THE BOOK OF HOSEA
Part Two: Lesson 5
Chapter 5
"Devote some of
your time to God, and rest in his presence. Enter the quiet of your soul; leave
aside everything but God and whatever may help you find him; close all the doors
and go in search of him. Say to him, my soul, Lord, I seek your face.' And
then, Lord, my God, teach my heart where to search for you and where to find
you [...]. Show me how to search for you, and how to show you to others who
search for you; for I cannot seek you if you do not teach me, and I will not
find you unless you reveal yourself to me. Filled with desire, I search for
you, and searching for you increases my desire; filled with love, I find you,
and finding you increases my love for you.'"
St. Anslem, Proslogion, 1
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Part Two: The Sins and Punishment of Israel (Hosea 4:1-14:9)
All Hebrew words are from the Interlinear Hebrew-English Bible and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and Dictionary.
CHAPTER 5
The Continuation of Yahweh's Covenant Lawsuit Against
the Government and the People of the Northern Kingdom
Hosea 5:1-17 ~ Government and the People
Hosea 5:1-2 ~ Against the Priests and the Royal Family
5:1 Hear this, you priests, listen, House of Israel,
pay attention, royal House, for it is you who have justice in your care, but
you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net outspread on Tabor. 2 They
have dug the ditch deep at Shittim, and so I am going to punish them all.
This new oracle begins with a call to "hear/listen." Many prophetic passages begin with this command. However, in Hosea, it only happens in 4:1 and 5:1. Yahweh calls His people to hear His denunciation aimed at the people's leaders:
God gave Israel's leaders the responsibility to provide justice to the people, but they failed in their duties, so God will "punish them all."
The riv (covenant lawsuit) against the priesthood and people in 4:4-10 is followed by a judgment against Priests, government administrators, and the ruling house. These three central institutions defined the Northern Kingdom. Biblical scholars point out that some of Hosea's most structured poetry occurs in these seven verses.1 The pattern of the judicial announcement:
you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net outspread on
Tabor. 2 They have dug the ditch deep at Shittim,
Several places with the name Mizpah, referring to "a
place of assembly," appear in Scripture that had a role in Israel's history.2
Two of them could be the Mizpah in verse 1c: either a place of assembly
in Gilead (Judg 10:17; 11:11) or another town and a place of assembly in the
tribal lands of Benjamin that hosted cultic and judicial activities (Judg 20:1, 3;
1 Sam 7:6, 16; 10:17). Archaeologists believe Mizpah at Benjamin is Tell-en-Nasbeh,
about seven and a half miles north of Jerusalem.3 Either site may have
been the center of some form of political intrigue or cultic abortion that
resulted in the prophetic denouncement in 5:1-2.
Two places in Scripture bear the name Tabor: a Levitical city in Zebulon territory (1 Chron 6:77) and a mountain in the Jezreel plain of lower Galilee. Mt. Tabor was a place of assembly for the Israelite tribes when they participated in mustering for war with Barak and Deborah (Judg 4:6), and there may have been a Canaanite altar to Baal at its summit.4
Shittim on the plains of Moab across the Jordan River near Mt. Nebo and Pisgah is probably a regional name rather than the name of a settlement (Num 25:1). It is located near Baal-peor in the Transjordan (east of the Jordan River) where a disaster took place in Israel's early history (Num 25:1-18). According to Micah 6:4-5, Shittim was the last place named on the itinerary of Yahweh's divine guidance to the Promised Land. Whatever the history of the intrigues and violations represented historically in these places, the conclusion is that Yahweh stands against such unclean acts and will harshly judge the perpetrators.
Hosea 5:3-7 ~ The Effects of Their Obduracy
3 Ephraim have I known, Israel is not hidden from me; and
yet, Ephraim, you have played the whore, Israel is defiled. 4 Their
deeds do not allow them to return to their God since an urge to play the whore*
possesses them, and they no longer know Yahweh. 5 Israel's arrogance
(or pride) is his accuser, the guilt of Israel and Ephraim is their undoing,
Judah too will be undone [kasal = stumble] with them. 6 Though they
go in search of Yahweh with their sheep and cattle, they will not find him; he
has withdrawn from them. 7 They have betrayed Yahweh because they
have fathered bastards; now the new moon will devour them and their fields.
* The literal translation is "the spirit of harlotry."
