Hosea 5
Big idea: The summons widens to priests, people and the royal house together, and the images for God turn strange: not a storm or a fire but a moth, and dry rot — decay working invisibly through cloth and wood. Then a lion, and then something worse than either: withdrawal.
The withdrawal at 5:15 says God will wait until they acknowledge their offence. Chapter 6 opens with a song of repentance that appears to do exactly that — and is not accepted.
5:1–7 — A snare at Mizpah
Three groups are summoned, which is the book's way of saying the failure is not confined to one office — priests, people and the king's household are all addressed in one breath. The charge is that the leadership has been a trap rather than a protection, using the imagery of hunting at two well-known sites.
1 “Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor. 2 The rebels are deep in slaughter, but I discipline all of them. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled. 4 Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God, for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know Yahweh. 5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them. 6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh, but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. 7 They are unfaithful to Yahweh; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
5:8–15 — Like a moth to Ephraim
The trumpets sound along a line of towns just north of Jerusalem, which locates this against a real war — most likely the conflict in which Israel and Syria attacked Judah and Judah called Assyria in. Both kingdoms are indicted: Judah's princes for moving boundary stones, Ephraim for following what the text calls a command, though the Hebrew here is one of the book's damaged spots and translations differ.
8 “Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin! 9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be. 10 The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment, because he is intent in his pursuit of idols. 12 Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness. 13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to King Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver. 15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).