2. Son of the prophet Hosea by his wife Gomer (Ho 1:3, 4); for the prophetic significance of “Jezreel,” see No. 4.

Hosea’s Prophecy. The words of Jehovah to Hosea (1:4) regarding “the acts of bloodshed of Jezreel” are not to be understood as referring to Jehu’s destroying Ahab’s ungodly house. Jehu was used as Jehovah’s instrument in executing divine judgment. However, it may well be that the wrong motivations that were behind Jehu’s continuing to let calf worship remain also caused him to make himself guilty of bloodshed.​—2Ki 10:30, 31.

The prophetic name Jezreel, by which Jehovah instructed Hosea to call his son by Gomer, pointed to a future accounting against the house of Jehu. God would “sow seed” in that he would cause a scattering of it. The accounting against Jehu’s house came when Jehu’s great-great-grandson Zechariah, after ruling for six months, was murdered and the assassin Shallum seized the throne. (2Ki 15:8-10) Thus ended the dynasty of Jehu. About 50 years later, in 740 B.C.E., when the northern kingdom fell to Assyria and its inhabitants were exiled, the royal rule of the house of Israel ceased completely. At that time “the bow of Israel,” that is, its military strength, was definitely broken. The prophecy had indicated that this would take place in the Low Plain of Jezreel, perhaps because the Assyrians gained a decisive victory there.​—Ho 1:4, 5.

However, through his prophet Hosea, Jehovah also pointed to a favorable meaning of Jezreel. By regathering the remnant of Israel and Judah and then bringing his people back to their land, Jehovah would sow seed, causing them to increase in numbers there.​—Ho 1:11; 2:21-23; compare Zec 10:8-10.