Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.

5. the bow of Israel ] The bow, the symbol of power (Gen 49:24; Jer 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 Jdg 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 Hos 8:10).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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, which it reaches through two arms, between the Mountains of Gilboa, little Hermon, and Tabor; and from South to North from the Mountains of Ephraim to those of Galilee. Nazareth lay on its northern side. It is called the great plain (1 Macc. 12:49), the great plain of Esdraelon (Judith 1:8). There God had signally executed His judgments against the enemies of His people, or on His people, when they became His enemies. There He gave the great victories over the invading hosts of Sisera (Jdg 4:4 ff), and of Midian, with the children of the East. Jdg 6:33. There also He ended the life and kingdom of Saul 1Sa 29:1; 1Sa 31:1, 1Sa 31:7, 1Sa 31:10, visiting upon him, when his measure of iniquity was full, his years of contumacy, and his persecution of David, whom God had chosen. Jezreel became a royal residence of the house of Ahab 1Ki 18:46; 1Ki 21:1-3; 2Ki 9:10, 2Ki 9:25, 2Ki 9:30; 2Ki 10:1, 2Ki 10:11. There, in the scenes of Ahabs wickedness and of Jehus hypocritical zeal; there, where he drave furiously, to avenge, as he alleged, on the house of Ahab, the innocent blood which Ahab had shed in Jezreel, Hosea foretells that the kingdom of Israel should be broken In the same plain, at the battle with Shalmaneser, near Betharbel (see the note at Hos 10:14), Hosea lived to see his prophecy fulfilled. The strength of the kingdom was there finally broken; the sufferings there endured were one last warning before the capture of Samaria (see the note at Hos 10:15).

The name of Jezreel blends the sins with the punishment. It resembles, in form and in sound, the name of Israel, and contains a reversal of the promise contained in the name of Israel, in which they trusted. Yisrael (as their name was originally pronounced) signifies, he is a prince with God; Yidsreel, God shall scatter. They who, while they followed the faith, for which their forefather Jacob received from God the name of Israel, had been truly Israel, i. e., princes with God, should now be Yidsreel, scattered by God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Hos 1:5

I will break the bow.

A nations humiliation through its army

This verse was intentionally added; for the Israelites were so inflated with their present good fortune, that they laughed at the judgment denounced. They indeed knew that they were well furnished with arms, men, and money; they thought themselves in every way unassailable. Hence the prophet declares that all this could not prevent God from punishing them. Ye are, he says, inflated with pride; ye set up your valour against God, thinking yourselves strong in arms and power; and because ye are military men, ye think that God can do nothing, and yet your bows cannot restrain His hand from destroying you. When He says, I will break the bow, He mentions a part for the whole; for under one sort He comprehends every kind of arms. As to what the prophet had in view, we see that his only object was to break down their false confidence; for the Israelites thought that they should not be exposed to the destruction which Hosea had predicted; for they were dazzled by their own power, and thought themselves beyond the reach of any danger, while they were so well fortified on every side. Hence the prophet says that all their fortresses would be nothing against God; for in that day, when the ripe time for vengeance shall come, the Lord will break all their bows, He will tear in pieces all their arms, and reduce to nothing their power. We are here warned ever to take heed, lest anything should lead us to a torpid state when God threatens us. Though we may have strength, though fortune (so to speak) may smile on us, though, in a word, the whole world should combine to secure our safety, yet there is no reason why we should felicitate ourselves, when God declares Himself opposed to and angry with us. Why so? Because, as He can preserve us when unarmed whenever He pleases, so He can spoil us of all our arms, and reduce our power to nothing. Let this verse then come to our minds whenever God terrifies us by His threatenings; and what it teaches us is, that He can take away all the defences in which we vainly trust. (John Calvin.)

Jehus bow

(2Ki 9:24):–Observe–

1. In those things wherein wicked men have been most successful, God will curse them and let out His wrath upon them.

2. Carnal hearts trust much in their warlike weapons.

3. Fortified cities cannot help when God comes out against a people.

4. Even in the place in which a kingdom most glories, and seems to trust most in, God many times comes, and breaks the kingdom in that very place. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)

Retribution

The word Jezreel means Gods seed, or sowing. Jezreel was the plain between Tabor and Carmel, called by the Greeks, Esdraelon. The royal city was in it. Here the Eternal threatens to break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

I. Gods retribution takes away the power of its victim. The bow of Israel is to be broken. The language means the utter destruction of all their military power. When justice comes to deal out suffering to the sinner, it strips him entirely of his power. Thus he is left to the mercies of his enemies. What are the great enemies of the soul? Carnality, prejudice, selfishness, corrupt impulses and habits,

II. Gods retribution despises the prestige of its victim. The bow is to be broken in the valley of Jezreel, which had been the scene of Israels grandest military exploits. It was to Israel what Marathon was to Greece, and Waterloo to England. In this very scene the punishment should come. The place of their glory should be the place of their ruin and shame. Thus it is ever.

