Hosea 5:5

"And the pride of Ephraim will testify against its face, and Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their guilt; Judah has also stumbled with them." As the meaning "to answer," to bear witness against a person, is well established in the case of ענה ב (cf. Num 35:30; Deu 19:18, and Isa 3:9), and ענה בפנים also occurs in Job 16:8 in this sense, we must retain the same meaning here, as Jerome and others have done. And there is the more reason for this, because the explanation based upon the lxx, καὶ ταπεινωθήσεται ἡ ὕβρις, "the haughtiness of Israel will be humbled," can hardly be reconciled with בפניו. "The pride of Israel," moreover, is not the haughtiness of Israel, but that of which Israel is proud, or rather the glory of Israel. We might understand by this the flourishing condition of the kingdom, after Amo 6:8; but it would be only by its decay that this would bear witness against the sin of Israel, so that "the glory of Israel" would stand for "the decay of that glory," which would be extremely improbable. We must therefore explain "the glory of Israel" here and in Hos 7:10 in accordance with Amo 8:7, i.e., we must understand it as referring to Jehovah, who is Israel's eminence and glory; in which case we obtain the following very appropriate thought: They know not Jehovah, they do not concern themselves about Him; therefore He Himself will bear witness by judgments, by the destruction of their false glory (cf. Hos 2:10-14), against the face of Israel, i.e., bear witness to their face. This thought occurs without ambiguity in Hos 7:10. Israel will stumble in its sin, i.e., will fall and perish (as in Hos 4:5). Judah also falls with Israel, because it has participated in Israel's sin (Hos 4:15).

The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the foregoing chapter, to discover the sin both of Israel and Judah, and to denounce the judgments of God against them. I. They are called to hearken to the charge (Hos 5:1, Hos 5:8). II. They are accused of many sins, which are here aggravated. 1. Persecution (Hos 5:1, Hos 5:2). 2. Spiritual whoredom (Hos 5:3, Hos 5:4). 3. Pride (Hos 5:5). 4. Apostasy from God (Hos 5:7). 5. The tyranny of the princes, and the tameness of the people in submitting to it (Hos 5:10, Hos 5:11). III. They are threatened with God's displeasure for their sins; he knows all their wickedness (Hos 5:3) and makes known his wrath against them for it (Hos 5:9). 1. They shall fall in their iniquity (Hos 5:5). 2. God will forsake them (Hos 5:6). 3. Their portions shall be devoured (Hos 5:7). 4. God will rebuke them, and pour out his wrath upon them (Hos 5:9, Hos 5:10). 5. They shall be oppressed (Hos 5:11). 6. God will be as a moth to them in secret judgments (Hos 5:12) and as a lion in public judgments (Hos 5:14). IV. They are blamed for the wrong course they took under their afflictions (Hos 5:13). V. It is intimated that they shall at length take a right course (Hos 5:15). The more generally these things are expressed of so much the more general use they are for our learning, and particularly for our admonition.