Hosea 1:5

“And it shall come to pass at that day, etc.] When the Lord shall take vengeance on the family of Jehu, and deprive them of the kingdom of Israel, and shall punish the idolatrous kings that succeed: that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel; of which valley (see <061716>Joshua 17:16 <070633>Judges 6:33). It is now called the plain of Esdraelon; as it is in the Apocrypha: “And to those among the nations that were of Carmel, and Galaad, and the higher Galilee, and the great plain of Esdrelom,” (Judith 1:8) the great plain of Esdraelon; according to Adrichomius,f14 it is two miles broad, and ten miles long; its soil exceeding rich and fruitful, and abounding with grain, wine,…”

“bow--the prowess (Jer 49:35; compare Gen 49:24). valley of Jezreel--afterwards called Esdraelon, extending ten miles in breadth, and in length from Jordan to the Mediterranean near Mount Carmel, the great battlefield of Palestine (Jdg 6:33; Sa1 29:1).”

“I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel - The valley of Jezreel is a beautiful and a broad valley or plain, stretching, from West to East, from Mount Carmel and the sea to the Jordan, which it reaches through two arms, between the Mountains of Gilboa, little Hermon, and Tabor; and from South to North from the Mountains of Ephraim to those of Galilee. Nazareth lay on its northern side. It is called “the great plain” (1 Macc. 12:49), “the great plain of Esdraelon” (Judith 1:8). There God had signally executed His judgments against the enemies of His people, or on His people, when they became His enemies. There He gave the great victories over the invading hosts of Sisera…”

“At that day - When my vengeance hath overtaken the house of Jehu. Break - Weaken and by degrees quite break. The bow - All their warlike provision, power and skill. Jezreel - In this valley it is probable the bloodiest battles in the civil wars were fought; the reason whereof might be, because whoever carried the victory in this place, were soon masters of Samaria and Jezreel, and consequently of the kingdom. Hosea 1:6”

“1:5 King Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria fulfilled this prophecy in 733 BC when he defeated Israelite forces and captured the Valley of Jezreel.”

“I will: Hos 2:18; Psa 37:15, Psa 46:9; Jer 49:34, Jer 49:35, Jer 51:56 in: Jos 17:16; Jdg 6:33 Hosea 1:6”

“"And it cometh to pass in that day, that I break in pieces the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." The indication of time, "in that day," refers not to the overthrow of the house of Jehu, but to the breaking up of the kingdom of Israel, by which it was followed. The bow of Israel, i.e., its might (for the bow, as the principal weapon employed in war, is a synecdochical epithet, used to denote the whole of the military force upon which the continued existence of the kingdom depended ( Jer 49:35), and is also a symbol of strength generally; vid., Gen 49:24; Sa1 2:4), is to be broken to pieces in the valley of Jezreel. The paronomasia between Israel and Jezreel is here unmistakeable. And…”