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"He willingly walked by human precept"

Text: Hosea 5:11

THE JUDGMENT ON EPHRAIM

The sins of Ephraim had already been highlighted. What remains to be said was the judgment that would be meted out against Ephraim who represented Israel.

“Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by human precept.
Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah like rottenness.”
Hosea 5:11-12

1. Ephraim and Benjamin (Hosea 5:8-9)

a) They were described together.

b) The reference to them:

i) As tribes.

ii) As regions where they were the dominant house.

2. Ephraim and Judah (Hosea 5:11-12)

a) They were also described together in their judgment.

b) The reference to them:

i) Not as individual tribes.

ii) But as individual kingdoms (Israel as the Northern kingdom and Judah as the Southern kingdom).

3. “Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment”

a) Israel (Ephraim) had been oppressive (The kings, princes, judges etc.).

The nation would now be oppressed.

b) It had failed to uphold justice.

The nation would now receive Divine judgment.

4. “Because he willingly walked by human precept”

a) God had given Divine laws through Moses.

b) But Israel chose human precepts instead of the law of God.

c) These human precepts were culled from ideas taught and practised by idolatrous nations.

d) Israel deliberately chose to walk in the paths of the ungodly and the sinful.

5. Divine judgment and effects on Israel and Judah

a) The effects on Israel would be as destructive as a moth is to fabric.

b) The effects on Judah would be as alarming as rottenness.

Israel and Judah would experience for themselves the consequences of rejecting God and adopting sinful ways!