Deeper Commentary
Hos 7:1 When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Samaria- I suggested on Hos. 6:10 that God as it were limits His omniscience as He limits His omnipotence, so that He can enter into legitimate real time relationship with us humans. Hence the expressions of Divine shock and disappointment we meet in the Bible. The healing of Israel was intended to come at the restoration from Babylon (Jer. 30:17). I explained on Hos. 6:1 that God had promised to "heal" an Israel already torn to pieces and slain by the invading lions. This on one hand points to a resurrection from the dead. But it also speaks of God's ability to heal the apparently incurable. He was prepared to do that at the restoration, and perhaps at earlier points in Israel's history, including during Hosea's lifetime. One such time would have been during the apparent restoration in the time of Jeroboam II, who "restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain". But He could not, because the extreme sin of Ephraim and Samaria was as it were revealed to Him. The long term effects of those sins, in terms of influence upon later generations, precluded the later healing of Israel. This is the nature of sin- it affects not only ourselves but others, including even generations after our death who suffer the result of our decisions.
The Hosea-Gomer parallel is clear. Hosea thought of just playing on, acting like so much had never happened... but then he remembered the reality of her past and present actions. We have a profound window onto the heart of God here. And that struggle occurs again later in Hosea, but then He finally accepts that for all His struggles, He cannot give them up- His love for them is too great.
Healing is a major theme in Hosea. The other nations [cp. Gomer's lovers] could not heal Israel (Hos. 5:13), but Yahweh could, if they repented (Hos. 6:1 "Let us return / repent to Yahweh and He will heal us"). But He was hindered in that by their refusal to accept that healing (Hos. 7:1). The healing was in fact potentially done- they just had to accept it: "they didn’t know that it was I who healed them" (Hos. 11:3). Finally God simply states in Hos. 14:4 "I will heal their waywardness ["backsliding", "disloyalty"], I will love them freely", and they would again be fruitful. For Him. Despite 'healing' being predicated upon repentance (e.g. Jer. 3:22 "Return [repent], O faithless children, I will heal your faithlessness", Ps. 30:2 "I cried to You [in repentance] and You healed me", Is. 6:10 "Understand... convert... and be healed"). It's as if God scraps even that basic requirement and wants to force through His desire for them to have a heart for Him; just as Hosea fain would have done this to the heart of Gomer but lacked the power to do so. Just as so many unrequited lovers would do for the object of their love.
In Hosea 2, Yahweh and Hosea offer their women a remarriage under a new covenant, seeing they had broken the old covenant. The offer of a new covenant in Ezekiel and Jeremiah involves the gift of a new heart to God's people, His spirit, His mind, a heart solely for Him. Jer. 3:22 is clear: "Return [repent], O faithless children, I will heal your faithlessness". "I will restore... I will heal you... I will heal them and reveal unto them the abundance of peace [with God]" (Jer. 30:17; 33:6). The wonder of Jer. 30:12-15 is that the wounds which are "incurable" would be healed by God. He could do the psychologically impossible, through the gift of His spirit which would accompany the new covenant. This is available to us who have accepted the new covenant today. It's why and how believers are psychologically transformed.
This is the same idea as in Hos. 14:4. Their disloyalty would be healed, their unfaithful mind would be changed. We are helped to understand this by the Hosea-Gomer situation. He desperately wanted her to love him, to have a heart for him, and not constantly looking at other men and committing adultery. It was His hope that she would one day love him, and he would do anything to give her such a heart. Israel had a heart for the idols and not for Yahweh, just as Gomer is presented as a sex addict who is mentally enslaved to her addiction. But Yahweh earnestly wanted to heal their heart. This is Hosea's form of the offer of a new heart and spirit to Israel, which was part of the new covenant offered in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. That healing is offered to Israel, but they refuse. Until at the very end, in Hos. 14:4, God seems to as it were force through His plan with them. We who have willingly signed up to the new covenant have even more ample access to this spirit. If we want it- we will be given it. And we potentially have it.
For they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the gang of robbers ravages outside- This alludes to the huge sin of Hos. 6:9, which is not specifically defined. However the language could be more figurative than literal. They robbed God (Mal. 3:8) by not truly and exclusively sacrificing to Him. Their entry into the sanctuary or temple under the guise of "falsehood", falsely claiming to worship Him, was in effect forcing entry and stealing. This is how seriously God views our relationship with Him and doing of mere rituals- if we are not exclusively His. That principle remains to this day.
The allusion in Hos. 4:2; 6:9; 7:1,4 is clearly to breaking of the ten commandments. These formed the basis of the old covenant. They had broken that covenant by doing these things, just as Gomer had. But the point was that a new covenant was being proposed to Gomer / Israel, seeing they had broken the old covenant- not simply in the sense of disobeying its terms, but thereby they had broken that covenant. It was no more. Just as Gomer's adultery had broken the marriage.
Hos 7:2 They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness- The state of the heart is of critical importance to God. There is an assumption that if we forget our sins, then God does too. The passage of time and fading of memory thereby works a kind of pseudo atonement for us. But God remembers. And we must ever consider this in our hearts. Israel's lack of self-examination is quite a theme; see on :9. AVmg. is correct "they say not to their heart"; self talk is of the essence to God. There was no introspection, no real self dialogue; just as Gomer hooned around to different men, suppressing the voice of conscience, never deeply thinking nor engaging in self dialogue.
Now their own deeds have engulfed them; they are ever before My face- See on :4. Human sin remains "ever" before God; as noted above, the passage of time doesn't somehow remove sin. And their come days of judgment, even in this life, when the cumulative weight and moment of those sins engulf a person. And yet despite this, Hosea will conclude with God protesting His eternal love for Israel.
Hos 7:3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies- The "they" refers therefore not to the political leadership. It could be the priesthood that is in view, but the "all" of :4 seems to suggest that it was the common people. They were "all adulterers". "Lies" could refer to their idols (as in Is. 44:20). The peoples' idolatry and apostasy encouraged their rulers in the same. See on :7.
Hos 7:4 They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven-
"Burning" refers to their adultery, which was exemplified in Hosea's
experience with his wife.
The reality was that Gomer was sexually addicted,
burnt up by her lust- as Jerusalem was to be burnt in fire because of the
burning of her list. Gomer was a prostitute before her marriage, after her marriage she was an
adulteress. Consider the language used about her / Israel: “committed
whoredom continually” (Hos. 4:18), “the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of
them” (Hos. 5:4), “adulterers as an oven… hot as an oven” (Hos. 7:4,7), a woman even
paying lovers to sleep with her, using Hosea’s money (Hos. 8:9 cp. Hos. 2:8),
although she had other lovers who gave her gifts to sleep with them
(Hos. 2:12), “they sin more and more” (Hos. 13:2). This is the language of
addiction. Gomer was a sex addict. Like Israel, she didn’t consider in her
heart that Hosea / God remembered / felt all her wickedness (7:2). She
thought, as addicts do, that others are as insensitive as they are.
That the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened- GNB "Like the fire in an oven, which is not stirred by the baker until the dough is ready to bake". A baker doesn't keep stirring up the embers until the dough is ready. But this baker stirs up the fire all the time, he is so consumed with burning, then goes to sleep because he is drunk (see on :6), and the oven catches alight (:7) and the cake is ruined (:8). Perhaps Hosea was a baker.
Another reading is that just as the baker rests from the kneading of the dough until it leavens, when he can bake it, so these men planned evil, slept on it, and got up and did it. Mic. 2:1 says the same: “Woe to those who plan iniquity and work evil on their beds; when the morning lights, they do it”. Or "stops stirring" can be "ceases from kindling". The idea would then be "when the oven has reached a certain heat, and then he leaves the fire to smoulder, till the fermentation of the dough is complete, and a fresh heating is necessary. So after passion has once been gratified, it smoulders for a time, but is afterwards kindled to a greater heat than before". This matches Gomer's sexual insatiability, typical of how the flesh is never gratified.
