Hosea 5:9-12

9. The alarm may indeed be given, for Ephraim is doomed.

Day of rebuke Of judgment.

Tribes of Israel The northern tribes only.

Among Perhaps better, concerning, or with regard to.

That which shall surely be Literally, that which is true. There is no escape.

Hosea 5:10 is preferably connected with Hosea 5:11, the former describing conditions in Judah, the latter those in Israel. In Hosea 5:10 the prophet turns to the third class named in Hosea 5:1, the “house of the king,” here called princes.

Judah Following the theory that Hosea nowhere refers to the southern kingdom, some commentators read Israel instead. Like them that remove the bound [“landmark”] The landmarks were under divine protection (Deuteronomy 19:14); a curse is pronounced upon him who removes them (Deuteronomy 27:17, frequently in the Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions). This crime the prophet regards as the limit of transgression, from which the political leaders of Judah do not shrink (Isaiah 5:8 ff.; Micah 2:2). Such conduct cannot remain unpunished. Jehovah’s wrath will be poured out like water In abundance and power like a rushing torrent. Ephraim is equally guilty. Oppressed… broken [“crushed”] The two expressions passive participles occur together in Deuteronomy 28:33. LXX. reads the active participles.

Ephraim is the one that oppresses and crushes in judgment; and many commentators follow the LXX.; but to change the forms is arbitrary, and passive participles are not used in Hebrew in an active sense, a usage found frequently in Arabic. The common rendering is perfectly suitable.

In Hosea 5:10 the sin of Judah is condemned and judgment is announced; in Hosea 5:11 the order is reversed, first the announcement of judgment, then a statement of the cause. The participles stand in place of the prophetic perfect.

In judgment Or, by judgment, the one to be sent by Jehovah. Why?

Because he willingly walked after the commandment R.V. “he was content to walk after man’s command.” As the italics in R.V. indicate, the original reads simply, “he was content to walk after a command.”

Command in Hebrew a rare word, occurring again only in Isaiah 28:10; Isaiah 28:13 is interpreted to mean a human statute as opposed to the divine command; here the institution introduced in Israel at the command of Jeroboam I, the worship of the calves at Beth-el and Dan, which was largely responsible for present religious conditions. One would expect a less ambiguous phrase, if this were the thought. LXX. and Peshitto have a different word though similar in sound, vanity, for commandment; the former would be a designation of the Baalim (compare Jeremiah 18:15); Isaiah frequently calls idols “nothings.” He was content might be translated “it pleased him,” or “he desired.” These versions may have preserved the original: “he desired to walk after vanity.” The result of such conduct is the gradual dissolution of the nation, caused by influences from within, which, according to Hosea 5:12, are set in motion by Jehovah himself (compare Isaiah 3:1 ff.).

Therefore will I be Better, but as for me, I was, that is, in the past.

Moth… rottenness The second, better, worm eating, the process by which the worm destroys wood and flesh. Both symbolize forces that destroy slowly but surely (Job 13:28). The dissolution of Israel was caused as much by anarchy and corruption within as by invasion from without.