10:9 The Israelites had sinned consistently since the days of the atrocity at Gibeah (Judg. 19-20; cf. 9:9; Isa. 1:10). The prophet visualized them as warriors standing at Gibeah. He asked rhetorically if the Lord's battle against them would not be victorious at this site of their early sinning. He would indeed defeat these people so long associated with iniquity.
10:10 At the Lord's chosen time He would chasten (punish, discipline, cf. 5:2) His people by binding them as prisoners, harnessing them to their sins (cf. v. 11). Other peoples would oppose them in battle when the Lord had bound them up for being twice guilty. The double guilt in view is probably their original guilt because of their sin at Gibeah and their present guilt because of their sin at Bethel.65Another view is that it refers to the sin of forsaking God and the sin of forsaking His appointed Davidic kings.66