In 5:3b, Hosea uses two verbs: zana = "to play the whore/harlot" and tame', "to defile." They also appear together in 6:10 as accusations identifying the vile behavior of the people. The charge in verse 4 continues the focus of judgment through descriptions of the people's failures. Harlotry is Hosea's primary metaphor for faithlessness toward Yahweh that has driven a wedge between Him and the people of the Northern Kingdom. In 5:4, the phrase "spirit of harlotry" is repeated from 4:12. Forgiveness and a return to a covenant relationship will not occur until Israel has experienced repentance and acknowledges the errors of her ways. Until the people reach that point, they do not "know" Yahweh in the sense of a covenant family relationship.
Ephraim, the largest of the ten northern tribes, appears as another name for the Northern Kingdom of Israel in Scripture. The first king of the Northern Kingdom after the dissolution of the United Kingdom of Israel was a prince of Ephraim who became King Jeroboam I.
Question: What is God's charge against Israel's leaders? See verses 3, 4,
7, and Exodus 20:3-6.
Answer: The charge is prostitution, which in the language of the prophets
means idolatry, worshipping gods other than the Lord Yahweh alone as commanded
in the Decalogue.
Question: What is the reason for their failure? See verses 3-4.
Answer: God knows them, but they do not "know" Him in the sense of their
covenant union and obedience to His commands and prohibitions.
Question: What is the sin that prevents them from knowing Yahweh, repenting
their sins, and being converted, and why are they drawn to it? See verses 4-5.
Answer: Their arrogance/pride is the cause of their sins. It stems from
their desire to do what they think is best for them, and they do not trust God.
In verse 5, Israel's arrogance (pride) is the reason why she stands accused. Another way to interpret 5a is God, the pride or majesty [ga'on] of Israel, is her accuser. It can be a positive phrase based on the divine gifts of the land and the covenant that set Israel apart from other peoples of the world (Is 4:2; Nah 2:2). However, here it is used in the negative sense where Israel's pride is a national arrogance based on self-importance and stubborn will. When arrogant pride leads Israel to stray from the covenant and commandments, God promises to judge His people (Lev 26:19). The same phrase also occurs in Hosea 7:10, and the words "pride of Jacob," "pride of Judah," and "pride of Jerusalem" appear in Amos 6:8; 8:7 and Jeremiah 13:9. In each case, their pride came under Yahweh's divine judgment.
The last clause of verse 5 repeats the verb "stumble" [kasal] from chapter 4, but the tense changes from imperfect to perfect and moves the focus from Israel to Judah.5 Their failure is described as iniquity [ awon], a profound affront to God.
Question: How is the judgment process depicted in 4:5 and
5:5, and why is it an appropriate term?
Answer: It is depicted as "stumbling," a self-generated activity
that, in the case of the people of the Northern Kingdom, is generated by
debilitating pride.
Someone who stumbles is a person who cannot travel a path successfully. When used in a corporate sense (as a unified people in covenant with Yahweh), as in verse 5, it is a metaphor indicating neither Israel nor Judah is successfully traveling the path that Yahweh set for them to follow, guided by His commandments and prohibitions. They stumble along on a route they have chosen as opposed to the will of God. The covenant people of the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom's pride "testify" against them (see Gen 30:33; Ex 20:16; Dt 19:16, 18; Is 3:9).
the guilt of Israel and Ephraim is their undoing,
Judah too will be undone [kasal = stumble] with them.
Israel and Ephraim are listed as separate entities rather
than synonyms, which is unusual in Hosea. Their failures are alike in that they
stumble in their iniquities, a general term for violating God's divine
standards. Ephraim is closely related to the Northern Kingdom's capital (Samaria)
and serves as a synonym for Israel. There was a period of continuous
instability following the death of King Jeroboam II of the Northern Kingdom. For
example, Pekah deposed King Pekahiah (r. 738-737 BC), who ruled from Samaria,
ruling from 737-732 until he was assassinated (2 Kng 15:25-30). During the last
year of Pekah's reign, the Assyrians invaded the northern regions of the
Northern Kingdom, conquering the entire territory, including Galilee, and deporting
the population to Assyria. In Judah, King Ahaz (r. 736-716) followed the example
of the kings of Israel, encouraging the worship of false gods and even offering
his son in pagan sacrifice (2 Kng 16:1-4).
6 Though they go in search of Yahweh with
their sheep and cattle, they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.
The animals mentioned in verse 6 are those acceptable for
ritual offerings. While the people still attempted to reach out to Yahweh with
their offerings, He had removed Himself from them (5:15), which is related to
the judgment to come. God's absence means no protection or divine aid; thus,
disaster was their future.
7 They have betrayed Yahweh because they
have fathered bastards ...
