Hosea 7

The Lord continues his exposure and condemnation of Israel. He would have healed them, but they wouldn’t let Him (v. 1). Fraud, thievery, adultery (vs. 1, 4); the list of sins is almost endless, and “they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness” (v. 2). Forgetting—or ignoring—that God sees us is an almost sure-fire recipe for sin and destruction.

But they preferred to have the king’s approbation than God’s (v. 3). The first Jeroboam, the one who introduced the idols at Dan and Bethel (I Kings 12), and all the kings afterwards, continued “kneading the dough” until it was “leavened” with sin—the whole of Israel infested with wickedness. The baker put his bread in the oven at night, went to sleep, and woke up to a raging fire (v. 6). Overheated with sin, the people devoured their judges and their kings are destined for destruction (v. 7). Hosea writes in the “prophetic past”—as if it had already happened. And still, they refused to call upon Jehovah (v. 7).

Verses 8-11 restates the problem found in 5:13. “Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples…aliens have devoured his strength…Ephraim is also like a silly dove, without sense—they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.” The people of Israel found pleasure in “mixing” themselves with the non-spiritual pagans around them, and these “aliens…devoured” their spiritual strength. All too often, when the godly mingle with the ungodly, rather than the former lifting the latter up to a higher standard, God’s people are dragged down. “Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals” (I Cor. 15:33). The tragedy in Israel’s case was that “But he does not know it; yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it” (v. 9). Gray hairs, a sign of age, of approaching death…and Israel didn’t know. “Ephraim is a cake not turned” (v. 8); a half-baked cake, burned on one side, raw on the other. What good is that? And their pride again is condemned (v. 10), a pride that simply would not let them return to Jehovah, “Nor seek Him for all this.”

There would be no escape from God: “Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air” (v. 12). Destruction would come (v. 13). God would have redeemed them, “yet they have spoken lies against me” (v. 13). What effort they made at serving Him was feigned: “They did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds” (v. 14). The Lord, as always, did what He could: “I disciplined them and strengthened their arms,” but to no avail: “Yet they devise evil against me” (v. 15). “They return, but not to the Most High” (v. 16); no, they go to their idols to ask help. “They are like a deceitful bow”—which way is the arrow going to shoot? To the right or to the left? Israel simply cannot be trusted. Hence, “their princes shall fall by the sword…this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt” (v. 16), the latter probably being a reference to bondage in Assyria. Either that, or Egyptians will be making fun of them when they finally fall.

What a sad picture. Israel is reaping what she sowed. Sin will have its consequences, and they will not be pretty. Too many people find that out too late, and so it happened to Israel.