Book of Hosea Chapter 1 Vs. 5

 Hosea's Wife and Children

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

And it shall come to pass...

הָיָה

hāyāh

A verb meaning to exist, to be, to become, to happen, to come to pass, to be done. It is used over 3,500 times in the Old Testament. In the simple stem, the verb often means to become, to take place, to happen. It indicates that something has occurred or come about, such as events that have turned out a certain way (1Sam. 4:16); something has happened to someone, such as Moses (Exo. 32:1, 32:23; 2Kgs. 7:20); or something has occurred just as God said it would (Gen. 1:7, 1:9). Often a special Hebrew construction using the imperfect form of the verb asserts that something came to pass (cf. Gen. 1:7, 1:9). Less often, the construction is used with the perfect form of the verb to refer to something coming to pass in the future (Isa. 7:18, 7:21; Hos. 2:16).

The verb is used to describe something that comes into being or arises. For instance, a great cry arose in Egypt when the firstborn were killed in the tenth plague (Exo. 12:30; cf. Gen. 9:16; Mic. 7:4); and when God commanded light to appear, and it did (Gen. 1:3). It is used to join the subject and verb as in Gen. 1:2 where the earth was desolate and void, or to say Adam and Eve were naked (Gen. 2:25). With certain prepositions, it can mean to follow or to be in favor of someone (Psm. 124:1-2). The verb is used with a variety of other words, normally prepositions, to express subtle differences in meaning, such as to be located somewhere (Exo. 1:5); to serve or function as something (e.g., gods [Exo. 20:3]); to become something or as something, as when a person becomes a living being (Gen. 2:7); to be with or by someone (Deu. 22:2); to be or come on someone or something (e.g., the fear of humans on the beasts [Gen. 9:2]); to express the idea of better than or a comparison (Ezk. 15:2), as in the idea of too small (Exo. 12:4).

at that...

הִיא

hiy’, הוּא

hû’

A pronoun appearing in masculine and feminine forms, he, she, it. Its major uses are as follows: as the third person independent pronoun meaning he, she, it, they (Gen. 3:15, 3:20; 13:1; 37:2; Jdg. 11:1); as a demonstrative pronoun meaning that is, there is (Gen. 2:11-13; Lev. 10:3; Deu. 30:20); as an emphatic word to emphasize a subject (Gen. 2:14). Placed in front of a noun, it gives precision (Exo. 12:42); used with a pronoun, it indicates identity, ’^anî hû, it is I (Isa. 52:6). Used after a noun in agreement with the noun, it is a demonstrative adjective meaning that, e.g., that man (Job 1:1). It serves to tie two things together as the verb is, are (Lam. 1:18). It is combined with other words to form names, such as ’^elîyhû(’), He is my God.

day...

יוֹם

yôm

A masculine noun meaning day, time, year. This word stands as the most basic conception of time in the Old Testament. It designates such wide-ranging elements as the daylight hours from sunrise to sunset (Gen. 1:5; 1Kgs. 19:4); a literal twenty-four hour cycle (Deu. 16:8; 2Kgs. 25:30); a generic span of time (Gen. 26:8; Num. 20:15); a given point in time (Gen. 2:17; 47:29; Ezk. 33:12). In the plural, the word may also mean the span of life (Psm. 102:3,4) or a year (Lev. 25:29; 1Sam. 27:7). The prophets often infuse the word with end-times meanings or connotations, using it in connection with a future period of consequential events, such as the "day of the LORD" (Jer. 46:10; Zec. 14:1) or simply, "that day" (Isa. 19:23; Zec. 14:20-21).

that I will break...

שָׁבַר

šāḇar

A verb meaning to break, to burst, to break in pieces, to break down, to break up, to smash, to shatter, to bring to birth. The word is most often used to express bursting or breaking. Other meanings include God's actions against stubborn pride (Lev. 26:19); or a metaphor for deliverance expressed figuratively by the breaking of a yoke (Jer. 28:2). In a figurative sense, the word describes the breaking of Pharaoh's arms (Ezk. 30:21-22). It also depicts the literal smashing or shattering of the tablets of the commandments (Exo. 32:19). Further expressions of the word can mean to bring to the moment of birth (Isa. 66:9); to break down or destroy a people (Isa. 14:25); to break objects of material quality (Gen. 19:9; Lev. 6:28,21; Jer. 49:35).

break the bow... The bow was a common euphemism denoting military strength, the principal instrument of warfare in Israel. Fulfillment came in 722 B.C. when Assyria invaded.

the bow...

קֶשֶׁת

qešeṯ

A feminine noun indicating a bow; a rainbow. It is used figuratively of God's bow, the rainbow set for all time in the heavens (Gen. 9:13-14, 9:16). Otherwise, it refers to one of the most common weapons of war in antiquity, a bow (Gen. 48:22; Jos. 24:12; Hos. 2:18 [20]). A bow shot was the distance covered by an arrow shot from a bow (Gen. 21:16). The bow and arrow was commonly used for hunting (Gen. 27:3). The phrase ben-qešeṯ, son of a bow referred to an arrow, a useless weapon against Leviathan (Job. 41:28,20). Judah is described as the Lord's bow (Zec. 9:13). The phrase rišp̱ê-qāšet means the flaming of the bow, its arrows (Psm. 76:3,4). Hosea speaks of a bow of deception, one that misses its goal, when referring to his people Israel (Hos. 7:16). Job speaks of a bow (Job 20:24). Isa. 21:17 refers to bowmen, lit., the number of the bow. Men with the bow refers to archers, bowmen (1Sam. 31:3).

of Israel...

