3:1 adulteress. Evidently the harlot Gomer, in spite of Hosea’s love for her, in spite of their marriage, and even after bearing him two sons and a daughter, had again committed adultery. She left her husband, just as Israel had again and again departed from the love of God on her behalf. Nevertheless, Hosea was instructed to love and redeem Gomer yet again, in order to illustrate God’s undying love for His own people. “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (II Timothy 2:13).