In this part of the chapter, Hoshea continues his rebuke of the generation that abandoned Hashem and was drawn after idolatry, licentiousness, and wine. The prophet describes how desires strip a person of free will, how the sin itself becomes the rod that chastises the sinner, and the nature of the idolatry that was inextricably bound up with houses of prostitution. At the end of the chapter, the prophet turns to Yehudah and warns them to separate from Ephraim and not learn from their deeds.
וְאָכְלוּ וְלֹא יִשְׂבָּעוּ, הִזְנוּ וְלֹא יִפְרֹצוּ, כִּי אֶת יְהֹוָה עָזְבוּ לִשְׁמֹר׃ - "They shall eat and not be satisfied, they shall commit harlotry and not increase, for they have forsaken Hashem to observe."
Radak explains: Since their eating was contrary to the law, there was naturally no blessing in it - "They shall eat and not be satisfied." Likewise, they engaged in harlotry, and because their relations with women were through promiscuity, therefore "they shall not increase." "They shall not increase" means that they would not have children, and if they did - they would die in the womb. In our day, this might be viewed as an advantage, as one who engages in promiscuity does not desire children; yet it is evident from the verse that in their time they engaged in harlotry and still wanted children, and therefore the punishment was that their offspring would not multiply. And the reason: "For they have forsaken Hashem to observe" - they ceased observing, having no desire for Hashem and no wish to guard His ways.
זְנוּת וְיַיִן וְתִירוֹשׁ יִקַּח לֵב׃ - "Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the heart."
The Malbim follows the approach of Rav Saadia Gaon, also cited by Radak, reading the two verses as one continuous thought: "For they have forsaken Hashem to observe harlotry, wine, and new wine." That is, the word "to observe" (lishmor) is not the conclusion of the verse, but the beginning of the next clause - they abandoned Hashem, and what did they go to observe? Harlotry, wine, and new wine. Instead of the Kohen being commanded to keep the charge of Hashem and be holy to his God - where "they shall not marry a woman who is a harlot or profaned" - on the contrary, they go searching for licentiousness. And instead of being warned, "Drink no wine nor strong drink... when you enter the Tent of Meeting," they cling precisely to wine and new wine. They seek out the exact two things forbidden to them.
And what is "takes away the heart"? The Malbim explains, and we can make this intuitive to our understanding: the heart is independent; man has free will and can direct his heart wherever he wishes. But all this is true only as long as he has not consumed substances that take control of his choice. We recognize this today with narcotics - regarding a person who takes drugs, one cannot say that he acts with full awareness and clarity; rather, he is driven by the power of the drug. The same is true of a drunkard: one cannot say that he possesses his heart and does whatever he truly desires; rather, the wine acts upon him, and his heart is drawn and captured after the wine. And so it is with a person immersed in licentiousness - he does not act rationally; rather, lust pulls him along, and he may commit grave acts that an ordinary person would be ashamed of, because his heart is no longer in his own hands. This is "harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the heart": they seize the heart and divert it from the holy path. The very thing they crave and seek is what takes away their heart and leads them astray.
עַמִּי בְּעֵצוֹ יִשְׁאָל וּמַקְלוֹ יַגִּיד לוֹ, כִּי רוּחַ זְנוּנִים הִתְעָה וַיִּזְנוּ מִתַּחַת אֱלֹהֵיהֶם׃ - "My people inquire of their wood, and their rod tells them, for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have strayed from beneath their God."
As a homiletic play on words: nowadays this can serve as a figurative expression for someone who has no rabbi to consult with, relying instead on "Rabbi Google" - whom are you asking? Wood and stone, the computer. "My people inquire of their wood." And there are those who seek "user-friendly" rabbis, a flexible rabbi who moves with the spirit of the times, comfortable, accommodating the popular mood, ready to accept the shifts of the new reality and align with them - this is "and his rod tells him" (umaklo yagid lo, read playfully as meikel, one who is lenient): whoever will be lenient for him, that is whom he asks to tell him the halachah, making him his authority. Thus far by way of homiletic wit; now to the plain meaning of the verse.
