Hosea 5:8–6:3

5:8–9 A call is issued to blow the trumpet and shout, citing specific military installations and strongholds (v. 8). This rhetoric invokes the panic of an invasion, the anticipation of imminent battle. Joel 2:1–11 uses similar language, graphically depicting an invading army and what it will mean for the inhabitants of Zion. Nahum 2 describes Nineveh’s imminent fall, complete with chariots rushing through the streets, the vain cry of “Halt! Halt!,” and the image of lions with their prey (Nah. 2:11–12). The same sense of distress is invoked by Hosea here in his presentation of what it will be like for Israel on the last day.

Gibeah and Ramah were in the southern part of the northern kingdom, as were Bethel (Beth-aven)¹ and Benjamin. Apparently, Benjamin is envisioned as the front line, after which Ephraim follows. The placement of the cities suggests an invasion from Judah, but historically the real danger was not Judah but Assyria. Eventually the terror-inspiring, sadistic Assyrian forces overran the nation and utterly destroyed its culture.

These verses end with a haunting phrase: “I make known what is sure” (Hos. 5:9). What is “sure”? The armies of Israel were not sure, reliable, dependable, or trustworthy. Their fortifications, political alliances, ability to pay tribute, or wherewithal were not sure. Trusting in man, trusting in fortresses, trusting in money, or trusting in one’s own strength is not sure. These are the things in which wayward Israel trusted. But the Lord will reveal in the day of punishment what is sure—and what is not.

5:10–13 This passage speaks to a time when both Judah and Israel have offended their God, as both are mentioned throughout. To “move the landmark” (v. 10) is to undermine the social and ethical order of society. It is to tamper with a foundational aspect of civilization. The ancient landmarks were generational standards on which matters of inheritance and land rights were based (Deut. 19:14). Similar meddling might involve using dishonest scales in business transactions (Prov. 20:23) or committing perjury in a trial that depends on the truth to make just judgments (Num. 30:2). The political leadership (“princes”) of Judah committed an analogous crime, possibly by annexing land belonging to Israel, thus literally moving a political boundary. Because of this, God will pour out his wrath like water. Judah will be deluged in the coming judgment.

Yet Ephraim deserves no better treatment. They asked for it. Before their final demise, they felt crushing oppression at the hands of Assyria because they went after “filth” (Hos. 5:11). The Hebrew word is not exactly “filth.” It is pronounced something like a sneeze, perhaps with a “z” sound at the start. In Isaiah 28:10–13 it is glossed “precept” but might instead simply be a nonsense word, used to depict the babbling of the prophets. Perhaps it could be expressed as the sound of putting one’s tongue out and blowing. Thus this phrase would be rendered, “Ephraim was pleased to go after brrrpt!” This is in contrast to going after Yahweh (Hos. 11:10).

In 5:12 we find two startling images for the great creator of heaven and earth: he describes himself to be like “a moth” and like “dry rot.” These both gnaw away at originally new and pristine material. Moth larvae chew holes in clothing and leave worms in foodstuffs, spoiling it. The word for “dry rot” can be used also to refer to sickness and decay in general. Job 13:28 uses the same words in parallel to describe a man who is wasting away. In short, the Lord will erode and dilapidate these two nations; they will suffer as with a festering disease.

It is thus no surprise that the next verse speaks of the nations’ “sickness” and “wound” (Hos. 5:13). Perhaps these two nations wounded each other through war and then looked to Assyria to “cure” them of their “wound” and “sickness,” that is, to help them militarily. Of course, the king of Assyria could not help them. How could he, since Yahweh was the one who had afflicted them?

The king of Assyria is given an obscure title here. As in 10:6, the Hebrew reads, “King Jareb” (cf. ESV mg.); the ESV aptly glosses “the great king.”²

5:14–15 These verses emphasize both the discipline of the Lord and its purpose in turning his people back to him. Previously the images for divine discipline involved putrefaction and decomposition, but here God is the most powerful carnivore, a lion seeking its prey. He promises to tear up his people like a predator would, leaving their carcass exposed to scavengers and vermin. He will then apparently carry the kill to his den, from whence there is no return. No hope remains for a lifeless and torn carcass.

The phrase “no one shall rescue” can be found eleven times in Scripture, often using the image of a lion or other aggressive species. Isaiah, for instance, declares of the surrounding nations, “Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue” (Isa. 5:29; cf. Mic. 5:8, which uses the image in a positive light).³ There is finality to this image. It is like Daniel’s being cast into the lions’ den (Daniel 6)—he had passed the point of no return, into the sphere of death. Humanly speaking, there was no possibility of deliverance. But the situation in Hosea is worse than that. Unlike Daniel, in Hosea the victim is actually ravaged and torn open. Thus a better analogy would be Daniel’s accusers, who were thrown into the den after him and crushed (Dan. 6:24). They perished—as Israel will soon perish, when the Lion strikes.

The first-person pronoun is repeated to emphasize that this is Yahweh himself who promises with a certainty that such judgment will happen: “I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue” (Hos. 5:14). God will personally and unreservedly ruin them.

But destruction is not the ultimate goal. All of the discipline God brings on his people is meant to lead them to “acknowledge their guilt” (v. 15). Just as a child sometimes needs severe discipline in order to help him understand the severity of his wrong and to turn from it, so it is with the people of the Lord. In this case, the discipline will be a time of great distress, but the goal is that in this distress they will earnestly seek him.

6:1–3 The prophet now desperately calls the people to respond in faith to the terrible threat of judgment just unleashed. In language as clear and evocative as the earlier call to “Blow the horn in Gibeah” (5:8), Hosea models the verbiage of a humbled people: “Come, let us return [shub] to the LORD” (6:1). Hosea gives voice to a penitential prayer, the proper response to God’s final word of warning.

The prophet makes clear the purpose of their suffering: “He has torn us, that he may heal us.” It is clear that Yahweh is the one who brings his punishment to bear, just as he is the one who can bring healing and hope. He is therefore the one to whom they must look.

The promise of healing and helping to recover from injury blossoms into an expectation of full restoration of life: “He will revive us; . . . he will raise us up, that we may live before him” (v. 2). The phrase “after two days . . . on the third day” follows a common poetic device of naming a certain number of things (“two days”) and then in the very next breath adding one to the number (“third day”). Compare Amos 1:3: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment” (cf. also Prov. 30:15–31). In this case, the length of time might not refer to two or three actual days but could be a way of saying that Israel can hope for such healing in the very near future—a pattern realized in Jesus Christ, who indeed arose on a literal “third day.”

This section ends with the hoped-for speech of a people who have, in their hearts, returned to their God. “Let us press on,” they are imagined as saying (Hos. 6:3). The Lord’s coming is as certain as the sunrise and will be life-giving. He will refresh them as showers of rain—exactly what they used to expect from Baal. They are imagined as sweetly returning to the Lord, recognizing in him all they ever wanted from their false gods, especially from Baal, the bringer of rain. But sadly, as the next verses will show, this type of repentance never took place in that era.