Furthermore Hosea threatened to have no compassion on the children that Gomer had given birth to in her harlotry, children of other fathers. These appear to be children in addition to the three named earlier, but they could refer to the last two named. [source][source][source]
For Israel this signified that Yahweh would not recognize as His own and love as His own the descendants that the Israelites bore. He would regard them as the products of others, not Himself. [source][source][source]
Rather than slaying the guilty, steps would follow to restore the fallen to their former state. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
Hosea 2:1-13 - The Bitter Sin Of Wandering From God
Hosea is represented as having exhausted his expostulations upon his faithless wife. He has tried every arrow in love's quiver, but in vain; so now he sends his children, worse than motherless, to plead with their mother, before she brings upon them all irretrievable retribution.
Almost insensibly our mind passes from the pleadings of the human love to the divine Bridegroom. Often He has to erect thorn hedges about us-not that He takes pleasure in thwarting us, but that we may be diverted from ruin. There was no better method of turning Israel from her idols than by withholding that material prosperity which she thought they gave. Has not this been our experience also? Our mirth has ceased and our prosperity has vanished. We have sat amid the wrecks of a happy past. It is not that God has ceased to care for us, but that He longs to wean us back to Himself. Have we reached the point of saying, "It was better with me then than now?" Then let us be of good cheer! The dawn is already on the hills, and God's coming to us, in restoring grace, is like the breaking glory of the morning! [source]
Chapter Summary: Hosea 2
1The idolatry of the people 6God's judgments against them 14His promises of reconciliation with them
What do the individual words in Hosea 2:4 mean?
Andon her childrennotI will have mercyforthe sonsof harlotrythey [are]
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: רָחַם
Sense: to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion.