Hear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
Hosea 5 opens with God calling three groups into court at once: the priests, the people, and the royal household. He tells them the case is against them. The charge is that the men entrusted with guiding Israel had themselves become the trap.
The verse does not address Israel as an undivided crowd. One writer traces the order of the call, and how it differs from the chapter before:
There is a triple summons in Hosea 5:1. We begin with a distinct address to the priests, then a call to the people, and lastly to the house of the king. The last chapter dealt with the people, and only step by step came to the priests. But now God appeals to the leaders, both religious and civil.
All three groups stand on the same ground:
Priests, people, king — God addresses them all as the objects of the judgment. All had given themselves up to violence. Although God had rebuked them, they would not return to Him.
The rot ran to the top of the nation:
Idolatry, dragging every other evil along with it, had corrupted every rank and every kind of man in Israel, right up to the priests and the king's household. The one controlled religious matters. The other was the source of authority in the land... The judgment now came on those who should have judged righteously.
The same sin does not carry the same weight in every person. Writing on a similar rebuke to priests elsewhere, one writer gives the rule and the reason:
Here we see the same thing we find everywhere in the Scriptures: position and privilege increase responsibility. So if a priest or a ruler sinned, he had to bring a larger sacrifice than one of the common people (Leviticus 4). In this chapter the priests were the appointed teachers of the people, so God deals with them more severely — with unsparing judgment. Instead of guiding the people rightly, they caused many to stumble. Whenever leaders go astray, the results are more serious, because they have more influence, both for good and for evil.
The principle holds outside the priesthood too, wherever a man holds a position of trust:
Of course we know that all the people have their own responsibility. But the chief weight falls according to a person's position. Wickedness in a man who holds an office of trust is worse, and rightly treated as more serious, than the same evil in someone under him.
Mizpah and Tabor were not random place names. Both carried holy memories, and both had become traps:
The first verse shows whom God addresses: the priests, the house of Israel and the house of the king. Judgment was in store for them. Their idolatrous worship had turned Mizpah and Tabor, places of holy memory, into a snare. An old and interesting Jewish tradition says that at Mizpah those who had abandoned God lay in wait for Israelites going up to Jerusalem to worship, in order to murder them.
Mizpah had a history. Samuel had once gathered Israel there:
This was the city where Samuel gathered the people "to the Lord". Here he judged Israel, and here he presented Saul to them as their king.
The trap was not set in one corner of the land:
Sadly, they were a snare on Mizpah and a net spread on Tabor. East or west of the Jordan made no difference. These were scenes of past mercies that should never have been forgotten. Yet the people recalled them only to add force to their real enticements to idolatry.
The verses that follow add that God saw all of it:
And the Lord saw it all. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me." He knew Ephraim's unfaithfulness and Israel's defilement. Their evil deeds kept them from returning to their God.
- Summoned. God calls three groups at once: priests, people, the king's house. He names the religious and civil leaders, not just the crowd of the chapter before.
- Trusted. Between them, the two offices held the whole nation. One controlled religion. The other was the source of authority in the land.
- Trapped. The men who should have judged rightly became a snare and a net. They turned Mizpah and Tabor, places of holy memory, into bait for idolatry.
- Traced. The reach was total. East or west of the Jordan made no difference. And God says He knows Ephraim.
- Tried. Responsibility rises with position. Wickedness in a man who holds an office of trust weighs more, because leaders who go astray make many stumble.
And they have plunged themselves in the corruption of apostasy, but I will be a chastiser of them all.
The verse belongs to a charge against Israel's leaders. One writer shows how far the rot had spread, and who was finally on trial.
Where now was the holy one of Jehovah, or the witness of the true David who was coming? Reckless godlessness and self-indulgence reigned. There was wickedness everywhere. The judgment was now directed at those who should have judged righteously.
Mizpah and Tabor, named in the previous line, were not random hills. They carried sacred memories, and Israel turned those memories to a new use.
The next verse seems to point to something like this tradition.
The verse says the evil went deep. One writer renders "the revolters" as "the apostates" — those who had departed from God. He sets their sin beside God's own knowledge of them.
