Book of Hosea Chapter 10 Vs. 10

 ONCE MORE: PUPPET-KINGS AND PUPPET-GODS

It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. Hos. 10:10

bind themselves in... The Septuagint reads, chastened for their two sins; Berkeley, punish them for their double guilt. This refers to the two golden calves that turned the whole nation from God (1Kgs. 12:26-33).

in their two... Refers to Israel’s double sin of rejecting God both as God and as King.

Israel would receive a double portion of judgment for her multiplied iniquity (Isa. 40:2; Jer. 16:18).

God's wrath has come up in His face, and His desire is to chastise them for their terrible sins. God is holy, and He expects His people to be holy also. Not anything, or anyone, can stop God from punishing them; now that He has judged them guilty. The two furrows could be speaking of the fact that God will punish Judah, as well as Israel for rejecting Him. They may try to hide from God, but there is no hiding place He cannot find.

As soon as I please, I can chastise them, and peoples shall be gathered against them in chastisement for their double sin. This can scarcely be, as some suggest, the two calves at Bethel and Dan. More probably it is still the idols and the man-made kings. Now he returns to the ambition of the people for spiritual results without a spiritual discipline.

At the time of the Lord’s choosing (When I please) He would punish (lit., discipline; cf. Hos. 5:2) Israel by gathering the nations… against her. The translation and meaning of the final line in Hos. 10:10 are uncertain. The NIV takes the bonds as a reference to captivity and approaching exile. Probably a better translation is, when they are harnessed to their double sin. The imagery is that of plowing (cf. Hos. 10:11). Israel is pictured as yoked to her sin like a heifer (cf. Isa. 5:18). As Wolff suggests (Hosea, p. 184), double sin probably refers to Israel’s former sin (at Gibeah) and her present guilt.