Hosea 5:1

Hosea called on the Israelite priests, the whole population of Israel, and the royal household to hear this message from Yahweh (cf. Hosea 4:1). The following word of judgment applied to all of them because they had been as a snare to birds in the Northern Kingdom. Their policies and practices had trapped many people in idolatry and its consequent bondage and destruction. There was an Israelite Mizpah in Gilead (Judges 10:17; Judges 11:29) and one in the territory of Benjamin (1 Samuel 7:5; 1 Samuel 10:1). Mt. Tabor stood in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. Probably these hunting sites represent the whole nation (by merism), from north to south or east to west. These may also have been the locations of important worship sites in the North. [Note: Ellison, p 116.] The point is that the leadership was corrupting the people everywhere.