"And the apostates make slaughter deep; but I am a chastisement to them all." And the Lord saw it all. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me." He knew the immorality of Ephraim and the defilement of Israel. Their evil deeds kept them from returning to their God.
The line about God correcting or rebuking them all is not a threat about the future only. It looks back on warnings already given — and forward to what refusing them costs.
Priests, people, king — God addresses them all as the targets of His judgment. All had given themselves up to violence. Although God had rebuked them, they would not return to Him. Afterwards they would seek Him and not find Him. He would have withdrawn Himself from them.
Later in the chapter this becomes the grim pattern of the sick nation running to a foreign king instead of to God. One summary notes that Ephraim, "instead of turning to Jehovah in his sickness, had sought the Assyrian — a king who could not cure them."
One writer sums up the state of the nation in Hosea's day. Then he applies it to our own time.
All was now lawlessness in apostate Israel. Departure from God and true worship came first. That opened the way for moral corruption and lawlessness. The same is true of this present Christian age. It also ends in apostasy, moral corruption and lawlessness. Hosea testified faithfully to these conditions.
- Depth — the revolters "make slaughter deep." The corruption reached every rank, from priest to king.
- Deeper still — Mizpah and Tabor carried memories of God's mercy. Israel set its trap on that very ground.
- Seen — depth hides nothing. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me." God's knowledge reaches as far down as the evil does.
- Rebuked — God had already spoken against them all before judgment fell. Israel's guilt was not a lack of warning. It was the refusal to return.
- Withdrawn — rebuke refused ends like this — they would seek Him and not find Him. The pattern starts with departure from God and ends in lawlessness. Commentators read it as a warning for our own age too.
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom; Israel is defiled.
God speaks here to a people whose religion still looked alive while their hearts had gone elsewhere. He opens with what He sees, not with what they show. So who is "Ephraim," and what does God mean when He says He knows them?
"Ephraim" and "Israel" in this verse are not two different peoples. The prophets used one tribe's name for a whole kingdom.
When the tribes divided, Ephraim took the most prominent place. Shechem and Samaria stood in its territory, which added to this and explains why the prophets keep calling the ten tribes "Ephraim." In the same way they call the two tribes "Judah." Hosea 5:3, 5, 13.
The chapter does not begin with ordinary people. It begins with a summons to those who set the nation's religious and public tone.
There is a triple summons in Hosea 5:1. We begin with a distinct address to the priests, then a call to the people, and lastly to the house of the king. The last chapter was occupied with the people, and only by gradual transition came to the priests. But now the leaders are appealed to, religious and civil.
The unfaithfulness in this verse is idolatry, and it had spread through every rank in Israel. God knew Ephraim while the nation raced on in self-will, certain no one could see.
Idolatry, with every other evil that follows it, had corrupted people of every rank in Israel, right up to the priests and the king's household... The guilty people hardly thought of it in their reckless, self-willed madness. But He knew Ephraim well, and Israel was not hidden from Him. Defiling corruption was at work everywhere... The spirit of immorality was in them, and they had not known the LORD.
The unfaithfulness named here is not a stumble that a change of mind could undo. Their own conduct had become the barrier to returning, and the following verses spell out where that leads.
And the Lord saw it all. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me." He knew the immorality of Ephraim and the defilement of Israel. Their evil deeds kept them from returning to their God... Pride was the leading sin of Ephraim, and it would testify against them. Both Israel and Ephraim would stumble because of their guilt, and Judah would share the same fate. They may go with their flocks of sheep and their herds, willing and ready to sacrifice, but they will not find Him, for He has withdrawn Himself.
Kelly reads the same movement in the chapter: worship offered in that condition changes nothing.
"They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them."... No offerings in such a state would be of any use: God stood aloof.
What God says to a nation here holds for anyone. You can manage how you look to other people. You cannot manage how you look to God.
No attractive appearance, no mere profession, no religious exterior deceives Him. "All are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." And the sincere heart that truly knows His love would not want it any other way. It gives such a person great comfort and rest that He knows and discerns everything perfectly.
For someone who has drifted from God, these words are not only exposure. They are the one thing left to hold on to.
