Hosea 1:7

7. While Jehovah will not interfere in behalf of Israel, he will have mercy upon the southern kingdom.

Judah The prophet seems to think that Judah is in better religious and moral condition than Israel (Hosea 4:15). In reality, judging from the messages of Isaiah and Micah, the two eighth century prophets of Judah, there was little difference between the conditions in the two kingdoms. And if the references to Judah in Hosea 5:5; Hosea 5:10; Hosea 5:12-14; Hosea 6:4; Hosea 6:11; Hosea 8:14; Hosea 10:11; Hosea 11:12 (margin); Hosea 12:2, are from Hosea himself, this prophet seems to agree with the two Judean prophets. The explanation that Hosea 1:7; Hosea 4:15, come from an earlier period, before Hosea had become properly acquainted with conditions in Judah, is not considered satisfactory by most commentators, since the time elapsed between the delivery of Hosea 4:15, and chapter 5, cannot have been very long. It is not without reason, therefore, that many commentators regard Hosea 1:7 as a later interpolation, reflecting the experiences of Judah in 701 (2 Kings 19:35 ff; Isaiah 37:36 ff.). An additional objection is raised on the ground that the thought of Hosea 1:7 is foreign to the rest of the chapter, in which the prophet narrates his own domestic life, and sets forth its significance as illustrating the relation of Israel to Jehovah.

By Jehovah their God For the sake of emphasis, instead of by me; describes very aptly the deliverance of 701, as a reading of the account in 2 Kings will show. It is the constant teaching of the prophets that Jehovah, and not human defenses, is the salvation of his people (Hosea 14:3; Isaiah 7:1-17; Isaiah 31:8; compare Hosea 2:7).