The rebellious covenant people who falsely present
themselves as seeking Yahweh have betrayed Him and are dealing treacherously with
Him. Hosea uses the same phrase (bagad be) in 6:7 to describe breaking
the covenant with Yahweh. We also see it in Malachi 2:10 and the same phrase is
used to describe disobedience to a royal command (1 Sam 14:33), treachery among
nations (Ps 59:5), the faithlessness of spouses (Jer 3:20 and Mal 2:14-16), and
the "whoredom" of Judah (Jer 3:8). Infidelity and harlotry/adultery are likely implied
in the accusation of betrayal because it continues with the charge of bearing
bastard children, metaphorically indicating the people failed to dedicate their
children to Yahweh according to the Law (Lev 12:1-8; Lk 2:22-38) or teaching
them to "know" God according to the covenant commands and prohibitions. Therefore,
they are not raising legitimate children who belong to God's covenant family.
Question: How could New Covenant Christian parents commit
the same sin? See Mark 16:16.
Answer: Christians would fail in the same way with their
children if they did not receive the Sacrament of Baptism after birth or if their
children were not instructed in knowing about Jesus Christ, which led them to complete
their Baptism in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
now the new moon will devour them and their fields.
The Feast of the New Moon was the beginning of each lunar
month in the liturgical calendar: At the beginning of each of your months
you will offer a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, and seven
yearling lambs, without blemish; for each full a cereal offering of
three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; for each ram, a cereal
offering of two-tenths of fine flour mixed with oil; for each lamb, a cereal
offering of one-tenth of fine flour mixed with oil; as a burnt offering, as a
pleasing smell, as food burnt for Yahweh ... This will be the monthly burnt offering,
month after month, every month of the year ... (see Num 28:11-15; also, Amos 8:5 and Is 1:13-14).
Observing the ritual feasts promised covenant blessings; however, Hosea alludes metaphorically to judgment and not rewards in keeping the new month in the liturgical calendar. Instead of offering the required sacrifices to be consumed in the altar fire, the sacrifices would consume them and curse their fields. The Israelites have been mixing paganism with the divinely revealed religion of Israel, and the result would be divine judgment.
Warning for Israel and Judah (5:8-7:7)
Hosea 5:8-12 ~ Brother Wars Against Brother
8 Sound the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in
Ramah, raise the war cry in Beth-Aven, We are behind you, Benjamin!'
9 When the day of punishment comes, Ephraim will
be a wasteland; on the tribes of Israel, I have pronounced certain doom.
10 The rulers of Judah act like men who move the boundary stone; I shall
pour my wrath out on them like a flood. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed
by the sentence, for having deliberately followed a Lie. 12 Because
of this, I shall be like ringworm for Ephraim and like gangrene for the House
of Judah.
The second part of the oracle (verses 8-15) offers more information on Israel's sins, referring to a war between Israel and Judah (verses 10-11). This subunit begins with a cry to arms. Verse 8 is the beginning of a prophetic address, using three speakers in four parts:
Most scholars conclude that this subunit ends at 6:6, but Yahweh's first-person judgmental address continues through 7:7. The theme of Israel (and Judah) stumbling is continued.
8 Sound the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in
Ramah, raise the war cry in Beth-Aven, We are behind you, Benjamin!'
Verses 8-14 probably refer to the Syro-Ephraimite War
(735-734 BC). Razon, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of the Northern Kingdom of
Israel (Ephraim), launched a campaign against Jerusalem, the capital of the
Southern Kingdom of Judah. They managed to besiege it for a year but could not
conquer it (2 Kng 16:5).
Gibeah was a city in the tribal lands of Benjamin (Judg 19:13, 14; 1 Sam 10:5; 13:2, 3; 2 Sam 23:9; Is 10:29), located north of Jerusalem (Judg 19:12). Ramah was the name of several places, among them a town in the territory of Benjamin halfway between Bethel and Jerusalem (Josh 18:25). Beth-Aven, "house of wickedness," or "house of iniquity" (c.f. 4:15; 10:5) was a town in the wilderness that bordered Benjaminite territory at its northwest corner and 11 miles north of Jerusalem (Josh 18:12). The alarm is for the towns in the tribal inheritance of Benjamin soon to come under attack and defended by their allies in the tribe of Judah.
9 When the day of punishment comes, Ephraim
will be a wasteland; on the tribes of Israel, I have pronounced certain doom.
Verse 9 appears to foretell Ephraim/Israel's failed attempt
to conquer the Southern Kingdom, beginning in the lands of Benjamin, with the
help of their Syrian allies. The judgment of doom may refer to the Assyrian
invasion that started in 732 BC.
10 The rulers of Judah act like men who
move the boundary stone; I shall pour my wrath out on them like a flood. 11
Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by the sentence, for having deliberately
followed a Lie. 12 Because of this, I shall be like ringworm for
Ephraim and like gangrene for the House of Judah.