Sometimes you are angry that the Christians who were your friends in earlier days do not know you as they once did. But your conscience tells you they are right. You are not known — not known! Wait: there is One who knows you still, One who never forgets, the One who said, "I know my sheep."
The words are not only a warning. They are how God draws someone back.
"I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me," said the Lord long ago, when His people went far from Him... Yes, the Lord does not forget, and He wants you to remember... You may take up the cry... and say, "The Lord knows me." Thank God He does. With words of love He would draw you away from your backsliding and make you sing as you once did. He will fill you with self-distrust and with confidence in Himself, and turn your very backsliding into your blessing.
- Known — who. "Ephraim" is the prophets' name for the ten northern tribes. It comes from their leading tribe, just as "Judah" stands for the south.
- Known — when. He knows them while they run on in self-will — and while they do not know Him.
- Known — how deep. He sees the acts and the state behind them. Their deeds block the way back, and their pride testifies against them.
- Known — despite the display. They bring flocks and herds to seek Him and find nothing. No religious exterior deceives Him, and He has withdrawn.
- Known — and still wanted. The One who misses nothing is the One who never forgets. He uses that knowledge to draw the wanderer home.
Their doings do not allow them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they know not Jehovah.
In Hosea 5 God brings formal charges against Israel. This verse gives the reason they could not turn back: their own deeds had shut the door behind them, and a religious nation no longer knew its God.
The charge is not aimed at one guilty group. It covers the whole nation, from the altar to the throne, and it shows where they turned instead of turning to God.
Hosea 5. The prophet speaks to the priests, the people, and the king. They had all sinned, and God had rebuked them, but they had not returned to Jehovah. Ephraim, instead of turning to Jehovah in his sickness, had sought the Assyrian — a king who could not cure them.
The verse describes something stronger than reluctance. Their sin was not a habit they carried; it was a power that held them.
Their evil deeds kept them from returning to their God. The reason was this: the demon of whoredoms had taken complete possession of them, and it kept them in sin and rebellion. Pride was the leading sin of Ephraim, and it was to testify against them.
The verse says they had no knowledge of the LORD. The reverse was not true, and that is what made their case so serious.
In their reckless, stubborn madness the guilty people never imagined it. But He knew Ephraim well, and Israel was not hidden from Him. Defiling corruption was at work everywhere.
A nation that did not know the LORD was still careful with its offerings. One writer sets the two side by side and shows which one God valued.
Both Ephraim and Judah (Hosea 5, 6) had badly corrupted themselves. Yet at the same time they appear to have been very careful about their sacrificial ceremonies, as if attention to outward forms could win them God's favour... Character and state counted for more before God than outward observances. That character and state come from knowing Jehovah as a God of mercy. Outward observances were completely worthless unless they showed a real spiritual condition.
Not knowing the LORD is not a passing note in Hosea. The same lack blocks their return now, and its removal marks their restoration later.
This, too, stood in the way of their return to God: "they know not the LORD" (Hosea 5:4). But God will work repentance in them, raise them up, and make them live before Him. Then they will know Him, and will "press on to know the LORD" (Hosea 6:3). They will learn that this pleases God more than anything else: "the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6).
The same writer traces where that ignorance began, well before the ruin of chapter 5.
Israel's decline starts, first of all, with her lack of knowledge about Jehovah's generosity: "she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain" (Hosea 2:8). But in the day of future glory, when Jehovah betroths her to Himself, she will fully know Him. "You shall know the LORD" (Hosea 2:20).
Hosea's words describe a nation. One writer applies them to a single man — Jacob, on the night he wrestled with God.
Jehovah breaks through all Jacob's schemes and gets at him face to face... He searches the flocks, the herds, the servants, the sons and the wives, but He finds no idol of Jacob's there, because Jacob himself is not there. Self, not Jehovah, is the object of his service. At last He finds him alone, the secret of his strength untouched... the spirit of whoredom was inside him, but now his pride testifies to his face. He does not know Jehovah; he is a worshipper of self.
- Not knowing — the root fault is ignorance of the LORD. It begins early, when Israel did not know who gave her the grain, and ends in the ruin of this verse.
