Verse 10
"In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled."
"House of Israel" here does not seem to be used in the sense of the covenant people of God, but of their "house" of pagan worship at Bethel. So Smith and others have understood it. As the place of residence for the northern kings, and as the location of the principal pagan establishment in northern Israel, one of the golden calves being set up there (1 Kings 12:29), "Bethel may well be what is referred to here."[21]
"There is whoredom found in Ephraim ..." This is the code.word in many of the minor prophets for spiritual adultery, or departure from the true way of God on the part of Israel. The designation is quite appropriate, because the licentiousness of pagan worship was at once its principal attraction and its chief characteristic.
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