Hosea 6:9

And as troops Rather, And as bandits lying in wait, (so doth) the company of priests; they murder on the road towards Shechem; yea, they commit outrages. The reference in the figure is either to the doings of native banditti (comp. Hosea 7:1), or to those of the guerilla-bands of Arameans, Moabites, &c., which were constantly invading Israel and Judah (2 Kings 5:2; 2 Kings 13:20), whenever the central power was weak. The word for -company" (khébher) implies an organized guild (such as the Pharisees afterwards), so that there was no public opinion to check the offenders. Shechem had long ago been notorious for the highway robberies committed by its inhabitants, and was therefore destroyed by Abimelech (Judges 9:25; Judges 9:45). It lay on the road, which was doubtless much frequented, from Samaria and the north to Bethel, now the chief sanctuary of the so-called Ten Tribes. Gilead and Shechem together represent the eastern and western divisions of the kingdom.