But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
Ver. 5. But seek not Bethel, &c.] Make not lies your refuge, idols your oracles; "they that observe lying vanities do" (by their own election) "forsake their own mercies." Jon 2:8 But I (saith the prophet, who had now paid for his learning, and was yet under the lash) will sacrifice to thee alone, will seek thy face and favour, not at Bethel, or Gilgal, but in the place where thine honour dwelleth; not at Hull, Sichem, or Loretto, but in the true reformed Churches, in the beauties of holiness, in the midst of those seven golden candlesticks, in the hearts and houses of his faithful people, concerning whom he hath said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them," 2 Corinthians 6:16, and when they walk within their houses with a perfect heart, I will come unto them, Psalms 101:2. I will there command my blessing, "even life for evermore," Psalms 133:3 : see Amo 4:4 Hosea 4:15. See Trapp on " Amo 4:4 " See Trapp on " Hos 4:15 "
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity] An elegant alliteration in the original, such as the prophets are full of, and this plain prophet among the rest (הגלגל גלה יגלה): see Amos 8:2. Ministers may sometimes rhetoricate; and it had need to be an elaborate speech that shall work upon the conscience.
And Bethel shall come to nought] Heb. shall be Aven, as elsewhere it is called Betharch, Hosea 4:11; Hosea 10:5. Against Beersheba he saith nothing; because that name afforded him not the like elegance, as Mercer thinketh; or because that city belonged to Judah, and so was not destroyed with the ten tribes, as Jerome holdeth, 1 Kings 19:3. Seek not these places, saith the prophet, for help and succour in distress; but say, as Jeremiah 3:23, "Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from these hills: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel."