Hosea 12:2

"Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him."

The judgment visible in these first two verses is not at all confined either to Israel or Judah, but is to fall upon Jacob, a fitting title here for both Ephraim and Judah, since Jacob was the great ancestor of both. "The prophet pronounces his judgment upon both Israel and Judah."[4]

"Jehovah hath also a controversy ..." "The language of Hosea 12:2 is technical."[5] Just as in Hosea 4:1, Hosea is presenting the case against all Israel (both houses) in the terminology of a formal indictment and trial, a trial at which the Lord is both the prosecuting attorney and the Judge.

The use of the same terminology here which was used earlier in Hosea's lawsuit against Gomer points up the analogy. Just as Gomer was divorced and put away for adultery, a similar rejection and reduction of the status of all Israel will follow in this replay of the former scene. It will also be remembered that Gomer never returned as Hosea's wife. "Thou shalt not be wife to any man!" (Hosea 3:3). The Word of God has no promise whatever of the old secular, fleshly, Israel again playing a historical role as Jehovah's wife.