Hosea 10:5

5. The judgment will produce consternation. Will the “calves” be able to help? No! Instead, the people will have the greatest concern for them. This is certainly an ironical situation.

Calves LXX. and Peshitto have the singular, calf, which is favored by his, that is, the calf’s, people and priest. If the plural is correct it would indicate that more than one calf (1 Kings 12:29) was worshiped there.

Beth-aven Beth-el (Hosea 4:15).

Mourn Because of the impending doom.

Priests Hebrews Chemarim. Not the common Old Testament term for priests. In Syriac and Aramaic it is the ordinary term for priests; in the Old Testament it seems to be confined to the priests ministering at the high places and in connection with the calf worship, which Hosea considers a counterfeit Jehovah worship; it is therefore a term of contempt (Zephaniah 1:4; 2 Kings 23:5). The English translation carries “shall mourn” over to the next clause as the predicate of the subject priests; but the Hebrew, contrary to the English translation, seems to connect “rejoiced” with priests, so as to read, “and the priests thereof shall rejoice for it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.” The thought of rejoicing is out of place here; we expect a verb similar to mourn. Some commentators, though admitting that elsewhere the verb is used to express joyful emotions, think that here it is used in the sense of running about distracted with grief. The change of one consonant produces a verb to writhe, to tremble, and a verb of such or similar meaning is expected here.

For the glory Defines more clearly for it; the glory of the calf consists of its prestige, its influence, and not only of the “costly apparatus of its worship.” Its prestige vanishes when it proves itself unable to assist its worshipers, or even to protect itself.