III. Gods retribution defies the opposition of its victims. Jezreel was well fortified. Retribution will strike the sinner in his strongest place. Notwithstanding Jezreel, the kingdom of Israel was broken. Conclusion. Retribution must always follow sin. It may move slowly and silently, but its pace is steady, resolute, and increasing. Swifter and swifter it moves towards the victim. Be sure your sins will find you out. (Homilist.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

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.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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 Hos 1:4.

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 Joshuas time been known by this name, valley of Jezreel, Jos 17:16. In this valley it is probable the bloodiest battles in the civil wars were fought, between Zachariah and Shallum, 2Ki 15:10, and between Shallum and Menahem, 2Ki 15:14; between Pekahiah and Pekah, 2Ki 15:25, 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.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. bowthe prowess (Jer49:35; compare Ge 49:24).

valley of Jezreelafterwardscalled Esdraelon, extending ten miles in breadth, and in length fromJordan to the Mediterranean near Mount Carmel, the great battlefieldof Palestine (Jdg 6:33; 1Sa 29:1).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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:

that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel; of which valley see Jos 17:16. It is now called the plain of Esdraelon; as it is in the Apocrypha:

“And to those among the nations that were of Carmel, and Galaad, and the higher Galilee, and the great plain of Esdrelom,” (Judith 1:8)

the great plain of Esdraelon; according to Adrichomius, o it is two miles broad, and ten miles long; its soil exceeding rich and fruitful, and abounding with grain, wine, and oil; all travellers agree they never saw the like: one says p of this plain or valley, formerly the lot of the tribe of Issachar, this is the most fertile portion of the land of Canaan, where that tribe might well be supposed to have “rejoiced in their tents”, De 33:18, at present, indeed, it is not manured, as another traveller q observes, and yet very fruitful; who says, it is of a vast extent, and very fertile, but uncultivated, only serving the Arabs for pasturage; and, according to the same writer, the ancient river Kishon runs through the middle of it: from the largeness of it, it is frequently called by writers the great plain or valley; and sometimes, from the places near it, or on it, the great plain of Legio, the great plain of Samaria, the great plain or valley of Megiddo, 2Ch 35:22, and the great plain of Esdraelon, and here the valley of Jezreel; Jezreel or Esdraela being situated in this great plain or valley between Scythopolis and Legio, a very large village, as Jerom says r it was in his days; and also on this passage observes, that Jezreel, from whence this valley had its name, is now near Maximianopolis, and was the metropolis of the kingdom of Samaria, near which were very large plains, and a valley of a very great length, extending more than ten miles: here Ahab had a palace in his days, near to which was Naboth’s vineyard, and where God revenged his blood: this city is called by Josephus s Azare and Azarus, or Izarus; and in the times of Gulielmus Tyrius t it went by the name of Little Gerinum. The “bow” is put for all instruments of war, and everything in which confidence was put, which was weakened or removed from them: this refers either to Menhchem’s slaughter of Shallum, and wasting some parts of the land of Israel, 2Ki 15:14, or rather it may be to a battle fought between Hoshea king of Israel and Shalmaneser king of Assyria in this valley, which was not far from Samaria; in which the former was defeated, and the latter, having the victory, proceeded to Samaria, besieged and took it, 2Ki 17:6 though of the action the Scripture is silent; but it is not improbable. The Targum is,

“I will break the strength of the warriors of Israel in the valley of Jezreel;”

which seems to confirm the same conjecture. Some render it, “because of the valley of Jezreel” u; that is, because of the idolatry, bloodshed, and other sins, committed there.

o Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 35, 37. p Dr. Shaw’s Travels, tom. 2. c. 1. p. 275. Ed. 2. q Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 57. Ed. 7. r De locis Hebraicis, fol. 92. I. s Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 6, 8. t Tyr. Hist. l. 22. c. 26. u “propter vallem Jisreelis”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator,

