Hosea 5

Ho 5:1-5.

GOD'S

JUDGMENTS ON THE

PRIESTS,

PEOPLE, AND

PRINCES OF

ISRAEL FOR

THEIR

SINS.

Judah, too, being guilty shall be punished; nor shall Assyria, whose aid

they both sought, save them; judgments shall at last lead them to

repentance.

1. the king--probably Pekah; the contemporary of Ahaz, king of Judah,

under whom idolatry was first carried so far in Judah as to call for the

judgment of the joint Syrian and Israelite invasion, as also that of

Assyria.

judgment is towards you--that is, threatens you from God.

ye have been a snare on Mizpah . . . net . . .

upon Tabor--As hunters spread their net and snares on the hills,

Mizpah and Tabor, so ye have snared the people into idolatry and made

them your prey by injustice. As Mizpah and Tabor mean a

"watch tower," and a "lofty place," a fit scene for hunters, playing on

the words, the prophet implies, in the lofty place in which I have set

you, whereas ye ought to have been the watchers of the people,

guarding them from evil, ye have been as hunters entrapping them

into it [JEROME]. These two places are specified,

Mizpah in the east and Tabor in the west, to include the high

places throughout the whole kingdom, in which Israel's

rulers set up idolatrous altars.

2. revolters--apostates.

profound--deeply rooted

[CALVIN] and sunk to the lowest depths,

excessive in their idolatry

(Ho 9:9;

Isa 31:6)

[HENDERSON]. From the antithesis

(Ho 5:3),

"not hid from me," I prefer explaining, profoundly cunning in

their idolatry. Jeroboam thought it a profound piece of policy

to set up golden calves to represent God in Dan and Beth-el, in order

to prevent Israel's heart from turning again to David's line by going

up to Jerusalem to worship. So Israel's subsequent idolatry was

grounded by their leaders on various pleas of state expediency (compare

Isa 29:15).

to . . . slaughter--He does not say "to sacrifice," for their

so-called sacrifices were butcheries rather than sacrifices; there

was nothing sacred about them, being to idols instead of to the holy

God.

though--MAURER translates, "and (in spite of their hope of safety

through their slaughter of victims to idols) I will be a chastisement

to them all." English Version is good sense: They have deeply revolted,

notwithstanding all my prophetical warnings.

3. Ephraim--the tribe so called, as distinguished from "Israel" here,

the other nine tribes. It was always foremost of the tribes of the

northern kingdom. For four hundred years in early history, it, with

Manasseh and Benjamin, its two dependent tribes, held the pre-eminence

in the whole nation. Ephraim is here addressed as foremost in idolatry.

I how . . . not hid from me--notwithstanding their supposed

profound cunning

(Ho 5:2;

Re 2:2, 9, 13, 19).

now--"though I have been a rebuker of all them"

(Ho 5:2)

who commit such spiritual whoredoms, thou art now

continuing in them.

4. They--Turning from a direct address to Ephraim, he uses the third

person plural to characterize the people in general. The Hebrew is against the Margin, their doings will not suffer them" the

omission of "them" in the Hebrew after the verb being unusual. The

sense is, they are incurable, for they will not permit (as the

Hebrew literally means) their doings to be framed so as to turn unto

God. Implying that they resist the Spirit of God, not suffering Him to renew them; and give themselves up to "the spirit of whoredoms"

(in antithesis to "the Spirit of God" implied in "suffer" or "permit")

(Ho 4:12;

Isa 63:10;

Eze 16:43;

Ac 7:51).

5. the pride of Israel--wherewith they reject the warnings of God's

prophets

(Ho 5:2),

and prefer their idols to God

(Ho 7:10;

Jer 13:17).

testify to his face--openly to his face he shall be convicted of

the pride which is so palpable in him. Or, "in his face," as in

Isa 3:9.

Judah . . . shall fall with them--This prophecy is later than

Ho 4:15,

when Judah had not gone so far in idolatry; now her imitation of

Israel's bad example provokes the threat of her being doomed to share

in Israel's punishment.

6. with . . . flocks--to propitiate Jehovah

(Isa 1:11-15).

seek . . . not find--because it is slavish fear that leads them to seek

Him; and because it then shall be too late

(Pr 1:28;

Joh 7:34).

7. treacherously--as to the marriage covenant

(Jer 3:20).

strange children--alluding to "children of whoredoms"

(Ho 1:2; 2:4).

"Strange" or foreign implies that their idolatry was imported

from abroad [HENDERSON]. Or rather, "regarded by

God as strangers, not His," as being reared in idolatry. The case is

desperate, when not only the existing, but also the rising, generation

is reared in apostasy.

a month--a very brief space of time shall elapse, and then

punishment shall overtake them

(Zec 11:8).

The allusion seems to be to money loans, which were by the

month, not as with us by the year. You cannot put it off; the time

of your destruction is immediately and suddenly coming on you; just as

the debtor must meet the creditor's demand at the expiration of the

month. The prediction is of the invasion of Tiglath-pileser, who

carried away Reuben, Gad, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

portions--that is, possessions. Their resources and garrisons will

not avail to save them. HENDERSON explains from

Isa 57:6,

"portions" as their idols; the context favors this, "the Lord"

the true "portion of His people"

(De 32:9),

being in antithesis to "their portions," the idols.

