5:1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel;
and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment [is]
toward you, because ye have been a a snare on Mizpah, and
a net spread upon Tabor.
(a) The priests and princes caught the poor people in their
snares, as the fowlers did the birds, in these two high
mountains.
5:2 And the revolters are profound to make b slaughter, though
I [have been] a c rebuker of them all.
(b) Even though they seemed to be given altogether to
holiness, and to sacrifices which here he calls
slaughter in contempt.
(c) Though I had admonished them continually by my Prophets.
5:3 I know d Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now,
O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, [and] Israel is
defiled.
(d) They boasted themselves not only to be Israelites, but
also Ephraimites, because their King Jeroboam came from
that tribe.
5:5 And the e pride of Israel doth testify to his face:
therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity;
Judah also shall fall with them.
(e) Meaning their condemning of all admonitions.
5:7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they
have begotten f strange children: now shall g a month
devour them with their portions.
(f) That is, their children are degenerate, so that there is
no hope in them.
(g) Their destruction is not far off.
5:8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, [and] the trumpet in Ramah:
cry aloud [at] Bethaven, after thee, O h Benjamin.
(h) That is, all of Israel that was included under this
tribe, signifying that the Lord's plagues would pursue
them from place to place until they were destroyed.
5:9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the
tribes of Israel have I made i known that which shall
surely be.
(i) By the success they will know that I have surely
determined this.
5:10 The princes of Judah were like them that k remove the
bound: [therefore] I will pour out my wrath upon them like
water.
(k) They have turned upside down all political order and all
manner of religion.
5:11 Ephraim [is] oppressed [and] broken in judgment, because he
willingly walked after the l commandment.
(l) That is, after King Jeroboam's commandment, and did not
rather follow God.
5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound,
then went Ephraim to m the Assyrian, and sent to king n
Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your
wound.
(m) Instead of seeking for remedy from God's hand.
(n) Who was king of the Assyrians.
