We open the Book of Trei Asar (the Twelve Prophets), which begins with the Book of Hoshea. The Radak opens by saying: "Said David the son of Yosef the son of Kimchi the Sephardi: This book is composed of twelve prophets. Our Sages of blessed memory said that they compiled them together so that none of these books would be lost due to its small size, as might happen if each were kept on its own." That is to say: why were twelve prophets gathered into a single book called "Trei Asar"? Because these are small books - some of them extremely brief - and so they bound them all together under one cover so that they would not be lost. From this we learn an important principle: this compilation is purely technical. One should not infer an intrinsic connection between one prophet and another simply because they appear in the same book; rather, only the concern that they might be lost brought them together.
The Book of Hoshea was committed to writing by the Men of the Great Assembly: Chaggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Zerubbabel, Mordechai, and their colleagues. It was they who wrote down Yechezkel, Trei Asar, Daniel, and Megillat Esther. And since Hoshea is part of Trei Asar, it follows that it was written by the Men of the Great Assembly.
דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר הָיָה אֶל־הוֹשֵׁעַ בֶּן־בְּאֵרִי, בִּימֵי עֻזִּיָּה יוֹתָם אָחָז יְחִזְקִיָּה מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה, וּבִימֵי יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן־יוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל. - The word of the Lord that came to Hoshea son of Be'eri, in the days of Uzziah, Yotam, Achaz, and Yechizkiyah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Yerovam son of Yoash, king of Israel.
The prophet first notes the time period. He lists four of the kings of Judah and adds one king of Israel: Yerovam son of Yoash (not to be confused with Yerovam son of Nevat). Our Sages ask: Why did Yerovam son of Yoash merit being listed alongside the kings of Judah? After all, the kings of Israel were invariably wicked, whereas among the kings of Judah there were many righteous men. They answer: Because he refused to accept lashon hara (slander).
This is explained in the Book of Amos, chapter 7: "Then Amatzyah the priest of Beit-El sent to Yerovam king of Israel, saying: Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the House of Israel; the land cannot endure all his words. For so has Amos said: Yerovam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their land." Amatzyah then turned to Amos himself: "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there; but do not prophesy anymore at Beit-El, for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal residence." That is: flee to the land of Judah, eat your bread there and prophesy there, but do not return to Beit-El, for it is a royal site. Amos replied to him: "I am no prophet, nor am I a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman and a tender of sycamore figs. And the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to My people Israel." This entire matter will be examined in detail in its proper place in the Book of Amos.
In any event, when Amatzyah slandered Amos to Yerovam, saying, "Amos has conspired against you," Yerovam gave two responses: First, "Heaven forbid that that righteous man said such a thing!" - he was entirely unwilling to accept the slander. Second, even if he did say it, what can I do to him? The Shechinah spoke to him. That is, he is merely reporting the word of Hashem given to him. Thus, Yerovam son of Yoash possessed a unique merit, and even though he was a wicked king, because he refused to accept lashon hara, he was counted here alongside the kings of Judah.
The Radak explains in the name of our Sages: Whenever a prophet's name and his father's name are both stated in prophecy, it is known that he is a prophet the son of a prophet. If both the prophet's name and his father's name are mentioned, it indicates that his father was also a prophet - as in the case of Michayhu son of Yimlah, regarding whom no prophecy was recorded, yet we know he was a prophet. For there were 1,200,000 prophets in Israel, yet of them only forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses had prophecies that were needed for future generations, and those are the ones that were recorded. Therefore, one often does not know of the father through any recorded prophecy, because his prophecy was not needed for future generations.
The rule continues: If his name is mentioned without his father's name, it is known that he was a prophet, but not the son of a prophet. If his name and his city are mentioned, it is known that he was a prophet from that city, which is straightforward. The key emphasis is what follows: if his name is mentioned without his city, it is known that he was a prophet from Jerusalem. When the prophet's city is omitted - unlike "Yirmiyahu who was in Anatot" or "Eliyahu the Tishbite" or from Gilead - we know immediately that he was from Jerusalem. And when someone's father and grandfather are both mentioned, spanning three generations, this comes to teach the greatness of his ancestry, showing that his lineage was more distinguished than that of someone whose father alone is mentioned.