- Not returning — that ignorance blocks the way home. The spirit of whoredom had taken hold of them, so their own deeds kept them in sin and rebellion.
- Not hidden — they did not know Him, but He knew Ephraim well. The corruption at work everywhere was never hidden from Him.
- Not enough — careful sacrifices could not replace the missing knowledge. Outward forms are worthless unless they show a real state of soul.
- Not final — when God works repentance in them, they will press on to know the LORD, and He prizes that knowledge more than burnt offerings.
And Israel's pride doth testify to his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall fall by their iniquity Judah also shall fall with them.
Hosea has been building God's case against a divided nation, and the charge here ends with pride as the witness. Two questions press. How can a sin be its own evidence? And why does Judah fall in the same sentence?
"Israel," "Ephraim" and "Judah" are not three separate peoples but the two halves of a divided nation. One writer explains why the prophets keep swapping the tribal name for the national one:
When the tribes divided, Ephraim took the leading place. Shechem and Samaria stood in Ephraim's territory, which added to this, and it explains why the prophets keep calling the ten tribes "Ephraim." In the same way they call the two tribes "Judah." Hosea 5:3, 5, 13, 14.
Pride is not one item on a list here. It is the ruling sin, and it speaks against them without any other accuser. One writer follows the verse forward, to what happens when they do go looking for God:
Pride was the leading sin of Ephraim. It would testify against them. Both Israel and Ephraim would stumble because of their guilt, and Judah would share the same fate. They may go with their flocks of sheep and their herds, willing and ready to sacrifice, but they will not be able to find Him, for He has withdrawn Himself.
The same words about pride return in chapter 7. Commenting there, a writer puts pride first among the causes of Ephraim's collapse, then turns it on the reader:
What was the cause of Ephraim's state in Hosea? There were three causes: pride, worldliness, and self-will or rebellion. The first two were secondary; the third was primary. The first then is pride — "and the pride of Israel testifies to his face". Pride goes before a fall. Is there any sin so common, or to which we yield ourselves so much, as pride of heart?
The stumbling here is the end of a chain, not a sudden verdict. Their own habits had become the barrier between them and the God they should have returned to:
The guilty people never imagined it in their reckless, self-willed madness, but He knew Ephraim well, and Israel was not hidden from Him. Corruption that defiles was at work everywhere. Their own deeds would not let them return to their God, because the spirit of lewdness was inside them, and they had not known the LORD. So the pride of Israel would be humbled before His face. Israel and Ephraim would stumble in their iniquity, and Judah would fall with them (verses 1-5).
Notice the order. Pride that testified to their face is humbled before His face.
Judah's inclusion is the sting of the verse. Judah still looked faithful, yet Hosea puts both kingdoms in one fall. The difference between them went no deeper than the surface:
The prophecy presents Ephraim as having completely forsaken God, sunk in iniquity, and facing coming judgment. It presents Judah as still faithful on the outside, though unfaithful at heart too (see Hosea 6:11; 8:14; 11:12). Judgment would fall on them both.
Judah had already heard the warning not to copy her sister, and it came with her failure already foreseen:
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin are warned not to copy this behaviour. Yet it is foreseen that they would copy it, and their fall is foretold too (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:5; Hosea 12:2).
One writer traces the order in which the collapse came, and applies it beyond Israel:
All was now lawlessness in apostate Israel. Departure from God and the true worship came first and that opened the way for moral corruption and lawlessness. The same is true of this present Christian age. It also ends in apostasy, moral corruption and lawlessness. Hosea testified faithfully to these conditions.
- The fall starts inside. Departure from God comes first. The corruption and lawlessness follow, never the other way round.
- The fall has a witness. Pride needs no outside accuser. It testifies to their face, and commentators call it Ephraim's leading sin.
- The fall blocks the exit. Their own doings would not let them return; the sin that condemns them is the sin that keeps them from repenting.
- The fall spreads by company. Judah looked faithful and heard the warning not to copy Israel. She falls in the same verse anyway.
- The fall ends in silence. They can still bring flocks and herds, but they will not find Him. He has withdrawn Himself.