Plead] addressed to Gomer's sons. The people Israel in this acted allegory are sometimes the sons, as in Hosea 2:1, but more generally the wife. When as here distinguished we may suppose that the prophet is appealing to those willing to hear to remonstrate with the faithless majority. There is a somewhat similar mixture of figure in Isaiah 62:5. She is not my wife] The people by their idolatry had put themselves into a false relation with Jehovah. He was no longer their God, nor they His people: cp. Hosea 1:9.
3, 4. As a punishment for her faithlessness, the country would be made desolate by an invading enemy, and the inhabitants slain with the sword. So would she be put to shame.
Children of whoredoms] By their idolatries the people had proved themselves to be children of other gods, the lovers of Hosea 2:5.
5. They worshipped the gods of the land—the local deities who were supposed to give abundant crops if propitiated. See Intro. They did not ascribe the fertility of the land to Jehovah, but to the local Baalim, who were personifications of the reproductive powers of nature, and in whose worship they had practically merged the worship of Jehovah.
6, 7. Through the disasters brought by a foreign enemy, including the siege of their cities, the people would discover the impotence of their idols, and seek Jehovah in earnest: cp. Hosea 14:3, etc. Make a wall] RV 'make a fence against her.'
The beginning.. Lord] RV 'When the Lord spake at the first by Hosea.' A wife of whoredoms] Hosea is probably speaking in the light of his later experiences. His wife was probably innocent of this evil when he married her—or if not the prophet was ignorant of her true character.
4. For the giving of names for a prophetic purpose cp. Isaiah 7:8-14; Isaiah 8:1-4. The name Jezreel ('God will sow') signified, (1) the town which was the capital of Israel during Jehu's dynasty, and the scene of the murders by which he established his rule (2 Kings 9); (2) the resowing of the restored Israel (Hosea 1:11). The name was given to the child as a reminder of the punishment due for the massacre. I will avenge the blood] This prophecy was fulfilled by the overthrow of the ruling dynasty when Jeroboam's son, Zechariah, had reigned six months: see 2 Kings 15:10, and cp. Amos 7:9. Hosea looks at Jehu's murders from a different point of view from that of Elisha and the editors of the book of Kings: see especially 2 Kings 10:30. They regarded chiefly his outward religious policy and his probably genuine detestation of Baal-worship. Hosea sees mainly the motives of personal ambition and lust of cruelty which underlay his actions. Time had shown that neither Jehu nor his descendants had justified his zeal by any high religious principle. Will cause to cease] This and Hosea 1:5 extend the prophecy to the final destruction of the kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians: see 2 Kings 17:6. The valley of Jezreel was the battlefield of Palestine, and nothing would seem more probable to the prophet than that the final overthrow would take place there.