seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Hosea 5:1 “Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, you Israelites!
Listen, royal house!
This judgment is against you:
You have been a snare at Mizpah,
a net spread out on Tabor.
2 The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter.
I will discipline all of them.
3 I know all about Ephraim;
Israel is not hidden from me.
Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution;
Israel is corrupt.
Pay attention, you Israelites!
Listen, royal house!
This judgment is against you:
You have been a snare at Mizpah,
a net spread out on Tabor.
2 The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter.
I will discipline all of them.
3 I know all about Ephraim;
Israel is not hidden from me.
Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution;
Israel is corrupt.
4 “Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
A spirit of prostitution is in their heart;
they do not acknowledge the Lord.
5 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;
the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin;
Judah also stumbles with them.
6 When they go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord,
they will not find him;
he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They are unfaithful to the Lord;
they give birth to illegitimate children.
When they celebrate their New Moon feasts,
he will devour[a] their fields.
to return to their God.
A spirit of prostitution is in their heart;
they do not acknowledge the Lord.
5 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;
the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin;
Judah also stumbles with them.
6 When they go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord,
they will not find him;
he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They are unfaithful to the Lord;
they give birth to illegitimate children.
When they celebrate their New Moon feasts,
he will devour[a] their fields.
8 “Sound the trumpet in Gibeah,
the horn in Ramah.
Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven[b];
lead on, Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will be laid waste
on the day of reckoning.
Among the tribes of Israel
I proclaim what is certain.
10 Judah’s leaders are like those
who move boundary stones.
I will pour out my wrath on them
like a flood of water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
trampled in judgment,
intent on pursuing idols.[c]
12 I am like a moth to Ephraim,
like rot to the people of Judah.
the horn in Ramah.
Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven[b];
lead on, Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will be laid waste
on the day of reckoning.
Among the tribes of Israel
I proclaim what is certain.
10 Judah’s leaders are like those
who move boundary stones.
I will pour out my wrath on them
like a flood of water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
trampled in judgment,
intent on pursuing idols.[c]
12 I am like a moth to Ephraim,
like rot to the people of Judah.
13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his sores,
then Ephraim turned to Assyria,
and sent to the great king for help.
But he is not able to cure you,
not able to heal your sores.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a great lion to Judah.
I will tear them to pieces and go away;
I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.
15 Then I will return to my lair
until they have borne their guilt
and seek my face—
in their misery
they will earnestly seek me.”
and Judah his sores,
then Ephraim turned to Assyria,
and sent to the great king for help.
But he is not able to cure you,
not able to heal your sores.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a great lion to Judah.
I will tear them to pieces and go away;
I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.
15 Then I will return to my lair
until they have borne their guilt
and seek my face—
in their misery
they will earnestly seek me.”
a. Hosea 5:7 Or Now their New Moon feasts / will devour them and
b. Hosea 5:8 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).
c. Hosea 5:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
I tried to use a different commentary.... one I use a lot.... but it made no sense what so ever this morning. So this is from the easy English site.
Hosea gives a message to three different groups of people. It is a strong message for everyone. God has come as a judge. No one can be free from what he has to say. There were two places called Mizpah in Israel. One was in Gilead, east of the river Jordan. The other place was Mizpah of Benjamin. The word ‘catch’ means that the leaders tried to take people away from God. They are most to blame. They have not been true to God. Tabor is a mountain. Perhaps bad things happened there.
The Hebrew in verse 2 is not easy to understand. It might mean that the leaders took part in child sacrifices. So, God wants to put them in prison. The idea of Israel as a prostitute is not new. We see it in Hosea 6:10 too. The words ‘not clean’ mean that Israel has guilt. The job of the *riests was to know the difference between clean and dirty things. They failed in this job. It was like a prostitute going into the temple to do her work.
The people keep themselves away from God. They might say that they want to know God. But they do bad things. This shows that they want to turn away from him. They have been their own judge. They have not wanted to remember the law of Moses. They are too proud to do this. Hosea says that Judah is like Israel. Judah can fall in the same way as Israel. The sacrifices of Israel did not follow the right laws. This was because the people did not do them in the proper way in Jerusalem. The people of Israel thought that many sacrifices were important (see 2 Kings 3:27). They did not care about the quality. The people will try to find God but God has ‘left’ them. In 1 Samuel 15:24-29, Saul said that he sinned when he did not destroy everything in war. Perhaps he was not sorry with all his heart. But Samuel told Saul that it was better to obey God than to offer sacrifices. It is a good example of God leaving a person. Israel will lose its land (verse 7). This is what God has decided.
