en; from that time it was
only a living corpse. The fall of the house of Jehu was the beginning
of the end,--the commencement of the process of putrefaction. The
omission, in the inscription, of all mention of any of the kings after
Jeroboam, coincides with the circumstance that the fall of the house of
Jehu is connected with the fall of the kingdom. With regard, however,
to the former event, Hosea had an earlier prophecy before him. It had
been prophesied to Jehu (2 Kings x. 30) that his children should sit on
the throne until the fourth generation. Now, since Jeroboam was the
great-grandson of Jehu, the glory of [Pg 208] this family must come to
an end with his son. But at no period did the house of Jehu, and the
kingdom of Israel, seem to be so far from destruction as under the
reign of Jeroboam; and, hence, it was time that the forgotten prophecy
should be revived, and, at the same time, expanded.

Ver. 5. "_And it shall come to pass at that day, that I break the bow
of Israel in the valley of Jezreel._"

Of this, Calvin gives the following paraphrase: "Ye are puffed up with
pride; ye oppose your fierceness to God, because ye excel in weapons
and strength; because ye are warlike men, ye believe that God can do
nothing against you. But surely your bows shall not prevent His hands
from destroying you."--In the valley of Jezreel, Israel shall become,
as to punishment, what they already are, as to guilt, viz., a
"Jezreel." The verse is a further expansion of the last words of the
preceding one, to which the words, "at that day," refer. He whose bow
is broken is defenceless and powerless; compare Gen. xlix. 24; 1 Sam.
ii. 4; Jer. xlix. 35. It is evident that we can here think only of the
defeat of Israel by the Assyrians, the consequence of which was the
total overthrow of the kingdom of Israel. But it is not to be
overlooked, that the Assyrians, who in the second section of Hosea are
frequently mentioned in express terms, as the instruments of God's
punishment, are not spoken of at all as such in the first section,
which belongs to the reign of Jeroboam. Amos likewise abstains from
mentioning any name of the enemies. The Assyrians had not at that time
appeared on the historical horizon. But the prophecy was to evince
itself as such, by the fact of the announcement of the judgment at a
time when its instruments were not as yet prepared; just as Elijah, in
1 Kings xviii. 41, hears the rushing of the rain before there was