Hosea 5:1-15--Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

Hosea 5
English Standard Version

Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah
5 Hear this, O priests!
    Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
    For the judgment is for you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah
    and a net spread upon Tabor.
2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,
    but I will discipline all of them.

3 I know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
    Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
    and they know not the LORD.

5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
    Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
    Judah also shall stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the LORD,
but they will not find him;
    he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD;
    for they have borne alien children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,
    the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;
    we follow you, O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I make known what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become
    like those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after filth.
12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim,
    and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
    and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
    and sent to the great king.
But he is not able to cure you
    or heal your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
    and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

15 I will return again to my place,
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
    and in their distress earnestly seek me.

---

The LORD's condemnation for Israel is also a warning for Judah who is not too far behind.  Their kings, priests and prophets are corrupt and leading the people head-long into judgment.  They are quickly approaching the time of God's wrath being poured out on them.  Where Ephraim (the leader of the northern tribes) leads, Judah (the leader of the southern tribes) will soon follow.  The only difference will be the timing of the judgment and the nation that the LORD uses to execute that judgment.  For the northern tribes, their judgment will come from the hands of the Assyrians, but for the southern kingdom, it will be by the hands of the Babylonians.

The LORD will judge them because they have whored after that which is of no value and is filthy.  They have rejected the LORD and the covenant that He gave to them.  They have decided they do not want to be His people.  They try to look to other nations and their gods for salvation, but they will find none.  Judah will also make the same mistake.  They will be carried off into Exile and no other nation will be able to rescue them.  The LORD alone can save them.  One day, they will again seek His face and desire to know Him.  In that day, He will forgive them and bless them with the blessings of the covenant instead of the curses of the covenant.