HOSEA 5 JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL’S SPIRIT OF WHOREDOM

Описание: December 8
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HOSEA 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. Hosea 5:1-4
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HOSEA 5 JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL’S SPIRIT OF WHOREDOM
In this account, God continues with his accusation against Israel. Here, the priests and the house of the king are specifically mentioned. They are judged here by God in this chapter which was a continuation of the previous chapter. According to Coffman’s commentary the snare at Mizpah and the net upon Tabor were indeed the devices of the priests and the secular government; but the whole people were guilty, "the house of Israel." There are not much details about Mizpah and Tabor except that they were heavily vegetated mountain tops and probably known for vulgar fertility rites of paganism were practiced there. Barnes was of the opinion that the prophet selected these two places for specific mention because "they were probably centers of corruption, or special scenes of wickedness.” Sexual orgies of paganism were traps and snares to stir God’s wrath.
In verse 3, It is not Hosea who is the speaker here, but God. Nothing is hidden in God’s eyes. The verse may have indicated that Ephraim thinks that his acts were hidden from the Lord. Ephraim is the name used for Israel. Ephraim was almost as large as Judah, the largest of the twelve tribes; and it was always jealous and envious of Judah. According to sources the tribe of Ephraim led the defection of the ten tribes to form the Northern kingdom; and it also enthusiastically supported the calf-worship instituted by Jeroboam I at Dan and at Bethel. All of the children of Israel eventually were corrupted through Ephraim's leadership; and it was thus fitting that his name should finally become that of the whole of northern Israel. Through Ephraim's evil influence, the other tribes, and so all Israel were defiled.
They find that God has withdrawn himself so as not to receive their sacrifices as verse 15 would state. The word Paul used to describe such a condition is "hardening"; and that is exactly what had happened to northern Israel and would in time happen to southern Israel also. Smith wrote that, "According to Hosea, return for Israel is now no longer a human possibility.” He also elaborated the basic reasons why this was true: (1) sin robs a man of his faculty for God and of the strength of will to obey God; (2) the whole fabric of the nation's social, economic, political, and religious life was interwoven with the lustful indulgences of paganism; and (3) there was no longer any true knowledge of God among the people. Without that knowledge, it was impossible to achieve either any communion with God or any kind of human conduct consistent with the terms of their ancient covenant with Jehovah.
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REFLECTION
• Why do you think the priests and house of kings indulged also in the spirit of whoredom?