Hosea 4:15

"Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, As Jehovah liveth."

The injection of the name of Judah into this passage was at one time made the basis of allegations that the verse is an interpolation; but as Unger declared, "More recent criticisms tend to deny this ... Actually, there is no compelling reason for denying to Hosea any of the prophecy."[39] The holy writers of the New Testament affirmed the utmost confidence in all that Hosea wrote. See Matthew 2:15; 9:13; 12:7; Luke 23:20; Romans 9:25; 1 Corinthians 15:55; and 1 Peter 2:10, all of which have references to Hosea as the Word of God.

Gilgal and Bethaven were locations of the more prominent pagan shrines; and it was understandable that Hosea forbade Judah to have anything to do with them, but it is a little surprising, at first glance, that the prohibition against swearing by Jehovah should have been included; but this is actually the prophet's warning that swearing, As Jehovah liveth, could not justify the shameless "worship" that was indulged at such places. This swearing by Jehovah was a device for lulling the conscience to sleep, and Hosea uttered the Word of God against it. As Keil put it,

"Going to Gilgal to worship idols and swearing by Jehovah cannot go together. The confession of Jehovah in the mouth of an idolater is hypocrisy, pretended piety, which is more dangerous than open ungodliness, because it lulls the conscience to sleep."[40]

The "Bethaven" of this place is actually a derogatory name for Bethel, both Hosea and Amos using it (Amos 5:5), substituting Beth-aven (place of vanity) for Beth-el (place of God). We reject the pedantic objection of Mauchline that, "this reference to Judah is quite undeveloped."[41] It has all of the development that it needs, having the full meaning that Judah should not walk in the rebellious ways of Israel.

"Gilgal ..." As for the location of this place, it is somewhat uncertain due to the fact of their having been two places with that name, the one on the border between Manasseh and Ephraim, between Shechem and Joppa, and the other near the Jordan river where Israel had camped when they crossed the Jordan to enter Canaan. Hailey is very likely correct in identifying it as the latter.[42] But it is not the exact location of Gilgal which is important; it was the shameless idolatrous worship which was practiced there; and the prohibition was against Judah (or any of God's people) having anything to do with it.