Radak explains this through the parable of a blind person, whose cane guides his path and shows him where to go. "Their wood" refers to idolatry, and "their rod" is the walking stick with which the blind person walks, representing the false prophets. You are like a blind person, relying on what the cane tells you, yet this cane misleads you. "For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray" - the spirit of harlotry misleads the false prophets, and they in turn mislead the people. It turns out that those who inquire of idolatry or rely on that "rod" wander astray after a spirit of harlotry that misled both the false prophets and the idol worship itself.
The Malbim interprets differently. "My people inquire of their wood" - this refers to the idol, since the idol is made of wood, and they seek an answer from it. Yet the idol gives no response. And what is "and their rod tells them"? The Malbim explains that there is a linguistic distinction: "wood" (etz) can simply refer to the raw material of wood, but "rod" (makel) always appears in the context of striking. A staff upon which a person leans is always called a mateh, never a makel. Therefore, one cannot interpret it, as other commentators do, as a walking staff on which one leans. Rather, the verse means: My people inquire of idolatry and stray from the path - and who will set them straight? "Their rod tells them" - the rod that strikes you blows will tell you that you erred and that your path is corrupt. From the idol you will receive no answer; on the contrary, the rod will tell you that "a spirit of harlotry has led astray" the false prophets and the entire nation and diverted them from the path, and through it "they have strayed from beneath their God." Thus, the rod that disciplines and chastises them is what ultimately shows them the proper way.
The Malbim adds another explanation: "His stick" - the stick that comes out of the idol itself. The idol is made of wood, and from that very wood emerges a stick that strikes him. This follows the same line of thought, except that here the stick comes from within the sin itself. This is as we have discussed several times, that the misfortune that befalls a person is the sin itself - "Your own wickedness will chastise you, and your backslidings will reprove you" (Yirmeyahu 2:19), and "Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness" in Yechezkel (7:11): the violence itself, the theft itself, the transgression itself, are the rod that strikes the wicked. The transgression itself turns into a destructive force. And similarly, "The foolishness of a man perverts his way, and his heart frets against Hashem" (Mishlei 19:3) - a person's foolishness perverts his path, as a result of which he is afflicted, yet he remains angry at the Holy One, Blessed be He, asking: Master of the Universe, why did You do this to me? And the answer is: Why did I do this to you? This is but one of a thousand destructive agents that you yourself created, which you unleashed upon yourself; had I unleashed the greater destructive forces, you could not have endured for even a moment. Thus we find: "My people consult their wood," and from that very wood comes a striking rod that chastises him and tells him that a spirit of harlotry has led him astray, which is what caused them to "stray from under their God."
עַל רָאשֵׁי הֶהָרִים יְזַבֵּחוּ וְעַל הַגְּבָעוֹת יְקַטֵּרוּ, תַּחַת אַלּוֹן וְלִבְנֶה וְאֵלָה כִּי טוֹב צִלָּהּ, עַל כֵּן תִּזְנֶינָה בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם וְכַלּוֹתֵיכֶם תְּנָאַפְנָה׃ - "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because its shade is pleasant; therefore your daughters commit harlotry, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery."
Here the verse describes the state of "they stray from under their God." "To stray in harlotry" means to distance oneself, to corrupt one's ways and deviate from one's husband, from the Holy One, Blessed be He; the Congregation of Israel strays from under their God, under their idolatry. In idol worship, animal sacrifice was the primary service, while burning incense was a secondary act: when they wanted to serve the idol, they would offer a sacrifice to it, and in addition - as a dark counterpart, thousands of separations apart, to the burning of the ketoret in the Beit HaMikdash - they burned incense to the idol. There are many expressions of this in the Prophets, where women were "burning incense" to the Ba'alim, not in the colloquial modern sense of the word, but in the sense of offering incense up to an idol.
Therefore, the Malbim explains: "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains" - the sacrifices were offered on the mountaintops, an elevated place, signifying that they worshiped in large gatherings and publicly, in an exalted, prominent, and conspicuous venue. By contrast, the burning of incense, which was considered the less significant rite in their eyes, was performed on the hills, by each individual on his own, "under oak and poplar and terebinth, because its shade is pleasant" - in more private places, designated for their worship, and not in public like the sacrifices, since it was not as important to them.