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“And it cometh to pass in that day, that I break in pieces the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” The indication of time, “in that day,” refers not to the overthrow of the house of Jehu, but to the breaking up of the kingdom of Israel, by which it was followed. The bow of Israel, i.e., its might (for the bow, as the principal weapon employed in war, is a synecdochical epithet, used to denote the whole of the military force upon which the continued existence of the kingdom depended (Jer 49:35), and is also a symbol of strength generally; vid., Gen 49:24; 1Sa 2:4), is to be broken to pieces in the valley of Jezreel. The paronomasia between Israel and Jezreel is here unmistakeable. And here again Jezreel is not introduced with any allusion to its appellative signification, i.e., so that the mention of the name itself is intended to indicate the dispersion or breaking up of the nation, but simply with reference to its natural character, as the great plain in which, from time immemorial, even down to the most recent period, all the great battles have been fought for the possession of the land (cf. v. Raumer, Pal. pp. 40, 41). The nation which the Lord had appointed to be the instrument of His judgment is not mentioned here. But the fulfilment shows that the Assyrians are intended, although the brief historical account given in the books of Kings does not notice the place in which the Assyrians gained the decisive victory over Israel; and the statement made by Jerome, to the effect that it was in the valley of Jezreel, is probably simply an inference drawn from this passage.

With the name of the first child, Jezreel, the prophet had, as it were with a single stroke, set before the king and the kingdom generally the destruction that awaited them. In order, however, to give further keenness to this threat, and cut off every hope of deliverance, he now announces two other births. 1Sa 2:6. “And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And He (Jehovah) said to him, Call her name Unfavoured; for I will no more favour the house of Israel, that I should forgive them.” The second birth is a female one, not in order to symbolize a more degenerate race, or the greater need of help on the part of the nation, but to get a name answering to the idea, and to set forth, under the figure of sons and daughters, the totality of the nation, both men and women. Lo’ ruchamah , lit., she is not favoured; for ruchamah is hardly a participle with the dropped, since is never found in close connection with the participle (Ewald, 320, c.), but rather the third pers. perf. fem. in the pausal form. The child receives this name to indicate that the Lord will not continue ( ) to show compassion towards the rebellious nation, as He hitherto has done, even under Jeroboam II (2Ki 13:23). For the purpose of strengthening , the clause is added. This can hardly be understood in any other way than in the sense of , viz., to take away sin or guilt, i.e., to forgive it (cf. Gen 18:24, Gen 18:26, etc.). The explanation, “I will take away from them, sc. everything” (Hengstenberg), has no tenable support in Hos 5:14, because there the object to be supplied is contained in the context, and here this is not the case.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

This verse was intentionally added; for the Israelites were so inflated with their present good fortune, that they laughed at the judgement denounced. They indeed knew that they were well furnished with arms, and men, and money; in short, they thought themselves in every way unassailable. Hence the Prophet declares, that all this could not prevent God from punishing them. “Ye are,” he says, “inflated with pride; ye set up your valour against God, thinking yourselves strong in arms and in power; and because ye are military men, ye think that God can do nothing; and yet your bows cannot restrain his hand from destroying you. But when he says, I will break the bow, he mentions a part for the whole; for under one sort he comprehends every kind of arms. But as to what the Prophet had in view, we see that his only object was to break down their false confidence; for the Israelites thought that they should not be exposed to the destruction which Hosea had predicted; for they were dazzled with their own power, and thought themselves beyond the reach of any danger, while they were so well fortified on every side. Hence the Prophet says, that all their fortresses would be nothing against God; for in that day, when the ripe time for vengeance shall come, the Lord will break all their bows, he will tear in pieces all their arms, and reduce to nothing their power.

We are here warned ever to take heed, lest any thing should lead us to a torpid state when God threatens us. Though we may have strength, though fortune (so to speak) may smile on us, though, in a word, the whole world should combine to secure our safety, yet there is no reason why we should felicitate ourselves, when God declares himself opposed to and angry with us. Why so? Because, as he can preserve us when unarmed whenever he pleases, so he can spoil us of all our arms, and reduce our power to nothing. Let this verse then come to our minds whenever God terrifies us by his threatening; and what it teaches us is, that he can take away all the defences in which we vainly trust.

