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The faithful correction of the Lord was revealed to them in many ways, many times and through a variety of prophets. Hos. 12:10 They came ministering by the Spirit of the Lord but they would not hear. Neh. 9:30 Their message was the same, a call for repentance and return unto the Lord. They would not give ear to listen, nor was there a proper response from them. Therefore they were to lose their liberties and privileges in the Lord. The Lord will not be ignored, He is patient and longsuffering. The foolhardy who ignore Him will have to suffer the consequences.
Gilead and Gilgal represent the whole of Israel. Gilead, the eastern part of the country and Gilgal the western. Was there iniquity in the country, it was filled with practices that violated the will of the Lord. He looked upon their many altars as nothing but the heaps of stones gathered from the fields, and stacked up, that the fields might be plowed. Hos. 12:11 The Lord reminded them of the hardships of their forefathers and their deliverance from Egypt which was led by a prophet. Hos. 12:12-13.
Ephraim is then contrasted to those who through hardship and testing remained faithful to the Lord. Ephraim provoked the Lord to a point where His indignation took over. The Lord had great sufficiency of their idolatry. His patience had reached its extremity. Their persistency in the worship of idols and the life style which accompanied it created an indignation, an anger in the Lord which was most bitter. Ephraim was to bear the guilt of the shedding of the blood of innocents, both in criminal activities and in offerings. He would be recompensed for his disdain of the Lord. Hos. 12:14.
The humility of Ephraim caused him to be exalted by the Lord. He was blessed of Him and spoke with authority. When he turned to the worship of Ball, he lost that precious contact and blessing of the Lord. The ways of the Lord never change, as then, so now. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility. Prov. 18:12 Pride has robbed many of the rich anointing of the Lord. Spiritual death, eternal separation from the presence of the Lord became the portion of Ephraim because of their iniquitous ways. Hos. 13:1.
Rather than heeding the rebuke of the Lord delivered by the prophets they persisted in and increased their man made idols and thus, their sin. Their disappearance as a nation was well documented by the Lord. A fourfold simile is used, all of which it may be said, that they will vanish in thin air. They are, and then, momentarily they are gone. So the Lord would do to them. They would be removed from off the land and vanish. Hos. 13:2-3.