Hosea 2:6

"Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths."

Here is the first of a triple strategy God will use in order to restrain, punish, and allure the harlot (Hosea 2:6,9,14) with the purpose of bringing her back to himself. There is a distinct shift of the meaning throughout these verses. As Halley (and many others) have pointed out, "Some of this language applies to Hosea's family, some to the nation, some to both, the literal and figurative alternating."[27] But throughout a great part of this chapter from here to the end of it, the restraint, punishment and "wooing" of the whore on the part of God extend far beyond the primary application of these things to the historical Israel which has already been divorced and cast off (Hosea 2:2); because, it was not with any intention of renewing a marriage covenant with secular Israel that God initiated the actions visible here. The whore who comes in view from here to the end of the chapter is not alone the old Israel (although she was certainly a part of it), but the entire human race, Jews and Gentiles alike; and the new marriage which comes into the perspective of the prophet (Hosea 2:19-20) is definitely not a remarriage to the old wife, but a "new covenant" with another bride, called in the New Testament the church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, some of the language here will regard things which definitely did pertain to ancient corporate Israel but with overtones reaching to the ends of the earth.

"That she shall not find her paths ..." As Keil observed:

From the distress and anguish of exile, in which, although Israel had even more of an outward opportunity to practice idolatry, she learned the worthlessness of all trust in idols, and their utter inability to help."[28]

All such hindrances to idolatry and wickedness, as visible here in the case of old Israel, have their counterpart in God's cursing of the ground for Adam's sake (Genesis 3:17-19), and the continuation of such divine interference with nature as a means of human discipline throughout history, a divine action still visible today. The wretchedness of the entire world, groaning in the anguish of sin, debauchery, idolatry, violence and poverty at the time when "The Dayspring from on High" entered our earth-life in Bethlehem, is but a larger picture of what is here primarily focused upon the old Israel.