Bible Commentaries
Hosea 7

Verses 1-16

Chapter 7

The Lord continues His response to them.

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief comes in, and the troop of robbers spoils without. And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face ( Hsa Hosea 7:1-2

).

People forget that God remembers. You don't hide anything from God. You think you're getting by with it. "They don't consider in their hearts that I remember."

And they make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. They are all adulterers, as an oven that is heated by the baker ( Hsa Hosea 7:3-4 ),

That is, that the heat of passion.

Like an oven heated by the baker, who ceases from rising after he has kneaded the dough, until it be leavened ( Hsa Hosea 7:4 ).

The bakers would usually set the fire in the ovens at night and after building the fire in the oven at night, they would go to bed. They would knead the dough, set it aside and they'd go bed and they wouldn't rise until the dough had been leavened. And, of course, when they rose then the oven was all heated and ready for the bread. And so he uses that as a figure of speech actually, the heated oven to the heated passions of these people in their adulterous relationships.

In the day of our king, the princes have made him sick with the bottles of wine ( Hsa Hosea 7:5 );

That is, drinking until they were so drunk they were vomiting all over the place.

he stretched out his hand with the scorners. For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait ( Hsa Hosea 7:5-6 ):

That is, lying in wait for their neighbor's wife or whatever.

the baker sleeps all the night; and in the morning it burns as with a flaming fire. They are all as hot as an oven, they've devoured their judges; and their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calls unto me ( Hsa Hosea 7:6-7 ).

And so God is giving His indictment against Israel and why His judgment must fall.

Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned ( Hsa Hosea 7:8 ).

Like a pancake, it's burning on the bottom but the top is still raw. It's really good for nothing. Just, you know, you can't eat it; just throw it out. Ephraim is a cake not turned.

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn't know it ( Hsa Hosea 7:9 ):

You remember Samson when he said, "I will rise up as I did before," and he knew not that the Spirit of God had departed from him. Tragic when people are still going on with motions but God has left and they're not even aware that God is gone because the motions are still there. We're still doing the right thing, we're still doing the religious thing, but what's in your heart? They knew not that their strength were gone.

yea, the gray hairs are here and are upon them, yet they don't know it ( Hsa Hosea 7:9 )

Again, not really knowing that the things that have come upon them.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all of this. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria ( Hsa Hosea 7:10-11 ).

Now doves are silly. They make their nest in the most stupid places. A dove is really stupid. Watch them in their nest building, they don't really make a neat nest at all and they're not really careful where they make their nest. They oftentimes will make their nest even within an easy reach. And you can remove the eggs out of a dove's nest and he'll continue to sit on the thing. They're just silly. I remember as a kid we used to go out with slingshots and you just miss the dove, you know, the rock just goes shooting passed him and just barely miss him and he wouldn't fly; he wouldn't move. He'd just, you know, look around. I used to say, "You dumb thing. I'm not gonna miss you the next shot." But they just don't seem to have much sense. They surely don't show very good judgment. And so God likens Ephraim to a silly dove flying off to Assyria and then flying down to Egypt, looking again to the help of man rather than turning to God.

God said,

When they go, I'm going to spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard. Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: and though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. And though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return, but not to the Most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt ( Hsa Hosea 7:12-16 ).

So God's response to Ephraim and to Judah. "