Hosea 10:2,3 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Their heart is divided Between God and their idols, or between God and the world. Now shall they be found faulty As this was their sin, so it is here threatened, that the effects thereof should prove, and be an open manifestation of their guilt. The Hebrew עתה יאשׁמו, may be rendered, now shall they be punished, or, treated as guilty. So the Vulgate, nunc interibunt, now, that is, forthwith, shall they perish. He shall break down their altars, &c. That is, God shall cause their idolatrous altars to be broken down, namely, by the Assyrians. For now they shall say They shall see and feel, and be compelled to own; We have no king Absolutely none, or no such king as we need and expected. This is thought by some commentators to relate to the time of anarchy, or the interregnum which continued for eight or nine years between the murder of Pekah and the settlement of Hoshea on the throne; because we feared not the Lord They shall be sensible that their forsaking the Lord for idols, and their casting off his fear, is the true cause of all their calamities; and particularly of their being deprived of the blessing of a wise, just, and good civil government. What then Or rather, But what should a king do for us? A king could not save us without the help of God. The verse, however, seems rather to refer to the time of their captivity, and the sense probably is, “After Israel shall be carried captive into the country of their enemies, and shall have no king over their nation, they shall then acknowledge that this misfortune has happened to them through their own fault, and because they have not feared the Lord. And they shall acknowledge that it would profit them nothing to have kings, without having also the protection of God.” Calmet.