Book of Hosea Chapter 2 Vs. 7

 Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. Hos. 2:7

she shall follow... With earnest travel, and with wearisome toil, she shall attempt every way to get to them, but to no purpose: afflictions and sorrows surround Israel; these Israel can by no means break out of to these lovers, and they, like false lovers, hasten as fast and as far from this adulteress as they can.

Her lovers are idols and idolaters, her false friends, and false gods.

she shall not... They which hasten after such strange gods and helps, as this shameless harlot, shall meet with sorrow, but never overtake their desired help.

she shall seek...: As is the manner of immodest strumpets; it speaks also her obstinate resolution in her way: so, Israel forsook a God that would have sought him to do him good, and by no disappointments would be (for a long time), taken off from this frantic wildness, of seeking to idols that could do him no good.

but shall not... The final issue of all is at last, she is wearied in her folly, tired with fruitless labor, and sits down hopeless of ever finding help from idols and idolaters.

I will go... Restless, she will try one way more; if she only had tried this sooner, this would have been successful. She will return, come back, and seek to her Husband.

my first Husband... i.e., God, who had married Israel to himself, who was her Husband indeed: all others were as adulterers, as deceivers and seducers, who abuse the credulity of wanton women first, and next abuse their husbands’ beds.

For then was it better with me than now: how much the tune is changed! (In Hosea 2:5), all her gallantry, her feasts, her rich apparel, these are gifts of her lovers; not a word of her Husband’s greatest kindnesses. But now she sees and confesses that the least of her Husband’s kindnesses was better than the greatest kindness of these her paramours, and at worst with her Husband she was better than at best with adulterers.

You cannot try out the world and then come back to God anytime you want to. That is what Israel found out, and it is what Christians find out also. God did not want part of their love, He wanted all. Loyalty to God involves forsaking the entire world. Israel suddenly realizes that she was much better off when she was with God.

Her frantic efforts to find her lovers would be thwarted (Hos. 2:7). As a last resort, she would resolve to return to her Husband, the Lord, opening the way for restoration. The reality behind this figurative portrayal of judgment probably included drought, invasion, and exile (cf. Hos. 2:9, 2:11-12; Lev. 26:18-22).

As a last resort, she would resolve to return to her Husband, the Lord, opening the way for restoration. The reality behind this figurative portrayal of judgment probably included drought, invasion, and exile (cf. Hos. 2:9, 2:11-12; Lev. 26:18-22).