I don’t get the point of not bathing and not having sex with his wife. In the Old Testament God sometimes made object lessons form the lives of some of his prophets. Hosea, for example was told to marry a women who was a prostitute, who subsequently cheated on him. The lesson to be observed was that the nation of Israel was being unfaithful to God, despite His love and care for them. What is the message here of not bathing or not having sex with ones wife?
After 13 years of not bathing, he would have been disgusting, putrid, and stinking. This would have depicted the condition of Israel who was playing the harlot herself. Israel was chosen of God and played the whore just as Hosea’s wife. Hosea did not forsake his harlot wife, just as God would not forsake Israel although they played the harlot; but God would also not show Himself intimate with Israel.