Project 119: Hosea 5
| Project 119
“The Consequences of Failed Leadership”
Hosea has already chastised the priests for their faithless leadership. Now he extends his indictment to members of the royal family. The political alliances struck by their rulers will not protect them against the doom that is to come.
In order to understand this part of Hosea’s charge we need to be reminded of how the northern kingdom was established in the first place. After the death of Solomon, one of his commanders, Jeroboam, led ten of the twelve tribes to break away and form another kingdom, the kingdom of Israel. Because Jeroboam knew that the temple was in Jerusalem, which was in the southern kingdom, people would gravitate there in order to engage in sacrificial worship. So to keep his subjects at home, Jeroboam erected golden calves in Bethel, the southernmost part, and Dan, the northernmost part, and encouraged the people to go there instead of Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:25-33). Because calves were associated with Baal worship, it wasn’t long before aspects of Baal worship became assimilated into the worship of God, which diluted covenant worship and laid the groundwork for other alliances that were intended to protect the nation.
But as this section of the prophecy shows, it would not do so. “Israel’s arrogance testifies against them” (Hosea 5:5, NIV). On cross-examination the people have not a leg to stand upon. Even worse, their sin influences those in Judah, the southern kingdom, to do the same thing (Hosea 5:6). Too often do faithless people drag down others around them instead of uplifting them and inspiring them to do the right thing. Little wonder Jesus warned His disciples about causing “little ones” to fall in this way (Matthew 18:6).
The decision of Israel’s rulers to find protection in a political alliance instead of God is spelled out in verse 13. The nation of Assyria was the dominant world power in its day. During the reigns of the kings Menahem and Hoshea, Israel turned in that direction for help (2 Kings 15:19-20, 17:3-4). But even that great world power was of no help in protecting Israel from God’s wrath. In a short period of time, the Assyrians would invade and conquer Israel, and the northern kingdom would be no more.
Persistent sin hardens hearts. Turning from God to other sources makes further transgressions seem perfectly normal. It is always better to trust our fears and anxieties to God, who has promised to meet our needs in ways that neither we nor anyone else could ever do.
Hosea 5 (ESV):
Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah
1 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.