A new part of Hosea begins here. Most of these verses are about war. Hosea tells Israel to prepare for war. Gibeon, Ramah and Bethaven were all near Jerusalem. The war will come from the south of Israel. Because of war, these three cities were part of Israel. But they used to be a part of Judah. The people of Benjamin lived near the south of Israel. Judah would attack them first and then attack all of Israel. Isaiah also said that Assyria would want to have all of Israel (Isaiah 7:1-8:8). Both Pekah and Hoshea, kings of Israel, lost parts of a war against Judah. But this was only the beginning of the end for Israel. This end came in 722 BC.
In verse 10, Hosea speaks against Judah. He says that they have moved special stones. These stones showed the place where Israel and Judah’s land met. Moving these stones was against the law (Deuteronomy 19:14). Judah has broken the covenant too. Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrian king, also took land from Israel. Assyria has become a judge. Israel has not trusted God enough. She wanted to get help from Damascus against Assyria. But to get help from other nations was against the covenant (Deuteronomy 28:7).
God speaks in pictures to bring his message to Israel and Judah It is not Tiglath-Pileser who brings terrible things to Israel. It is God. God uses the picture of a sick person . Both Israel and Judah were sick. Both countries were looking to other countries for help. God did not like this. Judah asked Assyria for help after the Syro-Israel attack in 734 BC. Hoshea, a young king of Israel, wanted to make an agreement with Tiglath-Pileser 3rd. But other countries will not be able to help Israel. God himself will attack Judah and Israel like a lion. God is the real danger. He is their real enemy. He used other nations to be their judge. The lion will go back to his place. God, too, will leave his people. He will leave them when they are in ‘pain’. The ‘suffering’ and ‘guilt’ are connected to each other. They are part of the same problem. This is a covenant curse. Perhaps then the people will try to find God again.
This is from bibletrack.org.This chapter is devoted to Hosea's prophecy against the sin of the Northern Kingdom known as Israel. As stated above, sometimes the Northern Kingdom is referred to as Ephraim, one of the Northern Tribes. Their spiritual leadership, the two-calf priests, are clearly implicated in verse 1. There's the spiritual harlotry in Hosea 5:3, "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled." The resulting consequences are seen in verses 4-9. The civil leadership of Israel is indicted in verse 10. They will be chastised until they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face". They did not acknowledge their sins and fell to the Assyrians in 721 B.C. Verse 5 says, "Judah also shall fall with them." Jerusalem itself (within Judah) did not fall until 586 B.C. (to the Babylonians), but the rest of the land of Judah (Southern Kingdom) did fall prey to the Assyrians along with the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom.
Somehow..... through the decades.... it appears the priests down in Judah turned rotten too. In verse 12 God says He's like a moth to Ephraim and a rot to Judah. I've had moths..... stinky to get rid of.... they ate holes in a nice wool coat I had stored incorrectly. I've also seen rot..... I use to work at the NE Market in DC [Bookkeeper] and there was a lot of rot thrown out in that place..... it starts when one rotten thing gets in..... and then it spreads like plague.The people in Israel and Judah..... had become complacent.... God was just one of many..... they had become so complacent that they decided that quantity of sacrifices was more important that quality of sacrifice. Back in the Law..... Moses said they had to pick out their best sheep.... free from blemish.... their best grain..... free from rot...... He wanted them to take their time, think about what they had done..... they were no longer contrite over their sins.... they were no longer trying to do the right thing by their one and only God.... they were throwing a little mutton on the grill to please one of many gods.... they probably had a little idol on the end of their poker..... it's a day for two gods..... two gods.... not ONE.
The biggest thing David had going for him.... over Saul.... was that unlike Saul... David would ask God what He wanted David to do. David was a womanizer, and a murderer..... [and I figure he had something to do with the death of Bathsheba's bastard son].... but he really listened to God. He didn't go asking the Assyrians or the Egyptians for help.... He went to God. Alas.... that was long before this prophecy came about.... God's kingdom under David ran like a well oiled machine.... God was large and in charge while David was king...... but alas...... by the time the Babylonians became a tool.... those people in Judah were already doing stupid things.....
God wants it all....not part.... not a passing glance.... not almost all.... God wants it all... He wants me to ask Him what He wants us to do..... and He will not settle for less..... one good thing about trusting God is.... He knows how it turns out.... So if He sets the path.... it'll turn out ok.
