Hosea 5:8
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah,.... As an alarm of war, to give notice that the enemy is at hand, just ready to invade the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and bring destruction upon them; according to the Targum, the words are directed to the prophets,
"O ye prophets, lift up your voice like a trumpet;''
to declare to the people of Judah their sins and transgressions, and the punishment that would be inflicted on them for them; or it may be, this is a call of the people to fasting, mounting, and lamentation, as in Joel 2:1. Gibeah is the same which is called "Gibeah of Saul",
1 Samuel 11:4; it being the birth place of that prince; and which Josephus {i} calls Gabathsaoule, and interprets it the hill of Saul, and says it was distant from Jerusalem about four miles; though elsewhere {k} he represents it as but two and a half miles; perhaps in the latter place there is a corruption in the number; for, according to Jerom, it was near Ramah, which was seven miles from Jerusalem; he says it is called also "Gibeah of Benjamin", 1 Samuel 13:2; because it was in that tribe, as was also Ramah; which, according to Eusebius {l}, was six miles from Jerusalem; these were near to each other; see Judges 19:13; so that the calamity threatened is what respects the two tribes:
cry aloud at Bethaven; the same with Bethel, or a place near unto it, in the tribe of Benjamin, or on the borders of Ephraim; see Hosea 4:15. According to the above writer {m}, it lay about twelve miles from Jerusalem; in the way to Sichem; and being upon the borders both of Benjamin and Ephraim, it sometimes belonged to Israel, and sometimes to Judah; see 2 Chronicles 13:19; and seeing, as Jerom observes, that Benjamin was at the back of it (for where the tribe of Benjamin ended, not far in the tribe of Ephraim, according to him, was this city built), it therefore very beautifully follows,
after thee, O Benjamin; that is, either the enemy is after thee, O Benjamin, is just at hand, ready to fall upon thee, and destroy thee, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; or rather, after the trumpet is blown in Gibeah and Ramah, cities which belonged to Benjamin, let it he blown, either in Bethaven, on the borders of Benjamin and Ephraim; or let it be blown in the tribe of Judah, so that all the twelve tribes may have notice, and prepare for what is coming upon them.
{i} De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 1.
{k} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 8.
{l} Apud Reland Palestina Illustrata, l. 3. tom. 2. p. 963.
{m} Apud Reland. ib. p. 637.