Israel (Deu. 32:18); a day brings forth many things (Pro. 27:1). In a passive use of the verb, it may refer to one's birthday, literally, "the day of her birth" (Hos. 2:5).

In certain forms of the verb, it means to help bring to birth, to serve as midwife (Exo. 1:16). In other forms of the verb, it takes on a causal sense, such as causing someone to give birth, as God causes His people to come to birth (Isa. 66:9). The wicked in Israel are said to conceive, to bring forth iniquity (Isa. 59:4). In Num. 1:18, it takes on the meaning of having one's name put into a genealogical record.

II. A feminine noun referring to childbirth, delivery. It indicates the time of or the process of childbirth (2Kgs. 19:3); it is used of the failure of Israel to be fruitful when her time had come (Isa. 37:3). Hosea stresses Israel's failure to become that nation God was looking for on the day of her birth (Hos. 9:11). The pangs of childbirth are employed in a simile to orchestrate the pain of Israel's being thrust into exile (Jer. 13:21).

him a son...

בֵּן

bēn

A noun meaning son that occurs almost five thousand times in the Old Testament. Although the most basic meaning and general translation is son, the direct male offspring of human parents (Gen. 4:25; 27:32; Isa. 49:15), it is more generally a relational term because of its variety of applications. This word can express an adopted child (Exo. 2:10); children in general, male and female (Gen. 3:16; 21:7; Exo. 21:5); descendants, such as grandsons (Jos. 22:24-25, 22:27; 2Kgs. 10:30); relative age (Gen. 5:32; 17:12; Pro. 7:7; Song 2:3); the male offspring of animals (Lev. 22:28; Deu. 22:6-7; 1Sam. 6:7, 6:10); a member of a guild, order, or class (1Kgs. 20:35; 1Chr. 9:30; Ezra 4:1); a person with a certain quality or characteristic (1Sam. 14:52; 2Sam. 3:34; 2Kgs. 14:14). It may also have a gentilic sense and designate a person from a certain place (Gen. 17:12; Psm. 149:2; Ezk. 23:15, 23:17).

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".

The meanings of the people’s names are very important in this. The name "Gomer" means completion. This means then, that God has sent them final warning. They have gone too far, with their unfaithfulness to God. "Diblaim" means two cakes. If we put the names together, we would see that the woman was a pleasure, but not a true wife as she was full of sin. Thank goodness the son here is Hosea's son.

Hosea’s Marriage: Israel’s Unfaithfulness

This relationship, characterized by infidelity on the wife’s part, was to portray Israel’s unfaithfulness to its covenant with the Lord (cf. Hos. 2:2-23). In response to the divine command Hosea.… married Gomer, a daughter of Diblaim.

Much debate has centered on the circumstances of Hosea’s marriage. Some have held that the marriage was only visionary or allegorical, not literal. This proposal was motivated by a desire to sidestep the supposed moral difficulty of the holy God commanding His servant to marry a woman of disreputable character. However, the account is presented as a straightforward narrative, not as a report of a vision or as a purely symbolic act (cf. Hos. 3:1-5). The Lord sometimes required His prophets to carry out orders that many would consider over and above the call of duty (e.g., Isa. 20:1-4; Eze. 4:1-5:4).

Those who hold to a literal marriage disagree over Gomer’s status at the beginning of her relationship with Hosea. Some argue that Gomer was a prostitute at the time she was married. A modification of this is the view that she was a typical young Israelite woman who had participated in a Canaanite rite of sexual initiation in preparation for marriage (Wolff, Hosea, pp. 14-5). Others contend that Gomer was sexually pure at the time of marriage and later became an adulteress. The Book of Hosea does not provide information concerning Gomer’s premarital sexual experience. The expression “adulterous wife” (lit., “wife of adultery”) does not describe her condition at the time of marriage, but anticipates what she proved to be, a wife characterized by unfaithfulness. Any knowledge of Gomer’s status at the time of marriage is thereby precluded.

The children are those mentioned in Hos. 1:3-9. “Unfaithfulness” does not necessarily imply they were the products of Gomer’s illicit relationships. The fact that Hosea is not specifically mentioned in Hos. 1:6 and Hos. 1:8 as the children’s father need not point to their illegitimacy. In Gen. 29:32-35 the same phrase which appears in Hos. 1:6, 1:8 (“she conceived again and gave birth”) is used with no mention of the father (Jacob) because he is identified in the preceding context (as in Hosea, Hos. 1:3; cf. Andersen and Freedman, Hosea, p. 168). “Children of unfaithfulness” may simply point to their being born in the context of (but not as a direct result of) Gomer’s infidelity. Also the phrase emphasizes the mother’s character, not that of the children. Andersen and Freedman understand the phrase as elliptical: “children of (a wife of) promiscuity” (Hosea, p. 168). It is similar to other Hebrew expressions in which the descriptive term points primarily to a quality of the parent not of the offspring (cf. b^enê hann^e‛ûrı̂m, lit., “sons of youth,” i.e., “sons born to a youthful parent,” Psm. 127:4; and ben z^eqūnı̂m, lit., “son of old age,” i.e., “a son born to an aged parent,” Gen. 37:3).

Hosea’s Children: Israel’s Judgment

The divinely chosen names for Hosea’s three children served as reminders of the broken relationship between the Lord and Israel and pointed ahead to judgment. Each section on the children (Hos. 1:3-5, 1:6-7, 1:8-9) contains a birth notice (Hos. 1:3, 1:6, 1:8), a divine word of instruction concerning the child’s name (Hos. 1:4, 1:6, 1:9), and an explanation of the meaning of the name (Hos. 1:4-5, 1:6, 1:9). God’s words (Hos. 1:7) are unique in that they qualify the announcement of judgment given (Hos. 1:6).

Jezreel

The first child (a son) was named Jezreel. At this point the significance of his name was not in its meaning (“God sows”), but in its association with past and future events at the place Jezreel (cf., however, Hos. 1:11; 2:22-23). Jezreel was the site of Jehu’s ruthless massacre of the house of Ahab (Hos. 1:4; cf. 2Kgs. 9-10). In the future it would be the scene of Israel’s military demise (Hos. 1:5).