All of this introductory background is intended to help us understand who "Be'eri" is in our verse. The Radak explains: this is the name of a person mentioned in Divrei HaYamim as "Be'erah," where it is written that Tiglath-Pileser exiled him, and he was a prince of the Reuvenites. That Be'eri was a great man and a prophet. The Radak adds that as we will see, Hoshea's prophecies were words of rebuke to Israel and Judah, for they did evil in the eyes of Hashem during the reigns of all these kings.
Rashi explains: he outlived these four kings in his lifetime, meaning he lived on after all of them. One king died and was replaced by another, while he continued to live, and so it went time after time. And why did Rashi say four and not five, when five kings are listed here? The answer is simple: the reign of Yeravam ben Yoash overlapped with the kings of Yehudah, whereas the kings of Yehudah succeeded one another, and two kings do not reign simultaneously. Uziyah was not Yosam, Yosam was not Achaz, and Achaz was not Chizkiyah. Thus, four eras passed, and the prophet lived through all of them.
From this, the Sages remarked: Woe to positions of authority, for they bury those who hold them. The word "rabbanut" here is not used in the modern sense of the rabbinate, but rather in the language of Chazal: high office, greatness, derived from "rav" and "rabban," a person of stature. Woe to high office, for it buries those who hold it and cuts a person's life short. Yet here we see the opposite: the prophet lived a long life while the kings passed on one after another.
The Malbim addresses the fundamental difficulty: why should a king of Yisrael be included in the list of the kings of Yehudah? He resolves this based on what he explained in his commentary to Melachim II, chapter 15: ever since Yoash conquered Amatziah, king of Yehudah, the kings of Yehudah were subjugated under the kings of Yisrael. From that period onward, Yehudah was humbled under the dominion of Shomron, and the monarchy was dated according to the kings of Yisrael. This situation continued for twenty-four years, until the reign of Uziyah, which corresponded to the twenty-seventh year of Yeravam ben Yoash. Then Uziyah gained strength and established a full, independent reign, casting off the yoke of Yeravam ben Yoash and no longer remaining subservient to him. Such subjugation entailed paying taxes, prohibitions against raising an army, and the like, as was customary when one kingdom dominated another.
According to this, the Malbim resolves a twofold question. First, we do not find the duration of a prophet's mission dated by the kings of Yisrael, but always by the kings of Yehudah. Second, even if one wished to date by the kings of Yisrael, why is only Yeravam mentioned? During that period, Zecharyah ben Yeravam, Menachem, and Pekach also reigned in Yisrael, and the verse should have listed all of them. Mentioning only a single king from among them is perplexing. Because of this difficulty, Chazal explained that he possessed a unique merit, and the Malbim brings the matter into clear rational focus.
Rather, the explanation is as follows: Yeravam subjugated Amatziah, and there were years during which Yehudah was subordinate to him, when the entire realm was dated in his name. Thus, all five kings listed here - Uziyah, Yosam, Achaz, Chizkiyah, and Yeravam ben Yoash - ruled over Yehudah. And when the verse mentions "in the days of Uziyah," it refers to the period after the twenty-four years when the kingdom was dated to Yeravam, from which point onward it was called the reign of Uziyah. First Yeravam held dominion, then Uziyah grew powerful, followed by Yosam, Achaz, and Chizkiyah.
תְּחִלַּת דִּבֶּר־יְהֹוָה בְּהוֹשֵׁעַ, וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־הוֹשֵׁעַ: לֵךְ קַח־לְךָ אֵשֶׁת זְנוּנִים וְיַלְדֵי זְנוּנִים, כִּי־זָנֹה תִזְנֶה הָאָרֶץ מֵאַחֲרֵי יְהֹוָה. - The beginning of Hashem's speaking with Hoshea: Hashem said to Hoshea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land strays in harlotry from following Hashem."
To understand the entire progression, let us first read the subsequent verses, and then we will return to explain it:
וַיֵּלֶךְ וַיִּקַּח אֶת־גֹּמֶר בַּת־דִּבְלָיִם, וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד־לוֹ בֵּן. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלָיו: קְרָא שְׁמוֹ יִזְרְעֶאל, כִּי־עוֹד מְעַט וּפָקַדְתִּי אֶת־דְּמֵי יִזְרְעֶאל עַל־בֵּית יֵהוּא, וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי מַמְלְכוּת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל. וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וְשָׁבַרְתִּי אֶת־קֶשֶׁת יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵמֶק יִזְרְעֶאל. - So he went and took Gomer bat Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And Hashem said to him: "Call his name Yizre'el, for in just a little while I will visit the bloodshed of Yizre'el upon the house of Yehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Yisrael. And on that day I will break the bow of Yisrael in the Valley of Yizre'el."
