John Gill Commentary Hosea 5

Hear you this, O priests
Though idolatrous ones, who called themselves priests, and were reckoned so by others, though not of the tribe of Levi, but such as Jeroboam had made priests, or were their successors; and there might be some of the family of Aaron and tribe of Levi, that might continue in the cities of Israel, and who gave in to the idolatrous worship of those times. Some render it "princes" ^F3 and the word signifies both: and hearken, you house of Israel ;
not the kingdom of Judah, as Kimchi, for this is manifestly distinguished from Israel in this chapter; nor the sanhedrim, to which sense Aben Ezra seems to incline; but the ten tribes, the whole kingdom of Israel, the common people in it: and give you ear, O house of the king ;
of the king of Israel, who, at this time, is thought to be Menahem; the royal family, the princes of the blood, and all that belonged to the king's court; all of every office, priestly or kingly, of every rank, high and low, are called upon to hearken to what is about to be said, both concerning their sin and punishment: for judgment [is] toward you :

either to know and do that which is just and right; it belonged to the priests to know and teach divine judgment, to instruct the people in the knowledge of the judgments, statutes, and laws of God; and it belonged to, the king to execute human judgment, to do justice and judgment according to the laws of God, and of the realm; and it belonged to the people to attend to both: so the Targum, ``does it not "belong" to you to know judgments?'' or rather this is to be understood of punitive justice and judgment, of the sentence of condemnation, or denunciation of punishment for sin: the reasons of which follow,

because you have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor ;
these were two high mountains in the land of Israel; the former was near Hermon and Lebanon, and the same with Gilead, (Joshua 11:3) (Judges 11:29) ; the latter was a mountain in Galilee, between Issachar and Zebulun, six miles from Nazareth: it was, according to Joseph ben Gorion ^F4 almost four miles high, had on the top of it a plain of almost three miles; the true Josephus ^F5

The Jews ^F6 have a tradition, that Jeroboam set spies upon these mountains at the time of the solemn feasts, to watch who went to them out of Israel, and to inform against them; but these could not command all the roads leading to Jerusalem. It may be these mountains were much infested with hawkers and hunters, to which there may be an allusion; and the sense be, you priests, people, and king, are like to those that set snares and nets on those hills, as they to ensnare and catch creatures, so you to ensnare and draw men into idolatrous practices; or rather, since there is no note of comparison, the meaning is, that they set up altars, and offered sacrifices on these hills, and thereby ensnared not only those of their own tribes, but drew and enticed many of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to fall in with the same idolatrous practices.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (Mynhkh) "significat sacerdotes et principes", vid. 2 Sam. viii. 18. "Sacerdotes ac domum regis", i.e. "regem cum principibus et aulicis", Liveleus.
• F4: Hist. Heb. l. 4. c. 25. p. 635.
• F5: De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 9.
• F6: have a tradition, that Jeroboam set spies upon these mountains at the time of the solemn feasts, to watch who went to them out of Israel, and to inform against them; but these could not command all the roads leading to Jerusalem. It may be these mountains were much infested with hawkers and hunters, to which there may be an allusion; and the sense be, you priests, people, and king, are like to those that set snares and nets on those hills, as they to ensnare and catch creatures, so you to ensnare and draw men into idolatrous practices; or rather, since there is no note of comparison, the meaning is, that they set up altars, and offered sacrifices on these hills, and thereby ensnared not only those of their own tribes, but drew and enticed many of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to fall in with the same idolatrous practices.

And the revolters are profound to make slaughter
The revolters are the king, priests, and people, who had revolted from the true worship and ways of God unto idolatry.

These formed deep laid schemes, and took crafty methods, like hawkers; who lay themselves flat upon the ground to manage their snares and nets, and observe the creatures that fall into them, and take them, and whom they artfully decoy, to which the allusion is;

and that either to slay those who would not comply with their false worship; or rather to multiply the sacrifices of slain beasts, and offer them with a great show of devotion and religion, and thereby beguile, entice, and ensnare simple and unwary souls; so the Targum, ``they sacrifice to idols abundantly;'' and which, in the sight of God, was mere slaughter and butchery:

though I [have been] a rebuker of them all ;

king, priests, and prophets; those idolaters, revolters, or worshippers of Baal, as Aben Ezra calls them:

this is to be interpreted either of the prophet, who had freely, faithfully, and openly reproved all orders of men for their departure from God and his worship, and for their idolatrous practices; or of the Lord himself, which comes to the same sense, who had rebuked them by his prophets, and corrected them by his judgments, but to no purpose:

and therefore they could not plead ignorance, or excuse themselves upon that account.