However, God's judgment also extends to Judah. The charge
is that Judah's leaders are "boundary movers." Moving a family or clan's boundary
marker was a crime in the Deuteronomic Code, and those who violated the law
were under a collective curse (Dt 19:14; 27:17).6 The charge may
suggest that Judah wasn't just defending Benjaminite land but was attempting to
expand territory into lands assigned to the tribe of Ephraim. Hence, the
Deuteronomic curse for moving boundary markers fell against Judah. The "Lie" Ephraim
followed was to form a treaty with the Arameans of Damascus in the war against the
Southern Kingdom.
Hosea 5:13-15 ~ The Folly of Foreign Alliances
13 Once Ephraim realized that he was sick
and Judah that he had an ulcer, Ephraim then went to Assyria, he sent messengers
to the Great King; but he has no power to cure you or to heal you of your sore;
14 for I shall be like a lion to Ephraim, like a young lion to the
House of Judah; I myself shall rend them, then go my way, shall carry them off,
beyond hope of rescue. 15 I shall go back to my place until they
confess their guilt and seek me, seek me eagerly in their distress.
Hosea condemns Israel (Ephraim) and Judah for seeking foreign alliances. Their kings sought treaties with the Assyrians (verse 13; cf. 2 Kng 15:19; 16:1, 7). Such alliances with pagan kings also had religious consequences (cf, e.g., 2 Kng 16:1-20). Their failure was not only a lack of faith in Yahweh to protect them but excessive tolerance of other religions and their gods in violation of the first of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:2; Dt 5:7).
The "Great King" probably refers to the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. King Menahem of Israel (752-742) paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III to strengthen his hold on power in 738 BC. His son Pekahiah followed the same policy. King Ahaz of Judah appealed for help to the same Assyrian king in 735 BC (see 2 Kng 16:7-9). The alliances with foreign powers will fail because God will "rend them," like a lion tears into its prey, and cause them to fail. He will then leave them to their own devices unless they repent and return to their covenant with Him. The Northern Kingdom failed to repent, but in 716 BC, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz became the king of Judah: He did what Yahweh regards as right, just as his ancestor David had done. He abolished the high places, broke the pillars, cut down the sacred poles ... He put his trust in Yahweh, God of Israel ... He was devoted to Yahweh, never turning from him, but keeping the commandments which Yahweh had laid down for Moses. And so Yahweh was with him, and he was successful in all that he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him (2 Kng 18:3-7).
Questions for discussion or reflection:
Question: Do we also commit sins associated with
excessive tolerance that compromise our obedience to God and His commands and
prohibitions?
Question: What are some of the ways misplaced tolerance encourages sin and corruption in society? What did St. Paul tell the Christians of Rome in Romans 12:2.
Question: If our "tolerance" facilitates others in committing mortal sins, will God hold us accountable?
Endnotes:
1. J. Andrew Dearman, The Book of Hosea, page 170.
2. Cities named Mizpah/Mizpeh include: a city in the tribal lands of Gad (Gen 31:39; Judg 10:17; 11:11, 29, 34); a city in the lands of Benjamin (Josh 18:26; 1 Kng 15:22, Neh 3:7); a city in Judah (Josh 15:38; Judg 20:1, 3; 21:1, 5, 8; 1 Sam 7:5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16; 10:17; 2 Kng 25:23, 25; 2 Chron 16:6; Jer 40:6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15; 41:1, 3, 6, 10, 14, 16); a district ruled by Shallum (Neh 3:15); a place ruled by Ezer (Neh 3:19), and a city in Moab (1 Sam 22:3). There was also placed called Mizpah/Mizpeh in a valley near Mt. Hermon (Josh 11:3, 18).
3. J, Andrew Dearman, The Book of Hosea, page 172, note 42.
4. In the New Testament, Mt. Tabor is believed to be the site of Jesus's Transfiguration. Christians have venerated the mountain that way since the 4th century AD.
5. For other verses that use the verb kasal, "to stumble," see Prov 4:12, 19; Is 5:27; 8:15; 59:10; 63:13; Jer 18:15; 20:11; 31:9; 46:6; 50:32; Dan 11:19; Nah 2:5; 3:3; Mal 2:8.
6. Also see Prov 22:28; 23:10; cf. Job 24:2). Moving a boundary marker was an affront to the ancestors who passed down the inheritance of the land and to the livelihood of families. It struck at the welfare of a community's life.
Catechism references:
The responsibility of one who cooperates in the sins of others (CCC 1868-69)
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