וַתַּהַר עוֹד וַתֵּלֶד בַּת, וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ: קְרָא שְׁמָהּ לֹא רֻחָמָה, כִּי לֹא אוֹסִיף עוֹד אֲרַחֵם אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי־נָשֹׂא אֶשָּׂא לָהֶם. וְאֶת־בֵּית יְהוּדָה אֲרַחֵם וְהוֹשַׁעְתִּים בַּיהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם, וְלֹא אוֹשִׁיעֵם בְּקֶשֶׁת וּבְחֶרֶב וּבְמִלְחָמָה בְּסוּסִים וּבְפָרָשִׁים. וַתִּגְמֹל אֶת־לֹא רֻחָמָה, וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן. וַיֹּאמֶר: קְרָא שְׁמוֹ לֹא עַמִּי, כִּי אַתֶּם לֹא עַמִּי וְאָנֹכִי לֹא־אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם. - She conceived again and bore a daughter, and He said to him: "Call her name Lo-ruchamah, for I will no longer show mercy to the house of Yisrael, that I should forgive them. But upon the house of Yehudah I will have mercy, and I will save them through Hashem their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by battle, or by horses, or by horsemen." She weaned Lo-ruchamah, and she conceived and bore a son. And He said: "Call his name Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be yours."
First, let us examine the expression "the beginning of Hashem's speaking with Hoshea." Rabbi Yochanan said: Why is it called "the beginning of Hashem's speaking with Hoshea"? Because he was the first of four prophets who prophesied in that era, and these are: Hoshea, Yeshayahu, Amos, and Michah. That is, Hoshea's prophecy preceded Yeshayahu's prophecy, and therefore it says "the beginning." For it is impossible to say that Hashem spoke to Hoshea first of all, after all, how many prophets were there from Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, until Hoshea? Rather, the "beginning" is relative to the prophets of that era, and the first among them was Hoshea. The Malbim calculates this and shows that it is chronologically precise as well, based on the calculation he made earlier regarding Yeravam ben Yoash and the years of his reign.
Rashi, however, explains according to the plain meaning of the text: The very beginning of the speech that the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke with Hoshea, He said this to him. According to this, there is no "beginning" relative to other prophets at all; rather, this was the first prophecy given to Hoshea: "Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry."
The general thrust of the command is that he should go and marry a woman known and notorious as a harlot, and all of this alludes to "for the land goes astray from following Hashem." Afterward she bears him children, and he names them according to the events destined to befall Israel. There are three approaches to understanding this episode. First, the approach of Chazal, that everything took place literally and in reality, and Chazal provide further continuation to this episode beyond what is explicitly written in the text. Second, that everything occurred in a prophetic vision: Hashem told him in prophecy to marry her, and in his prophetic vision he saw himself marrying her and bearing children. And third, the approach of Targum Yonatan, that there is no actual command or instruction here at all, but rather a description of the nation's spiritual state.
Ibn Ezra opens: "So declares Avraham the author: Far be it, far be it that Hashem would command someone to take a wife of harlotry and bear children of harlotry!" And to anyone who might argue, "It is enough for a servant to be like his master" - meaning, just as they stray from Hashem, so too the prophet - this cannot be said here, because straying from Hashem is metaphorical, whereas in a human being it is an actual physical act. "And what seems correct to me is that this prophet saw in prophetic visions, in a night dream," that Hashem was telling him to go take a wife of harlotry, and he went and took a known woman, and she conceived and gave birth, and all of this took place within prophetic visions.
Ibn Ezra adds: Do not wonder at this, for it is said regarding Moshe: "If there be a prophet among you, I, Hashem, make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream," and Moshe alone was the exception. You find the same with Yeshayahu the prophet, of whom it is said: "Just as My servant Yeshayahu went naked and barefoot." Could you imagine that he actually walked around naked for the sake of Cush and Egypt? Rather, in prophecy he saw himself going naked and barefoot. So too with "Take for yourself a brick," and "Lie on your left side," and "Take for yourself wheat," and the matter of shaving the beard - all these were in prophetic visions. Radak writes similarly, that this entire episode occurred in a prophetic vision, and the vision serves as an allegory for Israel straying from Hashem, which is why it says, "for the land goes astray from following Hashem."
