‘Blow you the ram's horn in Gibeah,
And the trumpet in Ramah,
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven.
Behind you, O Benjamin.'
The picture is vivid. The call is to the watchmen on the watchtowers to sound the alarm at the sight of invading armies, using both ram's horn and metal trumpet, and is made to the area of Benjamin (in which Gibeah and Ramah were situated), indicating that they were to ‘watch their backs'. All are to be on the alert for invasion. The order of the cities appears to indicate that the invasion will be taking place from the south.
For the order of the cities is given moving northwards on the road to Bethel through Gibeah and Ramah, and as a result has been seen as indicating an invasion by Judah, coming after Israel had been seriously weakened by the Assyrians, with the aim of regaining land which had been annexed by Israel in the days of Jehoash and Jeroboam II (2 Kings 13:12; 2 Kings 14:11-14; 2 Kings 14:28), or even during the war with the Syro-Ephraimite coalition. Gibeah and Ramah were in Benjamite territory which had once belonged to Judah. On the other hand the order may simply illustrate the call going out from the border cities right up to the central sanctuary at Bethel (Bethaven) in terms of the area best known to Hosea. The call is certainly in readiness for an invasion, and Benjamin are told to watch their backs, a suggestion that the invasion will come from an unexpected direction.
But under Ahaz Judah was occupied by Assyrian troops, who may well therefore have made an incursion into Israelite territory from the south, in combination with another invasion from the west and north, whilst if the Assyrians were approaching from the direction, say, of Gaza, as at times they did, they might well have taken a route through Judah (they would not consider it necessary to ask permission). And as already mentioned, Hosea may simply have been picturing the event in terms of the cities with which he was familiar. In our view the foe in mind could only be Assyria, because the impression given is that both Israel and Judah are suffering. But whichever way it was Hosea was not really interested in the detail, only in the fact that it was evidence that YHWH was carrying out His judgments. And that because it was ‘the day of rebuke'.