This detail refers once again (Hosea 1:2; Hosea 2:4) to the shame visited on the children because of their mother’s promiscuous reputation. These children have not denounced her lifestyle, but have condemned themselves by also being complicit. Israelites cannot escape Hosea’s wide-reaching message of judgment for all have been influenced by the cancer of spiritual adultery. The Lord will give no ear to the proverbial excuse: It was my family upbringing that messed me up.
5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’