"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, My compassion is aroused.
"How shall I give thee up ..." In this passage, God is represented as having human emotions about the overthrow of his once "chosen people"; but the reason behind this type of passage is profound.  Under the utmost necessity, God would have to preserve a portion of the old secular Israel to keep from thwarting his holy purpose of bringing in the Redeemer to provide salvation for the lost myriads of humanity; but the problem was just this: how could God be just and continue to spare Israel?  This is exactly the problem mentioned in  Romans 3:25, which found its ultimate solution in the coming of Christ into the world.  To make the problem even more acute, Israel had fallen into a state of sinful debauchery which actually exceeded the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah  (Ezekiel 16), which places God had summarily destroyed for their sins; how then could God Almighty retain any inherent justice in himself, unless he should also exterminate Israel?  That was what brought about the "tension" as one writer calls it, in the heart of God!  It was not God's mere reluctance to destroy wicked sinners who richly deserved his wrath, simply because God had fallen in love with them!  Such views are unworthy.  And the real problem with God in this and the following verses was the necessity of refraining from the extermination of Israel, who deserved it every whit as much as had Sodom and Gomorrah; but there was the larger purpose of redemption to be made available for all mankind; and that was the consideration that overrode the immediate consideration of justice on God's part toward Israel.  The vast majority of Israel was exterminated; it was the remnant which was preserved to keep alive the hope of salvation for the world.