Rashi cites: "'Take for yourself a wife of harlotry' - our Sages said this is literal, because he said concerning Israel: 'Exchange them for another nation.'" Rashi cites only a single sentence, but the matter is explained at length in the Gemara in Masechet Pesachim 87a.
The Gemara states: Four prophets prophesied in one era, and the greatest among them was Hoshea, as it says, "the beginning of Hashem's speaking with Hoshea." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Hoshea: "Your children have sinned." He should have said: "They are Your children; they are the children of Your chosen ones; they are the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; roll Your mercies upon them!" That is what Hashem expected the prophet to say. Not only did he not say this, but he said before Him: "Master of the Universe, the entire world is Yours; replace them with another nation!" As if to say: What is the problem? There is a trade-in option, replacing the old with the new. If they are causing trouble, replace them with another nation.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said: What shall I do with this elder? I tell him such things and expect a defense, and this is his reaction? Hashem said: Let him go take a harlot and father children of harlotry, and afterward I will tell him: "Send her away from your presence." If he is able to send her away, I too will cast off Israel. As it says: "And Hashem said to Hoshea, 'Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry,'" and it is written: "So he went and took Gomer bat Divlayim."
After two sons and a daughter were born to him, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Should you not have learned from Moshe your master? For once I spoke with him, he separated from his wife - and there, we are speaking of a righteous woman. You too, separate yourself from her" - all the more so here, where she is hardly a great catch. Hoshea replied: "Master of the Universe, I have children from her, and I can neither cast her out nor divorce her!"
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: And what about you? Your wife is a harlot and your children are children of harlotry, and you do not know whether they are yours or fathered by others, for with such a woman nothing is certain, yet nevertheless you hold onto them! Israel, who are My children, the children of My tested ones, the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and one of four possessions that I acquired in My world: the Torah is one acquisition, as it is written, 'Hashem acquired me at the beginning of His way'; heaven and earth are one acquisition, as it is written, 'Creator of heaven and earth'; the Beis HaMikdash is one acquisition, as it is written, 'This mountain that His right hand acquired'; and Israel is one acquisition, as it is written, 'This people that You acquired.' They are My acquisition, they are the children of the holy Patriarchs, and they are certain to Me as My true children, unlike your situation where there is no certainty that they are yours. And you said, 'Replace them with another nation'?
All of this was a course of education for the prophet so that he would realize he had been mistaken. Once he knew that he had sinned, he arose to pray for mercy upon himself. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Rather than begging for mercy upon yourself, pray for mercy upon Israel, for I decreed three decrees upon them on your account! That is, even now you are acting inappropriately: at first you acted inappropriately by saying, 'Replace them with another nation,' and now once again you are preoccupied with yourself. What is fitting now is to plead for mercy on their behalf! He arose and pleaded for mercy and nullified the decree, and began to bless them, as it is said, 'And the number of the Children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea.' And this is the passage that follows immediately after the matter of 'Lo-ammi': 'And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said to them: You are not My people, it shall be said to them: Children of the living God. And the children of Yehudah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together... And I will sow her unto Me in the land, and I will have mercy upon Lo-ruchamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi: You are My people.'
It emerges according to this explanation that everything occurred in physical reality, in order to illustrate to the prophet how difficult it is for a person to detach himself even from someone who is not a great tzaddik, and all the more so, as it were, it is difficult for the Master of the Universe to detach Himself from His children, the offspring of His tested ones. Therefore, the speech to Hoshea here is speech containing criticism directed at him from the Holy One, blessed be He.
Targum Yonatan explains the verses not according to their simple literal sense, but in the manner of derash. His wording reads: 'Sherayut pitgama d'Hashem b'Hoshea' - the beginning of Hashem's speech with Hoshea. 'And Hashem said to Hoshea: Azil itnabe nevuah al yatvei karta ta'avata' - go prophesy against the inhabitants of the abominable city, 'd'inun mosifin lemekhti' - who continue in their error and add to their sin, 'ari mitei yit'on dayrei ara mibatar pulchana d'Hashem' - for the inhabitants of the land are going astray and turning away from the service of Hashem.
