Hosea 5:8-12

An opportunity to repent -- Hosea 5:8-12: God said, Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin. (Hosea 5:8) Trumpets were used to warn a nation that they were under attack. This warning was to be heard in Gibeah, Ramah, and sinful Bethel. Benjamin was told to watch out! This warning provided them the opportunity for repentance. This was a prediction that Israel would be attacked by the Assyrians and that there would be the captivity of the ten tribes. God gave His solemn promise that Israel would be wiped out.

Judah is similarly now brought into the prediction. Her leaders were also like a bunch of crooks that moved boundary markers. They likewise would be flooded with God's anger. Wickedness and spiritual whoredom destined the people of God to be invaded by the heathen nations. Ephraim is oppressed and broken by God's judgment. They got what they deserved for worshipping useless idols. The commandments they kept were not God's commandments, but those of Jeroboam where he told the people to worship idols at Dan and Bethel. (1 Kings 12:28-33) Both Judah and Israel would feel God's wrath. Just as a moth and rottenness attacks material things and destroys them, just so the Lord promised that His unfaithful people would soon be attacked. God gave them opportunity but they simply would not repent.