CHAPTER V _This chapter begins with threatening the Israelites for_ _ensnaring the people to idolatry by their sacrifices and other_ _rites on Mizpah and Tabor_, 1-5. _Their sacrifices, however costly, are declared to be_ _unacceptable_, 6; _and their substance is devoted to the locust_, 7. _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:2. _THE REVOLTERS ARE PROFOUND TO MAKE SLAUGHTER_] Here may be a reference to the practice of _hunters_, making _deep pits_ in the ground, and lightly covering them over, that the beasts, not discovering them, might fall in, and become a prey. _THOUGH I_ HAVE BEEN _A REBUKER_] "I will... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:3. _I KNOW EPHRAIM_] I know the whole to be idolaters.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:4. _THEY WILL NOT FRAME THEIR DOINGS_] They never _purpose_ to turn to God, they have fully imbibed the spirit of idolatry.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:5. _THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL DOTH TESTIFY TO HIS FACE_] The effrontery with which they practise idolatry manifests, not only their insolence, but the deep depravity of their heart; but their pride and arrogance shall be humbled.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:6. _THEY SHALL GO WITH THEIR FLOCKS_] They shall _offer many_ _sacrifices_, professing to _seek_ and be reconciled to the Lord; but they shall not _find him_. As they still retain the spirit of their idolatry, he has withdrawn himself from them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:7. _NOW SHALL A MONTH DEVOUR THEM_] In a month's time the king of Assyria shall be upon them, and oblige them to purchase their lives and liberties by a grievous tax of _fifty_ shekels per head. This Menahem, king of Israel, gave to _Pul_, king of Assyria, 2 Kings 15:16-12. Instead of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:8. _BLOW YE THE CORNET IN GIBEAH_] Gibeah and Ramah were cities of Judah, in the tribe of Benjamin. _AFTER THEE, O BENJAMIN_] An abrupt call of warning. "Benjamin, fly for thy life! The enemy is just behind thee!" This is a prediction of the invasion of the Assyrians, and the captivit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:9. _AMONG THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL HAVE I MADE KNOWN_] They have got sufficient warning; it is their own fault that they have not taken it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:10. _LIKE THEM THAT REMOVE THE BOUND_] As execrable as they who remove the _land-mark_. They have leaped over law's enclosure, and scaled all the walls of right; they have despised and broken all laws, human and Divine.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:11. _WALKED AFTER THE COMMANDMENT._] Jeroboam's commandment to worship his calves at Dan and Beth-el. Many of them were not _forced_ to do this, they did it _willingly_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:12. _UNTO EPHRAIM AS A MOTH_] I will consume them by little and little, as a moth frets a garment.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:13. _WHEN EPHRAIM SAW HIS SICKNESS_] When both Israel and Judah felt their own weakness to resist their enemies, instead of calling upon and trusting in _me_, they sought sinful alliances, and trusted in their idols. _KING JAREB_] This name occurs nowhere in Scripture but here and in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:14. _I_ WILL BE - _AS A LION_] כשחל _cashshachel_, as a _panther_ or _lioness_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hosea 5:15. _I WILL GO_ AND _RETURN TO MY PLACE_] I will abandon them till they acknowledge their offenses. This had the wished-for effect, as we shall see in the following chapter; for they repented and turned to God, and he had mercy upon them. These two verses are considered as instances of... [ Continue Reading ]