5:1
Hosea, or the Lord, now addresses the priests and the king. The priests were responsible for teaching the Law, but they themselves are called upon to listen and learn. The royal household was responsible for administering justice, but they themselves would be under judgement.
Mizpah is mentioned in Judges 10:17. The Israelites camped there in preparation for battle against the Ammonites. Jephthah defeated the Ammonites and when he return home to Mizpah and the first thing he saw was his daughter. The problem was that he had vowed to sacrifice the first thing he saw. Samuel subdued the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Sam 7). Tabor was among the sites that became a high place for Baal worship.
5:2,3
The nation as a whole was in rebellion against the Lord, and they would all be disciplined. Ephraim was the largest of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, and Ephraim is often used as a term to refer to the whole of the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom was utterly corrupt.
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