Furthermore, alongside the sacrifices and the burning of incense, they engaged in promiscuity, for harlotry was notoriously intertwined with idolatry, and as we will see later, every house of idol worship had a brothel affiliated with it. Here too, explains the Malbim, there were two kinds of immorality: public immorality - upon the mountains, and private immorality - upon the hills, as will be explained in the next verse. And regarding this, the prophet tells them: "Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery" - just as the fathers strayed, so too will your daughters stray.
Why did the verse change its wording, using *tizneina* ("commit harlotry") for daughters and *ten'afna* ("commit adultery") for daughters-in-law? The Malbim explains that their custom was to marry off their daughters to other men, while the daughters-in-law - the sons' wives - remained in the family compound, as is still customary today in traditional Arab society, where the son builds a home in the courtyard or an apartment below his parents, while the daughter is sent away to the home of the groom who marries her. Now, the illicit act itself is called *ni'uf* (adultery), even with an unmarried woman, because that defines the act itself. The term *zenut* (harlotry / straying), however, is used when a woman strays from beneath her husband and deviates from the authority over her - which is why the term *zenut* is not used for an unmarried maiden. And *zenut* is not exclusively an expression tied to marital infidelity, as Scripture states, "and they strayed after the Ba'alim" regarding idolatry: to commit *zenut* means to deviate from the authority that rules over you. Therefore, the daughters are described as committing *zenut*, since they deviated from beneath their husbands' authority; but the daughters-in-law, who lived in the family home - where promiscuity and forbidden relations were openly permitted, and this was done with the husband's consent within the home - was not considered by them to be a departure from the husband's domain at all, and so the verse uses concerning them only the term *ten'afna*, denoting the illicit act itself, rather than the term of *zenut*.
Rashi interprets this differently: Since you attach yourselves to idolatry and idolaters - even though the Torah prohibited intermarriage with them, "You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for your son" - this leads to you taking their daughters for your sons and giving your daughters to their sons, intermarrying with them. The sons and daughters born to you from their daughters then follow the ways of their mothers and commit harlotry. Ibn Ezra explains that this is a description of natural consequences: Since you go out to sacrifice upon the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, you are not at home; the moment the household members leave the city for the mountains and hills, the daughters and daughters-in-law are left alone with no one to watch over them, and therefore they go astray.
לֹא אֶפְקוֹד עַל בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם כִּי תִזְנֶינָה וְעַל כַּלּוֹתֵיכֶם כִּי תְנָאַפְנָה, כִּי הֵם עִם הַזֹּנוֹת יְפָרֵדוּ וְעִם הַקְּדֵשׁוֹת יְזַבֵּחוּ, וְעָם לֹא יָבִין יִלָּבֵט׃ - "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, for they themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with cult prostitutes; and a people without understanding will stumble."
The Malbim explains that the guilt does not rest upon the daughters, but upon their fathers, from whom they learned to corrupt their ways. "They sacrifice with cult prostitutes" - the *kedeshos* (cult prostitutes) were designated for promiscuity, and they were the public harlots. The sacrifices were offered on top of the mountains publicly and amidst crowds of people, as it is said, "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains." And the *kedeshos* were dedicated to the idol worship.
And here we find what we have explained in the past in the name of the Vilna Gaon: we have a tradition that adjacent to every house of idol worship was a house of harlotry, which is why the prophecies of rebuke consistently link idolatry with immorality. This served two purposes. First, to captivate the hearts of the people: Why should they remain devoted to Hashem and His faith, which is deeply restrictive, when idolatry is liberal and permits such acts - and not merely permits them, but cloaks everything in the mantle of divine worship, ostensibly for the sake of the idol rather than for base lust - thereby attracting many followers. The second purpose was to increase the revenue of the house of idolatry: the hire given to the prostitute was taken by the priests of Ba'al for the temple of idol worship, ostensibly to maintain and develop the site. Thus, the purpose of those *kedeshos* was ostensibly for the sake of "holiness" - to glorify the idol, draw people close to it, and sustain it financially.
