Hosea 3:2

2. The command is carried out.

I bought her The woman described in Hosea 3:1. Why he had to buy her back is not stated, nor is it quite clear. It may have been simply to avoid an altercation with the paramour, or because she had become a slave. Pusey and others suggest that the verb does not imply purchase, but refers to some arrangement on the part of the prophet to provide for the temporary maintenance until he might restore her to wifehood of Gomer, whom he found in destitute circumstances, though not in the possession of another. This explanation would remove the necessity of assuming that Gomer had become a slave; it would make natural also the mention of barley, which would serve as food, while the money was to supply other necessities. It is doubtful, however, that such meaning can be assigned to the verb translated I bought; it is better to retain the common rendering.

Fifteen pieces (or, shekels) of silver A shekel of silver is equivalent to about sixty cents; the entire amount being about nine dollars.

Homer of barley According to Ezekiel 45:11, the homer contains ten ephahs or baths (but compare Exodus 16:36); of the bath two calculations have been handed down: that of the rabbis, ascribing to it a capacity of 21.26 quarts, and that of Josephus, who makes it equivalent to 40.62 quarts. The homer would contain ten times that amount.

Half homer Hebrews lethekh. A measure not otherwise known; Hebrew tradition makes it equivalent to a half homer. LXX. renders, “a bottle of wine,” which is accepted by some moderns as original.

Admitting the correctness of the Hebrew, Hosea would have paid one homer and a half of barley in addition to the fifteen shekels of silver. The money value of the barley it is difficult to determine. 2 Kings 7:18, helps but little, since the price stated there is not the normal price. If we assume that the ordinary rate was three seahs for one shekel, one homer and a half forty-five seahs would cost approximately fifteen shekels; that added to fifteen shekels paid cash would make thirty shekels according to Exodus 21:32, the value of a slave. Why Hosea paid partly in barley and partly in cash we do not know.