יִשְׂרָאֵל

yiśrā’ēl

A proper noun designating Israel:

A. The name given to Jacob after he successfully wrestled with the messenger of God (Gen. 32:28). The name means "he (who) struggles with God." It was used of the descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt (70 in all) but was applied to the nation that developed from those descendants (Exo. 1:1, 1:7). This name is explained again in Gen. 35:10. The name Jacob had been interpreted in context as well (Gen. 25:26), "he deceives."

B. The persons descended from Jacob who was renamed Israel (Gen. 35:10; see A above). His descendants became known as Israel (Exo. 1:1, 1:7). They were known as the "twelve tribes of Israel [Jacob]" (Gen. 49:7, 49:16, 49:28). The Lord became "the Rock of Israel (Gen. 49:24).

The land of Israel was ideally the territory first described to Abraham. It stretched from the river of Egypt El-Arish to the great Euphrates River and encompassed the territory of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites (Gen. 15:17-21; cf. also Gen. 10:15-18). The full expanse of this territory was occupied during the reign of David and Solomon and approached during the time of Israel-Judah under the respective contemporary reigns of Jeroboam II in Israel and Azariah (Uzziah) in Judah. Most often, however, the land of Israel in the Old Testament is designated as the territory from Dan (north) to Beersheba (south). After Israel divided into two kingdoms in 930 B.C., the name refers still to all of Israel but most often to northern Israel. After the return from exile in 538 B.C., the term is used of the whole restored community again regularly.

the valley...

עֵמֶק

‛ēmeq

I. A masculine noun designating a valley, a plain. It refers to a vale, a valley, a lowland, the opposite of hilly or mountainous land. It is used of this kind of land in general (Isa. 22:7; Jer. 31:40). It is used of the Jordan Valley area (Jos. 13:19, 13:27). It was a place where chariotry would be used in battle (Jos. 17:16). Many specific places have names featuring ‛ēmeq, valley, e.g., the Valley of Siddim, the Valley of the King, etc. (Gen. 14:17).

II. The phrase ‛ēmeq q^eṣiys occurs in Jos. 18:21 as the proper name Emek Keziz.

valley of Jezreel... Jezreel, called Esdraelon, extends 10 miles in breadth from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, near Carmel; it was the great battlefield (see Rev. 16:14-16), adjoining the Valley of Megiddo, which will become an avenue of blessing (verse 11), when Christ returns in triumph.

of Jezreel...

יִזְרְעֶאל

yizr^e‛e’l

A proper noun designating Jezreel:

A. A town in Judah from which David's wife Ahinoam came. It was possibly located just south of Hebron to the west of the Dead Sea (1Sam. 25:43).

B. A city of Issachar (Jos. 19:18). Saul used the city as did his son Ish-Bosheth later who was in charge of it (2Sam. 2:9). One of Ahab's palaces was there (1Kgs. 18:45). Naboth's vineyard, violently seized by Ahab, was in Jezreel and there Ahab's son, Joram, and Jezebel were executed by Jehu (2Kgs. 8:29-10:11).

C. The name of a fertile valley in northern Israel (Hos. 2:22,24). Its name means "God sows." Many peoples battled for control of it (Jos. 17:16; Jdg. 6:33). Hosea mentioned it as a place where God will judge Israel.

D. The son of Etam, a clan head in Judah (1Chr. 12:3).

E. A son of Hosea, so named as a symbol of the massacre and bloodshed that occurred there related to Jehu's house (Hos. 1:4).

F. Another name for Israel (see E also). The valley stands for all of Israel in the prophet's usage (Hos. 1:5).

The bloodshed of Jezreel would “reoccur” in the house of Jehu, and his dynasty would come to a violent end, just as Ahab’s did. This happened (in 752 B.C.; 2 Kgs. 15:10).

This valley of Jezreel has been the location of many battles. This is the very same place, where Gideon defeated the Midianites as above. We see in this Scripture above, that this is to be the location of Israel's defeat as well. "The breaking of the bow" shows their helplessness in battle.

God told Hosea that the demise of Jehu’s dynasty was to be accompanied by the downfall of the Northern Kingdom. In a display of poetic justice the Lord would break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel, the site of Jehu’s sin. Breaking the bow refers to the destruction of the nation’s military might (cf. 1Sam. 2:4; Psm. 46:9; Jer. 49:35).

The general fulfillment of this prophecy came in 734-722 b.c. when the Assyrians overran Israel and reduced it to a province within their empire (2Kgs. 15:29; 17:3-5). The Jezreel plain in particular was probably conquered in 733 b.c. by Tiglath-Pileser III. This valley, which had been the scene of a great military victory under Gideon (Jdg. 6:33; 7:1-25), again became a symbol of national disgrace and defeat, as it had been after Saul’s death (1Sam. 29:1, 29:11; 31:1-13).