From here derives the term kedeshos (cult prostitutes), which is a derisive play on the concept of kedushah (holiness): they view this as sanctity, whereas we see it as quite the opposite. Just as we refer to a person praying in a synagogue as engaging in tefillah (prayer), while concerning a Reform meeting place we say beis tiflasam (their house of folly), from the word tafel, insipid and devoid of taste. So too here, Scripture does not call them "their holy women," but kedeshos. And from the perspective of the Holy Tongue: kadosh signifies separated and set apart - "consecrated (hukdash) for the repair of the Temple" means separated and set apart from common human use for the Temple upkeep; "Behold, you are consecrated (mekudeshes) to me" means set apart from all other men and designated exclusively to me. And Rashi explains regarding kedeshos: those designated for immorality, who were set apart from the rest of society and designated specifically for transgression.
By contrast, "they segregate themselves with prostitutes (zonos)": the zonah here is a married woman who commits adultery against her husband. She has someone to fear, and therefore will not act openly. She is terrified that if her husband catches her, she will never see another person again - for below ten handbreadths (in the grave), it is quite hard to see anyone or anything! Therefore, "they segregate themselves (yifareidu)" - they separate themselves from the company of people, withdrawing from the public eye to commit their deeds in darkness, straying on the hills in secret under the terebinth, as we saw in the preceding verse.
From here, the Malbim returns to what he explained earlier regarding "his stick will tell him": when you receive your afflictions, the punishing rod will rebuke you and tell you that a spirit of harlotry led you astray - that through the lust for immorality, they strayed from serving Hashem and turned to idol worship. This is why the verse concludes: "and a people without understanding will stumble (yilaveit)." Why are they struck with a harsh rod? Because they lack understanding. In Rashi's view, yilaveit denotes weariness, meaning they will become exhausted from the barrage of blows, as in the phrase "how much we toiled (lavatnu) on the way," meaning we wearied ourselves. Radak (citing his father) and Ibn Ezra explain the word as it is familiar to us today: in Arabic, yilaveit denotes confusion, not knowing what to do, as in "a prating fool shall stumble (yilaveit)" (Mishlei 10:8) - which is precisely how the modern Hebrew word lehislabet is used: someone who is in doubt, confused, and does not know how to act. All this happens because they fail to understand their sin, and the rod will strike them so that they realize how they corrupted their ways and where they went astray.
Rashi interprets the verse differently: when a married woman strays and acts unfaithfully, the bitter curse-bearing waters (of the sotah) examine her and demonstrate whether she was unfaithful. But when the husband himself is not clean of sin - as the Gemara expresses it, "he is in the large pumpkins and she is in the small pumpkins," meaning he is no less corrupt than she is - the waters do not test her. This does not mean that if the husband is tainted, the woman is permitted to sin; of course it is forbidden to her, and he will settle his own account while she settles hers. However, a man cannot take his wife to drink the bitter waters when he himself is engaged in deeds that are just as bitter. This is the meaning of "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry" - the bitter waters will not expose them. Why? "For they" - the husbands - "segregate themselves with harlots"; they themselves commit immorality with prostitutes, so how can the waters test the woman when the husband himself is flawed and corrupt?
Radak quotes his father that yifareidu is related to the word pered (mule): a mule is more immersed in lust than any other animal, and the verse means that together with the prostitutes, they are steeped in lust after the manner of mules. He further cites from "some commentators" that they act with the prostitutes in the manner of a mule: a mule cannot reproduce, being the offspring of a donkey and a mare or a horse and a female donkey, resulting in a sterile creature, as in the expression "barren as a mule." They wished for these women not to conceive, and therefore engaged in the sinful practice of Er and Onan. This is the meaning of "with prostitutes they act like mules (yifareidu)" - they perform acts that prevent conception, like the barrenness of a mule.
אִם זֹנֶה אַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל אַל יֶאְשַׁם יְהוּדָה, וְאַל תָּבֹאוּ הַגִּלְגָּל וְאַל תַּעֲלוּ בֵּית אָוֶן, וְאַל תִּשָּׁבְעוּ חַי יְהֹוָה׃ - Though you stray, Israel, let not Judah become guilty; do not enter Gilgal, nor go up to Beis Aven, and do not swear, "As Hashem lives!"
Why does the prophet address Israel and connect Judah to it? The Malbim explains based on what we saw in the first verse of chapter 1: Hoshea began prophesying in the days of Yeravam the son of Yoash, at a time when the kingdom of Judah was subjugated to the kingdom of Israel, until the twenty-fourth year of Uzziah, when Uzziah reigned independently and the kingdom of Judah broke free from the yoke of the kingdom of Israel. During the period we are discussing, Judah was therefore subservient to the kingdom of Israel, also known as the kingdom of Ephraim.
As is well known, ever since the days of Yeravam ben Nevat the kingdom was split, and Israel - namely Shomron - strayed from the path, and all the kings of Israel were wicked. By contrast, the kingdom of Judah had righteous kings for long periods, and even if an evil king arose among them, he was succeeded by a righteous king, and so on. But in Israel there was never a single righteous king; they acted entirely wickedly, which is why they were exiled first, and to this day they have not returned - the Ten Tribes were lost to us, and we hope that Mashiach will bring them back; there is a dispute about this in the Gemara, and we hope indeed that they will return.
Therefore, the prophet warns Judah: you are currently subject to the kingdom of Israel; be careful not to learn from their deeds. Since golden calves had existed in Israel ever since the days of Yeravam ben Nevat, and there was a constant pull toward idolatry, there was a real concern that Judah, being subjugated to them, would imitate them and be drawn after their ways, and that Israel would corrupt Judah. This is the meaning of "Though you stray, Israel, let not Judah become guilty" - if you, the kingdom of Ephraim, stray from your God to fashion calves and worship idols, at the very least see to it that you do not cause Judah to sin as well, and ensure that they do not learn from your deeds.
Therefore, he commands the tribe of Judah: "Do not enter Gilgal, nor go up to Beis Aven." Beis Aven is Beis El, so named after the deed of iniquity (aven) - the wicked act - for it was a house of idol worship. Gilgal was likewise a place where they worshiped the calves. Both of these sites, says the Malbim, were hubs of idolatrous worship, as Amos says: "Come to Beis El and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression" (Amos 4:4), and "In Gilgal they sacrificed bulls" (Hoshea 12:12). Moreover, both places bordered Judah - as in the term bar metzra, directly on its border - and therefore there was great danger that Judah, being under Israelite rule, would go and cling to the idol worship right at their doorstep. And what is meant by "and do not swear, 'As Hashem lives'"? In Gilgal and Beis El they swore by idols. He tells them: you, Judah, currently swear "As Hashem lives," but if you go there and become corrupted like them, you will no longer swear "As Hashem lives," but rather "As the Baal lives," swearing by idolatry. Therefore, do not enter Gilgal and do not go up to Beis Aven, so that you do not reach a state where you no longer swear in the name of Hashem.
כִּי כְּפָרָה סֹרֵרָה סָרַר יִשְׂרָאֵל, עַתָּה יִרְעֵם יְהֹוָה כְּכֶבֶשׂ בַּמֶּרְחָב׃ - For Israel has rebelled like a stubborn cow; now the Lord will shepherd them like a lamb in an open pasture.
The Malbim explains that in the days of Yarov'am ben Yoash, Hashem took pity on Israel. The king of Aram had afflicted and tormented them, turning them into dust to be threshed, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, sent a king who saved them - this was Yarov'am ben Yoash, of whom it is said that he restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Chamat to the Sea of the Aravah. At that time, Hashem pastured them across a wide expanse - "like a lamb in an open pasture": if until now the border had been narrow, now you emerged from constriction into expansive borders.
And the Holy One, blessed be He, anticipated that when they saw His kindness - that He delivered them from the hand of Aram and broadened their territory - they would be like a lamb drawn after its shepherd, which never separates from the flock but follows him, and that they would not wander on wanton mountaintops, as we have seen they used to do, sacrificing on the mountains and burning incense on the hills. Instead, however, "For Israel has rebelled like a stubborn cow." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: What did I receive in return? That you became a stubborn cow. When a cow is led out into an open pasture, it wanders away from the shepherd and distances itself from him. In the same way, you distanced yourselves from Hashem precisely when you should have drawn close to Him - He had just granted you abundance and prosperity, and you ought to have grazed under His care, yet instead you went and strayed far away.
