The scope of this chapter, likewise, is to show the sins of Israel and Judah and to denounce the judgments of God against them, 1-15.
1 "Hear this, O priests,/
and listen, house of Israel,/
and give ear, O house of the king,/
for judgment is toward you/
because you have been a snare on Mizpah/
and a net spread upon Tabor.
2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter,/
though I have been a rebuker of them all.
3 I know Ephraim,/
and Israel is not hid from me./
For now, O Ephraim, you are guilty of lewdness,/
and Israel is defiled.
4 They will not frame their doings/
to turn to their God,/
for the spirit of lewdness is in the midst of them/
and they have not known the LORD.
5 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face;/
therefore, Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity./
Judah shall also fall with them.
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds/
to seek the LORD, but they shall not find him./
He has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD,/
for they have begotten strange children./
Now a month shall devour them with their portions.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah/
and the trumpet in Ramah./
Cry aloud at Beth-aven,/
after you, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke./
Among the tribes of Israel I have made known that which shall surely be.
10 The princes of Judah were like those who move the landmark;/
therefore, I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment/
because he willingly walked after the commandment.
12 Therefore, I will be to Ephraim as a moth/
and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness/
and Judah saw his wound,/
Ephraim went to the Assyrian/
and sent to king Jareb./
Yet he could not heal you,/
nor cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion,/
and as a young lion to the house of Judah./
I, even I, will tear and go away./
I will take away, and no one shall rescue him.
15 I will go and return to my place/
until they acknowledge their offense and seek my face./
In their affliction they will seek me early."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Hosea, Chapter 5[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
The design of this chapter is to expose the sins of Israel and of Judah, and to declare the judgment of God upon them for them. Men of all ranks in Israel are summoned to attend to the charge brought against then, and the sentence on them (Hosea 5:1). The charge exhibited is, that they were guilty of sin, hating men to the slaughter of idolatrous sacrifices, though they had been sufficiently rebuked and corrected (Hosea 5:1-2); of both corporeal and spiritual adultery, whereby they were defiled, and which was well known to the Lord (Hosea 5:3); of obstinate persistence in impenitence, owing to the efficacy of an unclean spirit in them, and their lack of the knowledge of God (Hosea 5:4); of open pride, which stared them in the face, and for which they fell into calamities, and Judah with them, and should not be able with all their sacrifices to find favor with God, who had withdrawn himself from them (Hosea 5:5-6); also of treacherous dealing with the Lord by their spiritual adultery, and begetting strange children (Hosea 5:7); next their punishment is denounced, of which notice was to be given them by the sound of the trumpet, as an alarm of war, or as calling for mourning (Hosea 5:8); since Ephraim would become desolate, of which notification had been made among the tribes (Hosea 5:9); and wrath would be poured out in great abundance on the princes of Judah, who were very wicked men (Hosea 5:10); and Ephraim would be oppressed and broken by the judgment of God, who would be as a moth to them, and also rottenness to Judah, because they followed the commandments of men (Hosea 5:11-12); and, what was still more provoking, when they were sensible of their calamities and distresses, they did not seek help from the Lord, but from men who could do them no good; and therefore he threatens to be as a devouring lion to them (Hosea 5:13-14); and yet the chapter concludes with a promise of the conversion of these people, after the Lord had dealt with them in an angry manner (Hosea 5:15).
[v.4] - "They will not frame their doings to turn to their God" - This may also be read as, "They will not apply their endeavors to turn to their God." In other words, they had no inclination, they had no thought, care, or concern, to repent of their superstitions and sins and turn to their God.
[v.7a] - "They have dealt treacherously against the LORD" - This may also be read as, "They have been unfaithful to the LORD."
[v.7b] - "for they have begotten strange children" - That is, they led their children to also be unfaithful to God.
[v.9] - "Among the tribes of Israel I have made known that which shall surely be" - This may also be read as, "Among the tribes of Israel I have made known the truth."
[v.12] - The idea behind this verse is that the people would be slowly consumed like a moth to a cloth and pine away until they become wholly rotten. To contrast with the deluge mentioned in verse 10, we can see that God can either pour out His wrath or choose to slowly chastise us. Either way, the design is to bring us to repentance.
[v.14] - When the slow chastisements do not break our obstinancy, God then will be to us as a lion. Instead of a slow consumption as with a moth, He then turns to quick, utter consumption. Reference, Deuteronomy 4:24; Job 10:16; Lamentations 3:10; Hebrews 12:29.