He; Ephraim thus provided for by me, thus indulged, or else Ephraim punished. Shall not return into the land of Egypt; either needed not have courted Egypt's friendship, or desired that assistance; I would have kept them safe enough, and sufficiently provided for them; so if you refer this to Ephraim not threatened or punished: but if Ephraim be here threatened, then you have it foretold, that though Ephraim flatters himself with false hopes of a refuge in Egypt, it should not be. But the Assyrian shall be his king; conquering and captivating them, should make himself their king, and rule them with rigour and cruelty. Because they refused to return; the reason of all is, their obstinacy in idolatry, and their impenitence, refusing to return to God; which two latter passages are also explicable as the former, thus, if they would have returned unto me, Assyria should not have been their king.
Related Commentaries of Hosea 11:5
Hosea 11:5
5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.