חֲבוּר עֲצַבִּים אֶפְרָיִם הַנַּח לוֹ׃ - Ephraim is bound to idols; let him alone.
There are quite a few verses that almost anyone you ask will explain in a very specific way - and they are all mistaken. Why? Because the explanation they give you is a midrashic exposition (derash), whereas hardly anyone knows the literal meaning (peshat) of the verse. I do not mean that the derash is incorrect or that what our Sages said is untrue, for the derash is also true; rather, it is simply not the peshat of the verse. Anyone who reads the verses in context understands immediately that the idea was stated strictly as derash.
To take an example: "Your destroyers and your demolishers shall depart from you" (Kimeharsayich umacharevayich mimech yetze'u). Ask almost anyone, and they will tell you this means that our troubles come from within us, that the fifth column is our own, that newspapers like Haaretz belong to us; among the nations you do not see this as much, but within the Jewish people, those drilling holes in the ship are always from within. This is a fine derash, and unfortunately true in reality, but it is not the peshat of the text there. The peshat of the verse is a reassuring promise from the Holy One, blessed be He: your destroyers and demolishers will depart from your midst and be removed far away.
The same applies here: ask someone what "Chavur atzabim Ephraim, hanach lo" means, and they will tell you that even when Israel worships idols, if they are united (chavur) - "hanach lo," the Holy One, blessed be He, says: do not punish them; but "their heart is divided, now they will be found guilty," meaning when there is division, polarization, and strife among them, then the Holy One, blessed be He, says: now I will punish them. This is Chazal's derash contrasting the era of Shaul, when the army went out to battle and suffered defeat, with the era of Achav and others, when they were victorious. What was the difference? In Achav's time the people were united - fifty prophets were hidden in a cave and not a single person informed Achav, even though Izevel was actively hunting down the prophets; whereas in Shaul's time there were talebearers and slanderers, so that every time David fled, people betrayed him: "Behold, David is hiding with us," "Behold, David is in Keilah." Truly, it is a very beautiful derash - but it is not the peshat of the verse. Now, let us explain the verse according to its literal meaning.
Rashi explains: "Chavur" means attached, "atzabim" means idols (avodah zarah), and "Ephraim" refers to Shomron, the Ten Tribes, as distinct from Yehudah. Ephraim is attached and clinging to idolatry, and therefore "hanach lo" - Hashem tells the prophet: do not prophesy to rebuke him; it is futile and will accomplish nothing, for they will not accept it. Since he is currently bound to idolatry, there is no one to talk to - let him alone.
Ibn Ezra notes that some interpret "atzabim" in the sense of "all your idols" (avodah zarah), but that it is more accurately derived from the root of sorrow and frustration (itzavon). In truth, these two explanations complement each other, for idolatry brings profound sorrow and grief to the hearts of its worshipers. You cry out to it, and plead and scream, and it essentially informs you that the deity you have reached is currently unavailable, please try again later - in short, you walk away in heartbreak and frustration; or in modern parlance, you leave completely aggravated and stressed. That is why it is called "atzabim." And Hashem says: let him alone, until their eyes are opened.
The Radak explains that Israel became so attached to the idols - the golden calves, the Ba'al, the asherah - that there was no one left with whom one could reason or offer rebuke, and therefore "let him alone," do not rebuke them. The Radak adds an important insight: this is stated as a figure of speech (derech ha'avarah). It is comparable to a person who is furious with his friend who refuses to listen, and declares: "You will not listen to me? That is it, I am leaving you alone!" It is a form of threat or hyperbole. Yet an hour later he returns to rebuke him once again - you see that he does not carry out his threat; he said "I will not correct you anymore," yet he comes right back and corrects him. So too here: Hashem says, as it were, "let him alone," but only by way of hyperbole, for in actual practice we see the prophet continually returning to rebuke Israel.
