My husband… In Hebrew, Ishi. Baali, my lord. The meaning of this verse is: that whereas Ishi and Baali were used indifferently in those days by wives speaking to their husbands; the synagogue, whom God was pleased to consider as his spouse, should call him only Ishi, and abstain from the name of Baali, because of its affinity with the idol Baal.
2:17. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name.
Baalim… It is the plural number of Baal: for there were divers idols of Baal.
2:18. And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure.
2:19. And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations.
I will espouse thee, etc… This relates to the happy espousals of
Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved.
2:20. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
2:21. And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.
Hear the heavens, etc… All shall conspire in favour of the church, which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of God.
2:22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel.