Hubbard1 puts it excellently, tying God’s command (Hosea 3:1) and Hosea’s subsequent action (Hosea 3:2) back to Hosea 2:14–23. He writes, What Hosea has learned about the forgiving, restoring love of Yahweh from the salvation speech (Hosea 2:14–23) he is to teach others by his love for an adulteress.
Though adultery was punishable by death (Deuteronomy 22:22), Hosea is commanded to love his unfaithful wife. Likewise, Israel deserved national death in exile, the full weight of God’s covenant curses, yet the Lord loves the children of Israel.
Hwang2 highlights that Israel consistently failed to reciprocate God’s love, writing: Despite YHWH’s persistent care in the centuries since the exodus and conquest, the people were nearly always ungrateful, reaching back to their grumbling in the wilderness (Exodus 16:1 – 17:16) and idolatry with the golden calf prior to leaving Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:1–35). Apostasy with ‘other gods’ became a constant refrain of Israel’s life in the land.
There is a constancy and commitment in God’s love toward his people. God will make them his (Hosea 2:14). As Stuart3 writes: Yahweh’s love for Israel is noble, unselfish, generous, protective. Israel’s love for its raisin cakes and the adulteress’s love for evil are selfish, indulgent, pleasure-oriented.
In Hosea’s obedience to love Gomer again, there is a small picture of the divine love.
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.”