The meaning of this is: until now, we understood 'Take for yourself a wife of harlotry' as meaning marry her, whether literally as Chazal explain or in a prophetic vision as Ibn Ezra and those who follow him hold. Targum Yonatan comes and says: 'Take for yourself' means go and teach them, go and prophesy concerning these wayward people and bring them back in teshuvah. Likewise, 'for the land has gone astray' (ki zanoh tizneh ha'aretz), which appears to be in the future tense, is not a prophecy about the future but a description of the current state: the land is indeed straying, for they are erring and distancing themselves from the service of Hashem like a wayward woman who distances herself from her husband. Therefore, take reproof to heart and go rebuke this wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for you see their abominable deeds. The Radak concludes: 'And Yonatan translated the matter allegorically, and his explanation is correct.' According to this, there is no command to marry anyone at all, not even in a prophetic vision.
The Malbim notes the precise phrasing, 'The beginning of Hashem's speech with Hoshea' (be-Hoshea) - with the preposition beit, rather than 'to Hoshea' (el Hoshea). Whenever an expression of speech is followed by the preposition beit, it hints to the Ruach HaKodesh speaking within the prophet for his own sake. 'Spoke to' (diber el) is for the sake of others; 'spoke with / within' (diber be) is for the prophet's own sake. There is no mission here for the nation as a whole, but rather speech for the prophet's own personal development.
Regarding this matter, an important fundamental principle must be understood. We noted that there were 1,200,000 prophets whose prophecies were not recorded for future generations. There is an entrenched misconception where people assume that a prophet is someone with whom the Holy One, blessed be He, establishes contact solely to guide the people, deliver messages to the nation, and draw them near, and they then wonder: Did all 1,200,000 prophets rebuke the people? Rather, one must realize that prophecy in its essence was not intended for the nation at all. The prophet receives prophecy for his own personal spiritual elevation. As we see in Mesillat Yesharim, the final rung on the ladder of spiritual levels, following watchfulness, zeal, and cleanliness, is Ruach HaKodesh. One who elevates himself and draws close reaches a level where the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks with him - that is, establishing a direct bond with spirituality and advancing in the service of Hashem.
And once a person reaches such an exalted level, already in communion with Divine Providence, the Holy One, blessed be He, uses him as a channel of communication to deliver messages to the people. But it is not that the Holy One, blessed be He, grants prophecy to a prophet primarily for the sake of the people; rather, the prophet attains prophecy through his own self-elevation, and the mission is an accompanying task. There are exceptional cases like 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,' where someone was designated from the outset to prophesy to the people, but generally speaking, all the prophets were individuals who elevated themselves spiritually until they merited a direct relationship with the Master of the Universe, Who guided them in conduct and in the service of Hashem. And the word navi (prophet) is related to niv sefatayim ('fruit of the lips'), an expression of speech, indicating that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks with him.
The Malbim adds: the phrase 'spoke with/against' (diber be) also sometimes denotes speech of complaint, grievance, and reproach, as in 'we spoke against Hashem and against you' (dibarnu b'Hashem uvach). By contrast, 'The spirit of Hashem spoke within me' (ruach Hashem diber bi) and 'In a dream I will speak with him' (bachalom adaber bo) indicate speech for the prophet's own sake. The Malbim explains that both interpretations are valid here: the verse contains speech for the prophet's personal sake, and it also contains speech of complaint and reproach. From this, Chazal derived what they derived - that there was reproof here directed at the prophet himself, because he spoke improper words, and therefore 'Hashem spoke against Hoshea' with harsh words: you acted improperly, and you must repent. Thus, there is no prophecy here to be told to the people, but a message intended for the prophet himself.
And how did Chazal know what the argument was about? The Malbim explains that it stands to reason that the complaint relates to the command that follows immediately after it. If it says 'Hashem spoke with/against Hoshea,' and the continuation of the verse is 'Take for yourself a wife of harlotry,' we understand that this was the very point of contention and the subject of the reproach. From this, Chazal deduced that Hoshea had argued that the Holy One, blessed be He, should replace them with another nation, and he did not want to go on Hashem's mission to rebuke them.
The Malbim emphasizes: Hashem's mission is an absolute duty placed upon the prophets. When the Holy One, blessed be He, commands a prophet to prophesy, he cannot say, "I refuse," and he is forbidden to do so; indeed, a prophet who suppresses his prophecy incurs the death penalty. He is obligated to go and deliver his prophecy. As we saw with Yonah, who was pursued on account of this, a prophet must deliver what was transmitted to him and declare that this is what Hashem commanded him. Here, Hoshea did not want to go and rebuke them, and said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, they have corrupted their ways; leave them be.