8. The arrival of the enemy is announced in the form of an injunction

to blow an alarm.

cornet . . . trumpet--The "cornet" was made of the curved horn of

animals and was used by shepherds. The "trumpet" was of brass or silver,

straight, and used in wars and on solemn occasions. The Hebrew is

hatzotzerah, the sound imitating the trumpet note

(Ho 8:1;

Nu 10:2;

Jer 4:5;

Joe 2:1).

Gibeah . . . Ramah--both in Benjamin

(Isa 10:29).

Beth-aven--in Benjamin; not as in

Ho 4:15;

Beth-el, but a town east of it

(Jos 7:2).

"Cry aloud," namely, to raise the alarm. "Benjamin" is put for the

whole southern kingdom of Judah (compare

Ho 5:5),

being the first part of it which would meet the foe advancing from the

north. "After thee, O Benjamin," implies the position of Beth-aven,

behind Benjamin, at the borders of Ephraim. When the foe is at

Beth-aven, he is at Benjamin's rear, close upon thee, O Benjamin

(Jud 5:14).

9, 10. Israel is referred to in

Ho 5:9,

Judah in

Ho 5:10.

the day of rebuke--the day when I shall chastise him.

among the tribes of Israel have I made known--proving that the scene

of Hosea's labor was among the ten tribes.

that which shall surely be--namely, the coming judgment here foretold.

It is no longer a conditional decree, leaving a hope of pardon on

repentance; it is absolute, for Ephraim is hopelessly impenitent.

10. remove the bound--

(De 19:14; 27:17;

Job 24:2;

Pr 22:28; 23:10).

Proverbial for the rash setting aside of the ancestral laws by which

men are kept to their duty. Ahaz and his courtiers ("the princes of

Judah"), setting aside the ancient ordinances of God, removed the

borders of the bases and the layer and the sea and introduced an

idolatrous altar from Damascus

(2Ki 16:10-18);

also he burnt his children in the valley of Hinnom, after the

abominations of the heathen

(2Ch 28:3).

11. broken in judgment--namely, the "judgment" of God on him

(Ho 5:1).

walked after the commandment--Jeroboam's, to worship the calves

(2Ki 10:28-33).

Compare

Mic 6:16,

"the statutes of Omri," namely, idolatrous statutes. We ought to

obey God rather than men

(Ac 5:29).

JEROME reads "filthiness." The Septuagint

gives the sense, not the literal translation: "after

vanities."

12. as a moth--consuming a garment

(Job 13:28;

Ps 39:11;

Isa 50:9).

Judah . . . rottenness--Ephraim, or the ten tribes, are as a

garment eaten by the moth; Judah as the body itself consumed by

rottenness

(Pr 12:4).

Perhaps alluding to the superiority of the latter in having the house

of David, and the temple, the religious center of the nation [GROTIUS]. As in

Ho 5:13, 14,

the violence of the calamity is prefigured by the "wound" which "a

lion" inflicts, so here its long protracted duration, and the certainty

and completeness of the destruction from small unforeseen beginnings,

rottenness.

13. wound--literally, "bandage"; hence a bandaged wound

(Isa 1:6;

Jer 30:12).

"Saw," that is, felt its weakened state politically, and the dangers

that threatened it. It aggravates their perversity, that, though aware

of their unsound and calamitous state, they did not inquire into the

cause or seek a right remedy.

went . . . to the Assyrian--First, Menahem

(2Ki 15:19)

applied to Pul; again, Hoshea to Shalmaneser

(2Ki 17:3).

sent to King Jareb--Understand Judah as the nominative to

"sent." Thus, as "Ephraim saw his sickness" (the first clause) answers

in the parallelism to "Ephraim went to the Assyrian" (the third

clause), so "Judah saw his wound" (the second clause) answers to

(Judah) "sent to King Jareb" (the fourth clause). Jareb

ought rather to be translated, "their defender," literally,

"avenger" [JEROME]. The Assyrian "king," ever

ready, for his own aggrandizement, to mix himself up with the affairs

of neighboring states, professed to undertake Israel's and

Judah's cause; in

Jud 6:32,

Jerub, in Jerub-baal is so used, namely, "plead one's

cause." Judah, under Ahaz, applied to Tiglath-pileser for aid against

Syria and Israel

(2Ki 16:7, 8;

2Ch 28:16-21);

the Assyrian "distressed him, but strengthened him not," fulfiling the

prophecy here, "he could not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

14. lion--The black lion and the young lion are emblems of

strength and ferocity

(Ps 91:13).

I, even I--emphatic; when I, even I, the irresistible God, tear in

pieces

(Ps 50:22),

no Assyrian power can rescue.

go away--as a lion stalks leisurely back with his prey to his lair.

15. return to my place--that is, withdraw My favor.

till they acknowledge their offence--The Hebrew is, "till they

suffer the penalty of their guilt." Probably "accepting the punishment

of their guilt" (compare

Zec 11:5)

is included in the idea, as English Version translates. Compare

Le 26:40, 41;

Jer 29:12, 13;

Eze 6:9; 20:43; 36:31.

seek my face--that is, seek My favor

(Pr 29:26,

Margin).

in . . . affliction . . . seek me early--that is, diligently; rising up

before dawn to seek Me

(Ps 119:147;

compare

Ps 78:34).