The Malbim explains that the Northern Kingdom is called Ephraim, and it is firmly bound to idols, refusing to detach from idolatry, as it is written concerning Yarov'am ben Yoash: "And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Yarov'am." Take note: according to the Malbim, the directive "hanach lo" (leave him alone) is addressed not to the prophet to stop speaking because they will not listen, but rather to Yehudah - leave them alone and do not associate with them. For we have seen that Yehudah had been subjugated under Israel, and the prophet warns them: do not learn from their actions and do not be corrupted by their ways. This is part of that very warning: since Ephraim is bound to idols - leave him alone, separate from him, do not come to Gilgal and do not go up to Beit Aven, do not learn from his corrupt conduct, so that you, Yehudah, will not become corrupted like him.
סָר סׇבְאָם הַזְנֵה הִזְנוּ, אָהֲבוּ הֵבוּ קָלוֹן מָגִנֶּיהָ׃ - Their drink has turned aside, they have strayed into harlotry; her protectors have dearly loved shame.
The Malbim explains that the prophet is warning Yehudah: do not rely on "her protectors" - the prominent leaders of Ephraim, its ministers and mighty warriors, who ostensibly protected Yehudah. For at that time, Yehudah was subjugated beneath them, and when war breaks out, who goes out to fight? The nation under whose protection you shelter. Yehudah therefore worried: if war erupts or a threat arises, who are our protectors? Israel. We take refuge under them in the expectation that they will defend us. To this the prophet says: do not rely on them; do not think that they are your protectors and that they will guard you.
The reason is that they suffer from three flaws. The first is drunkenness: "Their drink has turned aside" [sar sav'am] - sove refers to drinking wine, as Targum translates "a glutton and a drunkard" [zoleil ve-sovei] as "consuming meat and drinking wine" [lasvei chamar], where chamar means wine. "Their drink has turned aside" means that their drinking has departed from normal bounds and reached outrageous levels; you rely on them, yet they are steeped in wine. The second flaw is promiscuity and idolatry, as seen above. Moreover, not only are they transgressors themselves, but they also mislead others - "they have strayed into harlotry" [hazneh hiznu], in the causative form: it is not enough that they themselves act corruptly, they cause others to act corruptly as well. And the third: "her protectors have dearly loved shame" [ahavu hevu kalon] - they love disgrace and cling to it, doing things that bring disgrace and humiliation, loving it and attaching themselves to it. And since this is the case, do not join with them.
צָרַר רוּחַ אוֹתָהּ בִּכְנָפֶיהָ, וְיֵבֹשׁוּ מִזִּבְחוֹתָם׃ - The wind has bound her up in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Rashi explains that the wind clings to its wings, like a bird that the wind does not allow to alight until it carries it far away - the bird is in the air and the wind carries it off. This is the prophecy: do not rely on Israel, for very soon a wind will come and carry them in its wings - exile will soon arrive and blow Israel away from here. And then, "they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices" - those abominable sacrifices that they offered and burned incense to, hoping that the idols would protect them and that idolatry would shield them: look, where are the sacrifices you offered to them? How did they help you? In what way did they save you?
Rashi also brings Midrash Tanchuma, in the style of Aggadah: like a person threatening someone who provokes him, saying, "By your life, I will bind up your wings" - beware, I will tie your wings. For when one wants a bird not to fly, one ties its wings, and then it cannot fly. So too, this verse is a threat against Israel: My jealousy and My wrath are bound up with you to take vengeance upon you - "the wind has bound her up in its wings," just as one binds its wings to bring upon you that spirit of jealousy, "and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices."
In this section of the chapter, the prophet describes an entire chain of decline: the people abandoned the charge of Hashem and went to watch over harlotry, wine, and new wine, and these captivated its heart until it lost its sound judgment and freedom of choice. It consults wood - idolatry - and receives no answer, and only the rod, which is the suffering emerging from the sin itself, tells it that a spirit of harlotry has led it astray. Idolatry was performed publicly upon the mountaintops and in seclusion upon the hills, entwined with cult prostitutes and harlots, and the blame falls upon the fathers from whom the daughters and daughters-in-law learned. From here the prophet turns to Yehudah: if Israel strays, let Yehudah not incur guilt; do not come to Gilgal or to Beit Aven, do not rely on "her protectors" who are steeped in wine and harlotry and love disgrace, and leave Ephraim alone who is attached to idols, for ultimately a wind will carry him off in its wings and they will be ashamed of their sacrifices.