Now, as Jezreel was the metropolis of the kingdom, the Prophet distinctly mentions the place, I will break in pieces the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel; that is, the Lord sees what sort of fortress there is in Samaria, in Jezreel; but he will make an end of you there, in the very midst of the land. Ye think that you have there a place of safety and a firm position; but the Lord will bring you to nothing even in the valley of Jezreel. It follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

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

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. The valley of Jezreel The ancient battlefield of the Hebrews (Jdg 4:13 ff; Jdg 6:33 ff; Jdg 7:1 ff.; 1Sa 29:1 ff.), therefore a proper place for the coming conflict; besides, the crime to be avenged had been committed there. If the LXX. text of 2Ki 15:10, is correct Zechariah was slain at Ibleam, which lies in the valley of Jezreel. The final blow, which marked the end of the northern kingdom, was the fall of Samaria. There is no reason for regarding Hos 1:5 as a later insertion (Marti).

Break the bow Symbol of military power. The enemy which is to destroy Israel is not named; he can be no other than the Assyrian.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Hos 1:5. That I will break the bow of Israel, &c. St. Jerome says, the Israelites were overthrown by the Assyrians in a pitched battle in the plain of Jezrael or Jezreel. But of any such battle we have no mention in history, sacred or profane. But Tiglath-pileser took several of the principal cities in that plain, in the reign of Pekah. And afterwards, in the reign of Hoshea, Samaria was taken by Shalmanazer after a siege of three years; and this put an end to the kingdom of the ten tribes; 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:5-6. And the taking of these cities successively, and at last of the capital itself, was “a breaking of the bow of Israel,” a demolition of the whole military strength of the kingdom, “in the valley of Jezreel,” where all those cities were situated. For the breaking of the bow was a natural image for the overthrow of military strength in general, at a time when the bow and arrow was one of the principal weapons.

Although the valley of Jezreel is here to be understood literally of the tract of country so named, yet perhaps there is an indirect allusion to the mystical import of the name. This being the finest spot of the whole land of promise, the name, the vale of Jezreel, describes it as the property of the holy seed, by whom it is at last to be possessed. So that, in the very terms of the denunciation against the kingdom of Israel, an oblique promise is contained of the restoration of the converted Israelites. The Israel which possessed it, in the time of this prophesy, were not the rightful owners of the soil. It is part of the domain of the Jezrael, or Jezreel, for whom it is reserved.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Hos 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, 2Ki 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., Psa 46:9 . He rendereth the weapons vain, or successful, Isa 54:17 Jer 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, Jer 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 Jos 17:16 Jdg 6:33 . It was in the tribe of Manasseh, and bordered upon Issachar, Jos 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, Jdg 6:7 , Saul the Philistines, 1Sa 31:1-3 , Ahab the Syrians, 1Ki 20:21 ; 1Ki 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, 2Ki 10:1-8 . Jehu’s tent in that execution was rewarded as an act of justice, quoad sabstantiam operis, and yet punished as an act of policy, quoad modum, for the perverse end. Finibus non officiis a vitiis discernuntur virtutes, saith Augustine: By the ends, and not by the works done, are virtues distinguished from vices. Two things make a good Christian, and declare him so, – good actions and good aims. And although a good aim doth not make a bad action good (as in Uzziah), yet a bad aim makes a good action bad, as here in Jehu. There may be then, we see, malum opus in bona materia, a work materially good, which yet may never prove so formally and eventually: sc. when there is a fail either quoad fontem, or quoad finem. A thing which I see in the night may shine; and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness. Blazing comets (though but comets), as long as they keep aloft, shine bright. But when they begin to decline from their pitch, they fall to the earth, and infect the air. So when Illuminates forsake the Lord, and mind only earthly things, being all for self, they lose their light, and go out in a snuff. Jehu’s golden calves made an end of him and his, though he made an end of Ahab’s house and Baal’s worship. His rooting out of Ahab’s race was but to settle the crown better upon his own head. Like unto him was our Richard III, who well knowing (saith the historian) it was no policy to play the villain by half, is resolved to leave never a rub to lie in the way, that might hinder the true running of his bowl. Like unto him also (saith Master Calvin upon this text) was our King Henry VIII, who cast off some degree of Popery, so far as would serve his own turn: but there were the six articles in force (that whip with six cords, as that martyr called it) for which many suffered at that time. And whereas (like Sulla) he commanded others, under great penalties, to be no Papists, himself was either Papist or atheist, jeering at some for their old Mumpsimus, a and at others for their new Sumpsimus, b as he profanely called the Reformation: hanging Papists on the one side of the hedge for denying his supremacy, and burning Protestants on the other side thereof for denying transubstantiation, &c. And hence, it may be thought, is that dreadful and dismal ruin that is now (in these our days, and in the fourth generation or succession) befallen the royal family. The house of Jehu fareth the worse for Jehu. Offa, king of East Saxons, lived in the time of Charles the Great, and was a potent prince. But the many injuries he did, and the murder he committed in his house upon Ethelbert, king of East Angles, coming to him under a public faith, and a suitor to his daughter, were justly revenged upon his posterity, which, after him, declining, in the end lost all. But to return to Jehu: we shall find, 2Ki 10:30 , that God said, that because Jehu had shed the blood of Ahab in Jezreel, that he would reward him for it: and that his children to the fourth generation should sit upon the throne of Israel, and govern that kingdom. And yet, for miscarriage in the manner, justly plagueth his posterity. As Xerxes crowned his steersman in the morning, and yet hanged him in the afternoon of the same day. And as Mareschal de Thermas, the French general, first knighted a French soldier in Scotland who first mounted a besieged fort (by that means taken), and then hanged him within an hour after, for doing it without order.

