- Ephraim [USA] and Judah [modern state of Israel] are struck at the same time. The USA will appeal to Europe [Assyria] but find no help there. Assyria represents the leading non-Israelite power of the day, here Europe, the next leopard beast of Dan 7:6. There will be no worldly rescue for Israel and America.
- Ephraim is left with a “sickness” and Judah has a “wound”. A wound is suffered at once and then begins to heal. A sickness implies something that leaves a lasting disease condition. This is consistent with the USA suffering nuclear attack while Israel receives a terrible but less chronic wound, likely a large-scale chemical attack.
- Ephraim suffers deadly wounds of a full grown lion while Judah has a less sever encounter with a young lion.
- It’s clear that the judgment here is a rebuke, not total destruction.
Hos 5:9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
Hos 5:10 “The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
Hos 5:11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked by human precept.
Hos 5:12 Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.
Hos 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, nor heal you of your wound.
Hos 5:14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.
Lest we default to a common one-dimensional view of whom scripture refers to in ‘Jacob’, let’s recall that Jacob, renamed Israel, is the patriarch of the ancient singular nation of Israel, comprised of twelve tribes in all, each with distinct lands, inheritances (except Levi) and futures, as prophesied by Jacob himself. While the distinction between these tribes is largely ignored today, as early as King David’s time the political separateness of the northern ten and the southern two tribes was prominent. David ruled over the House of Judah for seven years before also gaining that authority over the northern ten for the remainder of his thirty-three year reign. This unified, federation of twelve, under David and then Solomon, later formally divided into two great houses after Solomon’s reign:
- House of Judah – the Lion
Today known as the modern state of Israel decreed by the UN in 1948 and chiefly comprised of the two southern tribes of the House of Judah: Judah and Benjamin. - House of Israel – the Eagle
This group of the northern ten tribes were ‘lost’ into history around 726 BC when they were captured by Assyria and scattered northward and westward across Europe. Chief among these ‘lost sheep of the House of Israel’ is the birthright tribe of Ephraim, very closely allied with his brother Manasseh, both adopted by their grandfather Jacob through his favourite son, Joseph. The study of where these tribes are today is a deep and fascinating one informed by both scriptural and historical scholarship. The headlining tribe, Ephraim, is symbolized by the Eagle, as it is to this day. It is by far the easiest to identify as scripture speaks more about Ephraim than any of his nine companions. Moreover, everything that is written about Ephraim points clearly and uniquely to the nation the world now knows only as the United States of America.
Today’s geopolitics impose a layer of confusion when aiming to speak Biblically and distinctly about the Houses of Israel and Judah, the Eagle and the Lion, their distinct natures and their common, self-inflicted grief as apostate children of founding fathers who both feared the Lord and yet knew their succeeding generations would turn aside after other gods.
America's Destiny Unsealed 