Hosea
Chapter 5
Sentence Without Appeal: Worship Is Worthless
Listen up, priests! And you, people of Israel, pay close attention! Listen, officials of the king, for you will be judged. You have been a trap at Mizpah and a net at Tabor,
and a deep pit at Shittim; therefore, I will punish you all.
I know what Israel is like; he can’t hide from me. Ephraim is unfaithful; Israel is a people that corrupts itself.
Their actions prevent them from returning to their God; a spirit of prostitution has taken hold of them, and they do not know the Lord.
The pride of Israel is a witness against them; these people are failing because of their guilt.
With their sheep and bulls, they will seek the Lord,but they will not find him, for he has moved far from them.
He saw they were unfaithful, and their children were not his. So now, the destroyer will eliminate them, and their lands will be destroyed.
Covenants Are Worthless
Blow the horn at Gibeah, sound the trumpet at Ramah, raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! For Benjamin has been defeated;
the day has arrived when Ephraim is ruined. Let the tribes of Israel know that this is imminent!
The princes of Judah are like those who remove boundary stones; and I will pour out my anger on them like a flood.
Similarly, those of Ephraim are oppressors and trample justice.
I will be like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to Judah.
Ephraim saw he was sick; Judah saw his ulcer. Then Ephraim turned to the great king of Assyria for help, but he would not cure you or heal your sores.
I will be like a leopard for Ephraim and like a lion for Judah. I will tear them apart and leave them. When I carry them off, no one will rescue them.
Then I will go away and return to my place until they admit their guilt and come back to me; for in their distress, they will earnestly seek me.
Commentaries
Title.
The Lord’s case against Israel. This section provides a progressively detailed explanation of Hosea’s interpretation of the people’s behavior, using his wife’s actions as a reference point.
Sentence Without Appeal: Worship Is Worthless.
Mispah, Tabor, and Sitin are locations in the northern kingdom where the false worship of Canaanite idols, led by the priests, had spread. Israel’s sin and arrogance cannot deceive the Lord (6-7).
Covenants Are Worthless.
Moving boundary stones means claiming what rightfully belongs to others (10). God uses the strength of the Assyrian invader to punish Ephraim (Israel), destroying it like moths ruin clothes and Judah like woodworm (12). The last king of Israel, named Hosea, like the prophet, allied with Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria, whom he had to pay a very high tribute. The Assyrians did not come to resolve the people’s problems but to dominate them. King Hosea’s decision to stop paying tribute led to the immediate and brutal destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 721 B.C. Only the Southern Kingdom, Judah, survived.