a One who obstinately adheres to old ways, in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong; an ignorant and bigoted opponent of reform. D

b A correct expression taking the place of an incorrect but popular one (mumpsimus). D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

at that day: i.e. the day of 2Ki 18:11.

bow. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of the Adjunct), App-6, for the armies of Israel.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

I will: Hos 2:18, Psa 37:15, Psa 46:9, Jer 49:34, Jer 49:35, Jer 51:56

in: Jos 17:16, Jdg 6:33

Reciprocal: Jos 19:18 – Jezreel 1Ki 21:1 – Jezreel 2Ki 15:10 – slew him Psa 18:34 – so that Eze 39:3 – General Mat 14:6 – birthday

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Hos 1:5. Break the bow is figurative and means that the men of the 10-tribe kingdom would not be able to with-stand the attacks of the invading forces, The fulfillment of this prophecy is recorded in 2 Kings 17 th chapter.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Hos 1:5. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break, &c. This entire abolition of the kingdom of the ten tribes shall take effect at the time when I break the bow, &c. Here the breaking of the bow in the valley of Jezreel is the event that marks the date; and to that date, so marked, the threatened excision of the kingdom of the ten tribes is referred. And it was of moment to give the people warning, that the advantages, which the enemy would gain over them in that part of the country, would end in the utter subversion of the kingdom. For had this timely warning produced repentance and reformation, the judgment, no doubt, would have been averted. St. Jerome says, the Israelites were overthrown by the Assyrians, in a pitched battle, in the plain of Jezreel. But of any such battle we have no mention in history, sacred or profane. But Tiglath-pileser took several of the principal cities in that plain, in the reign of Pekah. And afterward in the reign of Hoshea, Samaria was taken by Shalmaneser, after a siege of three years; and this put an end to the kingdom of the ten tribes. And the taking of these cities successively, and, at last, of the capital itself, was a breaking of the bow of Israel, a demolition of the whole military strength of the kingdom, in the valley of Jezreel, where all those cities were situated. For the breaking of a bow was a natural image for the overthrow of military strength in general, at a time when the bow was one of the principal weapons. Although the valley of Jezreel is here to be understood literally of the tract of country so named, yet perhaps there is an indirect allusion to the mystical import of the name. This being the finest spot of the whole land of promise, the name, the vale of Jezreel, describes it as the property of the holy seed, by whom it is at last to be possessed. So that, in the very terms of the denunciation against the kingdom of Israel, an oblique promise is contained, of the restoration of the converted Israelites. The Israel which possessed it, in the time of this prophecy, were not the rightful owners of the soil. It is part of the domain of the Jezreel, the seed of God, for whom it is reserved. Bishop Horsley.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1:5 And it shall come to pass at that {g} day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

(g) When the measure of their iniquity is full, and I will take vengeance and destroy all their administration and strength.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

This name of Hosea’s first son would also point to a future judgment that would also take place in the valley near Jezreel. It would happen on "that day," namely, a future unspecified day. Yahweh promised to break Israel’s military strength, symbolized by an archer’s bow, there then. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pilesar III fulfilled this prophecy when he invaded and defeated Israel there in 733 B.C. (2Ki 15:29; cf. 2Ki 17:3-5). Gideon had defeated the Midianites in this valley (Jdg 6:33; Judges 7), the Philistines had defeated the Israelites under Saul’s leadership there (1Sa 29:1; 1Sa 29:11; 1 Samuel 31), and Pharaoh Neco II defeated Josiah there after the Assyrians attacked (2Ki 23:29-30).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)