Hosea 5:3

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. I KNOW EPHRAIM - the tribe so called, as distinguished from "Israel" here the other nine tribes. It was always foremost of the tribes of the north kingdom. For 400 years in early history it, with Manasseh and Benjamin, its two dependent tribes, held the preeminence in the whole nation. Ephraim is here addressed as foremost in idolatry. AND ISRAEL IS NOT HID FROM ME - notwithstanding their supposed profound cunning (; ; ; ; , "I kno...

God shows here that he is not pacified by the vain excuses which hypocrites allege, and by which they think that the judgment of God himself can be turned away. We see what great dullness there is in many, when God reproves them, and brings to light their vices; for they defend themselves with vain and frivolous excuses, and think that they thus put a restraint on God, so that he dares not urge them any more. In this way hypocrites elude every truth. But God here testifies, that men are greatly deceived when they thus judge, by their own perception, of that celestial tribunal to which they are summoned; _I_, he says, _know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me _There is to be understood an implied contrast, as though he said, that they were ignorant of themselves; for they covered their vices, as I have said, with frivolous excuses. God testifies that his eyes were not dazzled with such...

1-7 The piercing eye of God saw secret liking and disposition to sin, the love the house of Israel had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had over them. Pride makes men obstinate in other sins. And as Judah was treading in the same steps, they would fall with Israel. By dealing treacherously with the Lord, men only deceive themselves. Those that go to seek the Lord with their flocks and their herds only, and not with their hearts and souls, cannot expect to find him; nor shall any speed who do not seek the Lord while he may be found. See how much it is our concern to seek God early, now, while it is the accepted time, and the day of salvation....

Verse Hosea 5:3. _I KNOW EPHRAIM_] I know the whole to be idolaters....

I KNOW EPHRAIM - There is much emphasis on the “I.” It is like our, “I have known,” or “I, I, have known.” God had known him all along, if we may so speak. However deep they may have laid their plans of blood, however they would or do hide them from man, and think that no eye seeth them, and say, “Who seeth me? and who knoweth me? I, to whose eyes all things are naked and opened Hebrews 4:13, have all along known them, and nothing of them has been hid from Me. For, He adds, even now, now when, under a fair outward show, they are veiling the depth of their sin, now, when they think that their way is hid in darkness, I know their doings, that they are defiling themselves. Sin never wanted specious excuse. Now too unbelievers are mostly fond of precisely those characters in Holy Scripture, whom God condemns. Jeroboam doubtless was accounted a patriot, vindicating hi

EXPOSITION HOSEA 5:1 HEAR YE THIS, O PRIESTS; AND HEARKEN, YE HOUSE OF ISRAEL; AND GIVE YE EAR, O HOUSE OF THE KING. The persons here addressed comprise all the estates of the realm—priests, people, and princes. The house of Israel is the northern kingdom; and the house of the king is the members of the king's family, of his court and of his government. Thus the rulers and the ruled, the spiritual teachers and the taught, are comprehended in this address. Neither priestly office, nor popular power, nor princely dignity was to be exempted. But, though all are summoned to give audience, the heads of the people, the men of light and leading, are first arraigned. FOR JUDGMENT IS TOWARD YOU, as the clause is correctly rendered; not, "it devolves on you to maintain judgment," as some understand it. It had, indeed, been the province o

I KNOW EPHRAIM, AND ISRAEL IS NOT HID FROM ME,.... Though they may cover their designs from men, and seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and make plausible pretences for what they do, and put on an appearance of religion; yet God, who knows all men, and their hearts, cannot be deceived; he judges not according to outward appearance; all things are naked and open to him; nor can any hide themselves from him; he knows their persons, intentions, and designs, as well as actions. Kimchi interprets Ephraim of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was of that tribe; others, of the tribe itself, and Israel of the other nine tribes; others take Ephraim for the ten tribes, and Israel for the two tribes: but it is best to understand Ephraim and Israel of the same, even of the ten tribes; whose works, as the Targum paraphrases it, the Lord knew, particularly what follows: FOR NOW, O EPHRAIM, T...

MACCABEES; wars of, (_ See Scofield) - (Malachi 4:6). _ MACEDONIAN; world-empire predicted, (_ See Scofield) - (Daniel 8:1). _ MACEDONIAN; world-empire, end of, (_ See Scofield) - (Daniel 8:19). _ MADAI; descendents of, (_ See Scofield) - (Genesis 10:2). _ MAGOG; descendents of, (_ See Scofield) - (Genesis 10:2). _ MAHER-SHALAL-HAS-BAZ; name explained, ( See Scofield)

CHAPTER 5:1-6:3 The Message to the Priests, the People, and the Royal House Judgment, Affliction and the Future Return _ 1. The message of rebuke (Hosea 5:1) _ 2. The judgment announced (Hosea 5:8) 3. The future return and the blessing (Hosea 6:1) Hosea 5:1. The first verse shows who is addressed: the priests, the house of Israel and the house of the King. Judgment was in store for them, for Mizpah and Tabor, the places of hallowed memory, had been turned by their idolatrous worship into a snare. An old and interesting tradition among the Jews states that at Mizpah the apostates waited for those Israelites who

PRIESTS AND RULERS ARE BRINGING THE NATION TO RUIN. Judgment is declared against (Hosea 5:1 _mg._) [9] the priests and ruling class because they have ensnared the people (by encouraging the mixed cultus) at the sanctuaries Mizpah (in Gilead probably), Tabor and Shittim (Hosea 5:2 corrected text) are mentioned as the scenes of such worship. A spirit of whoredom in the literal sense of the word (_cf. Hosea 4:12_) animates them, and the brazen pride with which they pursue their evil course condemns them. When Israel and Judah fall as fall they must they will seek in vain to propitiate Yahweh with sacrifices from their flocks and herds; He has withdrawn Himself from a generation who are not His, but bastards ...