Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; So I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will plow. Jacob will break his clods.
Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break his clods - In the will of God, Judah and Israel were to unite in His service, Judah first, Jacob, after him, breaking the clods, which would hinder the seed from shooting up. Judah being mentioned in the same incidental way, as elsewhere by Hosea, it may be, that he would speak of what should follow on Ephraim’s chastisement. : “When they shall see this, the two tribes shall no longer employ themselves in treading out the grain, but shall plow. To “tread out the corn” is to act “in hope of present gain; to “plow,” is to labor in that, which has no instant fruit, but promiseth it hereafter, i. e., the fulfillment of God’s commands.” “Jacob” will then be the remnant of the ten tribes, who, at Hezekiah’s invitation, out of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, and Zebulun, joined in celebrating the passover at Jerusalem, and subsequently in destroying idolatry 2 Chronicles 30:0; 2 Chronicles 31:0. Hosea had already foretold that Judah and Israel shall be “gathered together,” under “one Head” Hosea 1:11. Here, again, he unites them in one, preparing His way first in themselves, then, in others. Judah is placed first, for to him was the promise in his forefather, the patriarch, and then in David. Ephraim was to be partaker of his blessings, by being united to him. The image of the heifer has been dropped. He had spoken of them as farmers; as such he addresses them.