1 "Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor. 2 The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I discipline all of them. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled. 4 Their deeds won't allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don't know Yahweh. 5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them. 6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; but they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. 7 They are unfaithful to Yahweh; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields. 8 "Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin! 9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be. 10 The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols. 12 Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness. 13 "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver. 15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly."
This chapter begins with threatening the Israelites for ensnaring the people to idolatry by their sacrifices and other rites on Mizpah and Tabor, Hosea 5:1-5. Their sacrifices, however costly, are declared to be unacceptable, Hosea 5:6; and their substance is devoted to the locust, Hosea 5:7. Nor is judgment to stop here. The cities of Judah are called upon, in a very animated manner, to prepare for the approach of enemies. Benjamin is to be pursued; Ephraim is to be desolate; and all this is intimated to Israel, that they may by repentance avert the judgment, Hosea 5:8, Hosea 5:9. The following verses contain farther denunciations, Hosea 5:10-13, expressed in terms equally terrible and sublime, Hosea 5:14. The Lord afflicts not willingly the children of men; he visits them with temporal calamities that he may heal their spiritual malady, Hosea 5:15.
INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 5
The design of this chapter is to expose the sins of Israel and of Judah, and to declare the judgment of God upon them for them. Men of all ranks in Israel are summoned to attend to the charge brought against then, and the sentence on them, Hosea 5:1. The charge exhibited is, that they were guilty of in, hating men to the slaughter of idolatrous sacrifices, though they had been sufficiently rebuked and corrected, Hosea 5:1; of both corporeal and spiritual adultery, whereby they were defiled, and which was well known to the Lord, Hosea 5:3; of obstinate persistence in impenitence, owing to the efficacy of an unclean spirit in them, and their want of the knowledge of God, Hosea 5:4; of open pride, which stared them in the face, and for which they fell into calamities, and Judah with them, and should not be able with all their sacrifices to find favour with God, who had withdrawn himself from them, Hosea 5:5; also of treacherous dealing with the Lord by their spiritual adultery, and begetting strange children, Hosea 5:7; next their punishment is denounced, of which notice was to be given them by the sound of the trumpet, as an alarm of war, or as calling for mourning, Hosea 5:8; since Ephraim would become desolate, of which notification had been made among the tribes, Hosea 5:9; and wrath would be poured out in great abundance on the princes of Judah, who were very wicked men, Hosea 5:10; and Ephraim would be oppressed and broken by the judgment of God, who would be as a moth unto them, and also rottenness to Judah, because they followed the commandments of men, Hosea 5:11; and, what was still more provoking, when they were sensible of their calamities and distresses, they sought not help from the Lord, but from men that could do them no good; and therefore he threatens to be as a devouring lion to them, Hosea 5:13; and yet the chapter concludes with a promise of the conversion of these people, after the Lord had dealt with them in an angry manner, Hosea 5:15.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.