What is the context?
The alarm answers covenant and Law transgression. The people claim knowledge of God while rejecting what is good.
Kings and officials are appointed without His approval, and silver and gold become idols. Religious and political activity are both brought under scrutiny.
The calf of Samaria is exposed as the product of a craftsman. Its coming destruction contradicts confidence in an object the people themselves have made.
The passage challenges a profession contradicted by action. Saying that one knows God is not the same as receiving and following His instruction.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley reads the claim to know God as insincere and the denial of divine knowledge of the appointments as lack of approval. That distinction keeps the line from becoming a claim that the Lord literally did not know what rulers existed.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.
Where can I study this further?
No deeper study linked yet.