Hosea and His Faithless Wife (Chs. 1-3). 

        The meaning of this section is made more difficult by faulty chapter division in English and by a natural tendency to regard ch. 2 as one connected prophecy.

        Chapter 1:2-9 is the story of Hosea’s marriage up to the point where it breaks down; ver. 7 is purely parenthetic. Then the story is applied to Israel (1:10-2:23). Before the apparently inevitable story of doom is unrolled it is preceded by an almost incredible promise of restoration (1:10-2:1) with no close link with what precedes or what follows. In ver. 10 “Yet…” is misleading; it is the simple “And it shall come to pass that…” Then in ch. 3 we are shown from Hosea’s own action how God will carry out His promise.

        The mention of pillar and teraphim in 3:4, objects both condemned by the Law (Exod. 23:24; Deut. 16:22; ISam. 15:23) does not imply the prophet’s approval of them; he is saying that every form of civil and religious organization, good or bad, will vanish.