JUST ASKING / CURIOUS QUESTIONS, What is the “bound” of Hosea 5:10?

What is the “bound” of Hosea 5:10?

WHAT IS THE “BOUND” OF HOSEA 5:10?

by Shawn Brasseaux

Hosea 5:10 relays to us: “The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.” What is this “bound?” Some other verses help shed light:

  • Deuteronomy 19:14: “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.”
  • Deuteronomy 27:17: “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.”
  • Job 24:2: “Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.”
  • Proverbs 22:28: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”
  • Proverbs 23:10: “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:….”

The “bound” or “landmark” is a property boundary marker. Such objects were important under the Law of Moses, for Israel’s land was divided amongst 12 tribes, and inheritances in that land were of utmost significance. See the Books of Deuteronomy and Joshua for the physical boundaries of these tribes.

In Acts chapter 17, the Apostle Paul spoke of national “bounds,” boundaries or borders of nations God designed in Genesis chapters 9–11 to limit the spread of Satan’s policy of evil. (For more information, see our related study linked at the end of this article.) Read from chapter 17 of Acts: “[23] For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. [24] God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; [25] Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; [26] And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; [27] That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: [28] For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”

As touching Hosea 5:10, the leaders of the Southern Kingdom (Judah) were greedy, materialistic, and dishonest—likened unto property thieves. The LORD commented on their misbehavior: “Therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water!” (He did just that with the Babylonian Captivity, when Judah lost all their physical possessions to the pillaging Gentiles!)

Also see:
» Is it “un-Christian” for a country to have border walls?
» Do Hosea 11:12 and Hosea 12:2 contradict?
» Did Hosea 1:10 and Hosea 2:23 predict the Body of Christ?