Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 5:14

"For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver." — Hosea 5:14 (ASV)

As a lion. —First the trans-Jordanic tribes, then additional provinces, and lastly the whole population, were carried away as in the teeth of a beast of prey. Assyria is here referred to as represented by Tiglath-pileser. We might also quote from the inscription of Sargon in fulfilment of this prediction: “Samaria I besieged; I captured 27,290 people dwelling in the midst of it; I carried captive” (George Smith, Assyrian Eponym Canon, p. 125). A similar fate overtook Jerusalem in 587 B.C. at the hands of Babylonia, in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36:4–10; 2 Kings 24:10–16; 2 Kings 25:1–11).