Jehovah indicts the northern kingdom on the basis of covenant intimacy itself: being known of Him is precisely what makes the reckoning sure. The chain of rhetorical questions establishes cause and effect — nothing in the prophetic order is arbitrary, and no calamity falls on a covenant city without Jehovah's hand behind it. Verse 7 sets the standing law: He does nothing without first revealing the matter to His servants the prophets, which is the working principle of the Holy Order in every dispensation. The summons to Ashdod and Egypt to witness Samaria's oppression inverts the expected order — the heathen are called to behold the corruption stored up in Israel's palaces. Bethel's altars, the winter and summer houses, and the houses of ivory are all marked for the breaking, because covenant privilege withdrawn becomes covenant judgment.