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, you commit whoredom ;
both corporeal and spiritual adultery, which frequently went together, as observed in the preceding chapter: the Lord knew their corporeal whoredom, though ever so secretly committed, and their spiritual adultery or idolatry, under all the specious pretences of worshipping him; which was an abhorrence to him, as well as a pollution to them: [and] Israel is defiled ;
with the same sins; for all sin is of a defiling nature, and especially those mentioned, which defile body and soul, and render men loathsome and abominable in the sight of God.

They will not frame their doings to turn to their God

Either their evil doings; they will not leave, as the Targum and Jarchi^F7; their evil ways and worship, their adultery and idolatry; which was necessary to repentance and true conversion to God, whom they yet professed to be their God, though they had so sadly departed from him:

or their good works; they did not choose to do them, which were leading steps to repentance and conversion, or fruits and evidences of it: they had no mind to repent of their sins, and turn from them to the Lord; they had no thought, care, or concern, about these things, but obstinately persisted in their sins and in their impenitence:

their wills were wretchedly depraved and corrupted; their hearts hard, perverse, and obstinate; they had no will to that which is good:

for the spirit of whoredom is in the midst of them ;

an unclean spirit, that prompts them to and pushes them on to commit corporeal and spiritual whoredom; the bias and inclination of their minds were this way which put them upon such evil practices; the spirit of error, which caused them to err, as the Targum and Kimchi; the lying spirit in the false prophets which encouraged them therein; and even himself, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience:

and they have not known the Lord ;

ignorance of God, his nature and perfections, his will, word, and worship, was the cause of their idolatry, and other sins; see (Hosea 4:1) ; and this was wilful and affected ignorance; they knew not, nor would they understand: they rejected the knowledge of God, and the means of it; so the Targum, ``and they sought not instruction (or doctrine) from the Lord.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: So R. Sol. Urbin. fol. 68. 2.

And the pride of Israel does testify to his face ^F8; Or, "does" or "shall answer to his face"; contradicts him, convicts him, and fills him with shame; the pride of his heart, and of his countenance, and which appears in all his actions, and which is open and manifest to all, shall stare him in the face, and confound him; even all the sinful actions done by him in a proud and haughty manner, in contempt of God and of his laws, shall fly in his face, and fill him with dread and horror.

The Targum is, "the glory of Israel shall be humbled, and they seeing [it]:" instead of greatness, glory, and honour, they formerly had, they shall be in a mean low condition, even in their own land, before they go into captivity; and which their eyes shall behold, as Kimchi explains the paraphrase; and to this sense Jarchi and Aben Ezra incline; and so read the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions. Some understand this of God himself, who, formerly, at least, was the pride, glory, and excellency of Israel; of whom they were proud, and boasted, and gloried in; even he shall be a swift witness against them.

And therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; that is, the ten tribes shall fall by and for their iniquities, such as before mentioned, into ruin and misery; it has respect to their final destruction and captivity by the Assyrians; they first fell into sin, and then by it into ruin: see (Hosea 14:1).

Judah also shall fall with them; the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as they fell into idolatry, and were guilty of the same crimes, so should be involved in the same or like punishment, though not at the same time; for the Babylonish captivity, in which Judah was carried captive, was many years after Israel was carried captive by the Assyrians: unless this is to be understood of the low, afflicted, and distressed condition of Judah, in the times of Ahaz, by Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who had a little before carried captive part of Israel, and by others; and in which times Judah fell into idolatrous practices, and fell by them; see (2 Kings 15:29) (2 Kings 16:7 2 Kings 16:8) (2 Chronicles 28:5 2 Chronicles 28:6 2 Chronicles 28:16–20) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: (wynpb hne) "respondebit", Montanus, Zanchius, Tarnovius, Rivet, Schmidt; "respondit", Cocceius.