ONCE MORE: PUPPET-KINGS AND PUPPET-GODS
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. Hos. 10:14
a tumult arise... The chapter ends with a grim description of the devastation that would come to the wayward people of God.
as Shalman spoiled... The name Shalman may refer to Salamanu, a Moabite king who invaded Gilead (around 740 B.C.), or to Shalmaneser V, the Assyrian king who conquered Israel (in 722 B.C.), who played a role in Israel’s demise (2Kgs. 17:3-6).
Betharbel in the... Although the location of Beth-arbel is uncertain, the memory of the heinous crimes committed there was vividly etched into their minds. Perhaps Arbela on the east of Jordan.
Even though this happened in battle, it was really a judgment of God against these people. This all happened because of their sins. The attack was against the fenced cities. We can see from the mother being dashed to pieces upon her children, just how cruel and inhuman this conflict was. This was possibly, the battle where Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, comes against Samaria three years. This was a very cruel time, when many died horrible deaths.
For the tumult of war shall arise among thy tribes, and all thy fenced cities shall be ruined, as Salman beat to ruin Beth-Arbel in the day of war: the mother shall be broken on the children"-presumably the land shall fall with the falling of her cities. Thus, shall I do to you, O house of Israel, because of the evil of your evil: soon shall the king of Israel be undone-undone.
In response to Israel’s pride the Lord said He would destroy a source of her false confidence (fortresses, cf. Hos. 8:14). The severity of the judgment is emphasized by a comparison with a historical incident that was apparently well known to Hosea’s contemporaries. But the identity of Shalman and the location of Beth Arbel are uncertain. The most popular identifications of Shalman have been: (a) Shalmaneser III (an Assyrian ruler who campaigned against the West in the ninth century B.C), (b) Shalmaneser V (the Assyrian ruler from 727 to 722 B.C; but his invasion of Israel postdates Hosea’s prophecy), and (c) Salamanu (a Moabite king mentioned in a tribute list of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III and a contemporary of Hosea). Beth Arbel has been identified by some (e.g., Eusebius) with modern Irbid (Arbela) in the northern Transjordan region about 18 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee and by others with modern Arbel two miles west of the Sea of Galilee (Arbela in the apocryphal 1 Maccabees 9:2, JB). At any rate this particular battle was vividly remembered for its atrocities, especially the wholesale slaughter of women and children.
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