Hosea 1:5

And it shall come to pass at that day,.... When the Lord shall take vengeance on the family of Jehu, and deprive them of the kingdom of Israel, and shall punish the idolatrous kings that succeed:

And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. I will break the bow of Israel - the prowess (Jeremiah 49:35 : cf. Genesis 49:24, "His bow abode in strength").

It shall come to pass; most certainly this shall be effected. At that day; when my vengeance hath overtaken the house of Jehu, when his great-great-grandson shall be slain. I will break; weaken, and by degrees quite break, i.e. by the conspiracies, seditions, and civil wars which will arise among themselves. The bow: this was a warlike weapon they much used and were skilful in; this one weapon put for all their warlike provision, power, and skill; possibly it may allude to the bow of Jehu, who slew Joram with an arrow, and usurped his throne, but now the bow of the house of Jehu and of Israel shall be broken. Of Israel: see . In the valley of Jezreel: next to Samaria, Jezreel was chief city of the ten tribes, a very strong and fortified town, and both situated in the large and pleasant valley that hath from Joshua’ s time been known by this name, valley of Jezreel, . In this valley it is probable the bloodiest battles in the civil wars were fought, between Zachariah and Shallum, , and between Shallum and Menahem, ; between Pekahiah and Pekah, , and Pekah and Hoshea; the reason whereof probably might be this, because whoever carried the victory in this place were soon masters of Samaria and Jezreel, and consequently carried the kingdom too.

Hosea 1:5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.Ver. 5. I will break the bow of Israel] Though it may seem to have a back of steel, and though it be drawn by Jehu himself, with his full strength, as once against Jehoram, to the piercing of his heart, 2 Kings 9:24. He means, God will blast all the power of their ammunition, defeat their likeliest projects and practices, and make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack. "He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder," &c., Psalms 46:9. He rendereth the weapons vain, or successful, Isaiah 54:17 Jeremiah 50:9, as he did when the rats and mice were sent into Sennacherib’ s army in great, abundance, to gnaw and devour their quivers, bow strings, belts, bridles, shields (as Herodotus relates), to show that the shields of the earth belong to the Lord, that the militia of the world is his, that he orders the ammunition, Jeremiah 50:25. And the like was done by this Lord of hosts, or armies, when the wind and weather fought for Theodosius, in that famous battle against the tyrant Maximus, celebrated by Claudian (Aug. de Cir. Dei, 1. 5). As also when the Spanish Armada was defeated and discomfited by the English in 1588. That was very remarkable, and for our purpose apposite, which occured in the battle between Edward III of England and Philip of France. Philip, enraged with a defeat, resolves presently to revenge it; and hardly had patience to stay in Abbeville one day, while the bridge to pass over his army was being repaired. And with this precipitation and fury, into the field he marcheth, elevated with an assured hope of triumphant victory. But it happened otherwise; for there fell at the instant of the battle a piercing shower of rain, which dissolved their strings, and made their bows useless. In the valley of Jezreel] A city near to Maximinianopolis, saith Jerome. Of the valley wherein this city was situated, see Joshua 17:16 Judges 6:33. It was in the tribe of Manasseh, and bordered upon Issachar, Joshua 19:18. It was ten miles long, and two miles over; being called also the plain of Galilee, and was fit for a fight, for a pitched battle. Here it was, saith Adrichomius, that Gideon fought the Midianites, Judges 6:7, Saul the Philistines, 1 Samuel 31:1-3, Ahab the Syrians, 1 Kings 20:21; 1 Kings 20:29. And here Zechariah (the last of Jehu’ s line) was slain, and with him the kingdom of Israel received such a wound, that it could never rise again. Monarchies have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin. Junius renders it Propter Vallem Iericho, I will break the bow of Israel, because of the wall of Jezreel: that is, saith he, because of the slaughter of Ahab’ s house there made by Jehu, 2 Kings 10:1-8.

(5) I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.—Jehu was to be punished for the assassination of Ahab’s descendants. Though the destruction of the house of Ahab was divinely appointed, its value was neutralised by Jehu’s tolerance of the calf-worship.

Verse 5. In the valley of Jezreel] This also is supposed to relate either to some signal defeat of the Israelites by the Assyrians, which took place in the valley of Jezreel; or to the death of Zechariah, the fourth lineal descendant of Jehu, which may have happened here. See 2Kg 15:10. - Newcome.

5. the bow of Israel] The bow, the symbol of power (Genesis 49:24; Jeremiah 49:35). in the valley of Jezreel] It seemed fitting that this ‘battlefield of Palestine’ (as the valley of Jezreel had already become, see on Judges 6:33) should be the scene of so momentous an event, fitting also that where Jehu had sinned, Jehu’s house should be punished. There would have been a ‘poetical justice’ in such an arrangement, had such been the will of Providence. But there can be no doubt that Hosea had an accurate knowledge of the Assyrians as the destined instruments of Israel’s overthrow (see on Hosea 8:10).

I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel - The valley of Jezreel is a beautiful and a broad valley or plain, stretching, from West to East, from Mount Carmel and the sea to the Jordan,

5. The valley of Jezreel — The ancient battlefield of the Hebrews (Judges 4:13 ff; Judges 6:33 ff; Judges 7:1 ff.; 1 Samuel 29:1 ff.), therefore a proper place for the coming conflict; besides, the