Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

5:1 Hear this, O priests . . . O house of Israel . . . O house of the king. Both royal and religious leadership are addressed. Mizpah in Gilead and Tabor, a mountain in the Valley of Jezreel, marked high points in Israel's past. Mizpah was the home of Jephthah (Judg. 10:17; 11:8, 11, 29, 34), and Tabor was the scene of Balak's victory (Judg. 4:14; Tabor is also the traditional site of the transfiguration). These revered sites became a "net spread upon Tabor." The image of a net, a device used for catching birds, depicts the Israelites as the prey of priests and royalty.

5:2 Have gone deep into slaughter may refer to child sacrifice (cf. Ps. 106:36-38).

5:3-4 Israel is not hidden from me is a subtle barb directed at idolatry where misdeeds are disregarded and concealed. The Lord knows Israel, though Israel does not know the Lord (v. 4).

5:5 Israel and Judah have stumbled in guilt (cf. 4:5; 14:1, 9). To stumble is not a superficial mishap but a serious or even fatal accident. Presumably Israel had some role in leading Judah astray (cf. 4:15).

5:6-7 Though they bring their sacrifices to places like Mizpah and Tabor (v. 1), they will not find the Lord. He has withdrawn from them--a reference to the worshipers, not these cult centers (for he was never there; cf. note on 4:15). Thus they have borne alien children (5:7; i.e., alien to the Lord), illustrated by the last two children born to Gomer. Sadly, new moon festivals (celebrations for Israel to rejoice for an abundant harvest, and now syncretized with the cults of the Canaanites) will devour the Israelites who participate in them. They and their inheritance (fields) will be swallowed up.

5:8 The horn (Hb. shopar) originally meant a ram's horn, and is the most frequently mentioned musical instrument in the Bible; the trumpet is a bugle of beaten silver. Both were used to alert the community to danger and summon it to a religious festival. Both Gibeah and Ramah were in the path of destruction (cf. Isa. 10:29).

5:10 like those who move the landmark. To move a neighbor's boundary marker is expressly forbidden; it brings a curse (Deut. 19:14; 27:17). Land-grabbing violates the divine intention that all of God's people are to enjoy their inheritance, and creates a wealthy, callous, power-abusing class. my wrath like water. The word for "wrath" (Hb. ‘ebrah) carries the image of overflowing fury (cf. Isa. 14:6).

5:12 But I am like a moth . . . and like dry rot. These are unusual similes for the Lord; they emphasize his power to make the people waste away (cf. Isa. 50:9; Ps. 39:11 for the moth; and Isa. 40:20 for dry rot; for both together, see Job 13:28).

5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound. The use of physical infirmities to describe spiritual corruption is common to the OT prophets. (Notice how frequently Hosea puts Israel/Ephraim and Judah together: 1:11; 4:15; 5:12-14; 6:4; 8:14; 10:11; 11:12.) Suggestions as to specifics include Menahem paying heavy tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 15:19) after pacifying Assyria by assassinating Shallum (2 Kings 15:13-15), and Ahaz's frantic appeal for military aid (2 Kings 16:5-9). The great king is probably Tiglath-pileser III, also called Pul in the OT (745-727 b.c.). This formidable leader headed the neo-Assyrian Empire that ruthlessly subjugated the ancient Near East for over a century.

5:14 I will be like a lion . . . like a young lion. The repetition of the first person, I, even I, reminds the audience that it is solely the Lord who controls the nation's fate and not the "great king" (commonly depicted as a lion). Wounded Israel and Judah are vulnerable to a far superior menace, the unleashed fury of the Lord.