To this, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Since you do not want to go and rebuke them, and I do not want to banish them, then you too become like Me, and experience My situation. Take for yourself a wife of harlotry, and you will find yourself in the exact same state. On the one hand, what can you say to her? She was like this from the very beginning. On the other hand, you cannot divorce her either, for you have children from her. If you do not wish to fulfill My mission, see with your own eyes the reality in which the Holy One, blessed be He, finds Himself, as it were.
"Take for yourself a wife of harlotry (eshet zenunim)," the Malbim explains: a woman who is notorious for promiscuity. "And children of harlotry (yaldei zenunim)": that she already has children born to her previously through promiscuity, and they themselves serve as proof that she is a harlot. As it says, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot, and moreover, she is with child through harlotry (harah liznunim)," where the pregnancy proved her prior misconduct.
The Malbim distinguishes between three terms: "Znut" is the standard expression. "Zenunim" refers to a woman whose promiscuity is well known; therefore it says "harah liznunim" and "let her remove her harlotry (zenuneha) from her face," meaning she already has children from those men and the matter is public knowledge. And "taznut" means that she actively seduces others to commit that sin.
Another explanation of "children of harlotry": that the children he would father with her would be considered children of harlotry, for he has no guarantee that the child is actually his, since the woman is known to be wayward. Concerning this it says, "For the land strays far from following Hashem": Knesset Yisrael is in the position of an eshet zenunim toward idolatry, and what she bears is born in harlotry, for their offspring are like them - they educate the next generation to stray from following Hashem, into heretical thoughts, idolatry, and disbelief. Yet despite all this, I hold onto that unfaithful wife and do not cast Israel away from before Me, and so must you do as well.
Now, if you raise the difficulty posed by the Ibn Ezra: How could it be that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded His prophet to marry a woman of harlotry - which led Ibn Ezra to conclude that this occurred in a prophetic vision, while Targum Yonatan explained it as a parable? The Malbim answers that this is not necessarily so, for Hoshea was not a kohen. A zonah is forbidden only to a kohen, not to a regular Yisrael, and as a Yisrael, such a woman was not halachically forbidden to Hoshea.
Furthermore: if you wonder about this, consider that Yehoshua married Rachav, of whom it was said that all the nobles of the world visited her. While one may distinguish that in her case it was after she converted, and conversion creates an entirely new entity, nevertheless we see that despite a prior blemish, such a reality existed. Here too, do not be astonished that Hashem commanded His prophet in this way.
And if you should say: Granted, it was not halachically forbidden to him, but it is unseemly and unfitting for a prophet! The Malbim answers: True, but there are times when Hashem commands a prophet to do things that seem unfitting, as a temporary ruling (hora'at sha'ah). For example, the command to Yechezkel to shave the hair of his head and his beard with a razor; or Eliyahu offering sacrifices at a time when private altars (bamot) were forbidden; or the command to Gidon to take the bull his father had fattened for idolatry and offer it upon the altar of Hashem, an act that involved ten biblical prohibitions. All of these were performed as a temporary directive, and so it was here as well.
Chapter 1 opens Sefer Hoshea by noting the time period of the prophecy during the reigns of four kings of Yehudah and during the days of Yarov'am ben Yoash - who was listed alongside them either due to the merit of not accepting slander against Amos, or because he too ruled over Yehudah for twenty-four years until Uziyah grew strong, as explained by the Malbim. "The beginning of Hashem's speech with Hoshea" teaches that he was the first of the four prophets of that generation. Based on the precise phrasing "be-Hoshea" (with Hoshea) rather than "el Hoshea" (to Hoshea), the Malbim teaches that this was speech directed at the prophet's personal conduct as well as an expression of rebuke and grievance. This is the foundation of Chazal's teaching that Hoshea said, "Replace them with another nation"; and to teach him the greatness of Hashem's love for His children, he was commanded to take a wife of harlotry and realize for himself how painful it is to send her away. Three approaches were offered in explaining this command: literally, as Chazal state; within a prophetic vision, according to Ibn Ezra and the Radak; and as a parable and rebuke, according to Targum Yonatan. Ultimately, Hoshea stood up and pleaded for mercy on behalf of Israel, nullifying the decree, and opened with a blessing: "And the number of the Children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea."