Hosea 4:17

Ephraim is joined to idols,.... That is, the ten tribes of Israel, frequently so called after their separation from the rest, because that Jeroboam, by whom the revolt was made, was of that tribe; and…

Ephraim is joined to idols - that is, banded, bound up with them, “associated,” as the word means, with them so as to cleave to them, willing neither to part with nor to be parted from, them. The…

Ephraim - The ten tribes.

Is joined to idols - Is become incorporated with false gods.

Let him alone - They are irreclaimable, leave them to the consequences of their vicious conduct.

In these verses we have, as before,

I. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, for which God had a controversy with them, and they are,

1. Spiritual whoredom, or idolatry. They have in them a…

joined to idols The cognate noun is used in Mal 2:14 of a wife in her relation to her husband, and in Isa 44:11 of an idol-worshipper in his mystic relation to his god (comp. 1Co 10:20).