Hosea 2:11-12

11. An inevitable result of the calamity will be the cessation of mirth As the context shows, the merrymaking in connection with religious celebrations.

Feast days [“feasts”] The same word as the Arabic haj, by which the pilgrimage to Mecca is known. Probably not feasts in general, but the three great feasts of Unleavened Bread, of Harvest, of Ingathering which were accompanied by pilgrimages (Exodus 23:14-17); these were occasions of rejoicing (Isaiah 30:29).

New moons The new moon, the first of the month, was from the earliest time a sacred day among the Hebrews and their neighbors (1 Samuel 20:5; 2 Kings 4:23). Its celebration goes back probably to a period when the moon was worshiped as a divine being. (See article “New Moon” in Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible.)

Sabbaths Another day considered sacred from the earliest period; its observance is enjoined in the Decalogue, but it is not confined to the Hebrews. (See American Journal of Theology, 1898, pp. 312-352.) According to Amos 8:5, on the two sacred days mentioned last the people abstained from common labor. Solemn feasts [“assemblies”] Better, festal gatherings; a general term for festive seasons, including here all the feasts not mentioned previously (compare Amos 8:10; Jeremiah 7:34; Lamentations 1:4; Lamentations 5:15).

Hosea 2:12 is the natural continuation of 9. Nowack, who considers Hosea 2:10 a later addition, thinks the original order to have been 9, 12, 11, 13.

Vines… fig trees Two of the choicest products of Palestine; their destruction would be a serious calamity (see on Joel 1:7). Since they grew extensively and luxuriously, they were regarded as indicating in a special manner the favor of the Baalim.

Rewards [“hire”] The compensation offered to the prostitute. How Jehovah will destroy is not stated, it may be by war or by drought. The gardens and orchards will be neglected and turn into forests Better, jungles, the abode of wild beasts.

Beasts of the field Wild, undomesticated beasts (compare Isaiah 7:23-25). On the rapidity with which in the neglected fields wild animals multiply, see 2 Kings 17:25.