heart. And now Hosea finds himself in the public square, in the presence of his neighbors, bidding on the mother of his children … his wife. “Fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley” for his wife (Hos 3:2). This is “redemption.”32 So now we have come full circle and are ready to define the word redemption. We are also ready to understand why this word was chosen by the Old Testament writers to describe Yahweh’s relationship with his people. In Israel’s tribal society