Hos 7:5 On the day of our king, the princes made him sick with the heat of wine so that he joined his hand with mockers- The "day of our king" may refer to his birthday. Perhaps Hosea is commenting upon a drunken birthday party which resulted in the king making an agreement with "mockers". "Our king" reflects Hosea's continued identity with his sinful, wayward people; the very opposite of the guilt by association mindset which seeks to separate from and shun sinners. Or "The day" may refer to the day of the King's coronation. Perhaps Jeroboam's coronation descended into a drinking party. It could also refer to the day of the king's death. Hosea prophesied just as Israel were about to go into captivity, and we read of the murders of their last few kings in quick succession (Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah and Pekah, 2 Kings 15:8-31). Here in Hos. 7:3-7 we may have allusion to the murder of one of them. Probably Pekahiah, who was murdered in his palace by his military commander Pekah (2 Kings 15:25). "Mockers" or scorners are in view when Isaiah, contemproary with Hosea, calls the politicians of Judah ‘men of scorn’ (Is. 28:14).
Hos 7:6 For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they
lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night- in the morning it burns as
a flaming fire- The earlier allusions to drunkenness suggest that
this baker slept because he was drunk, and the fire in his oven destroyed
his bread; see on :4. This fire or burning represented their hearts; and
we noted on :4 that their burning represented their lust. Those who "lie
in wait" could refer to the enemies or assassins poised to strike. "The
baker" would then be one of the kings of Judah or Israel who led to the
burning of Jerusalem; Zedekiah is spoken of by Jeremiah in these terms.
But the essential problem was in their hearts.
Hos 7:7 They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All
their kings have fallen. There is no one among them who calls to Me-
The "they" in view appear to be the common people. This would continue the
theme noted on :3; that the people were influencing the leadership to sin,
rather than vice versa. Hosea spoke at a time when at least four kings had
been murdered in succession, and "all" the kings in the royal line were
dead. This was because of their burning in lust (see on :4).
The murder of kings resulted from their unbridled minds.
Hos 7:8 Ephraim, he mixes himself among the nations-
A reference perhaps to Israel's intermarriage with the Gentiles
even whilst living in the land. Their exile to those lands therefore was a
judgment which was really just a continuation of their own chosen path.
Sin so often is its own punishment.
Ephraim is a pancake not turned over- The idea is as the Geneva Bible: "Baked on one side and raw on the other". See on :4.
Hos 7:9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize
it- Just as Gomer's lovers devoured her wealth, the wealth Hosea had
given her from his life savings. The Gentiles "devoured" Israel and Judah
when they attacked them; but this, again (see on :8) was but a
continuation of their own chosen path. This comment of Hosea's also surely
refers to how Menahem and Pekah paid huge sums of money to get their
invaders to turn away from them (as noted in :11)- instead of turning to
Yahweh. So these Gentile "|strangers" would be the likes of
Hazael, Benhadad, Pul and Tiglath Pileser.
Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it- Israel's lack of perception is often pointed out; see on :2. They looked in the mirror, but refused to see their true image- a bald old man with a head sprinkled with a few grey hairs.
Hos 7:10 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not
return to Yahweh their God, nor seek Him, for all this- In :9 the
analogy of a mirror has been used; Israel looked in the mirror but refused
to notice their grey hairs, the sign that the end was drawing near. Their
pride also was surely visible to them, testifying against them in the
Divine court case. But they turned away from the mirror and refused to
repent and turn to Yahweh, just as our self-examination can be just a
momentary few moments. It is the stnading before the cross
of Christ which elicits the most powerful self examination.
Hos 7:11 Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without
understanding. They call to Egypt; they hop to Assyria- This was what
was criticized in :9- Menahem and
Pekah, probably along with
Hezekiah, paying money to Gentiles to save them. "Without heart" or
"understanding" again emphasizes that they had no heart for God, as we
will see in :14. Having a heart for God was and is the essence of it all-
it is a question of whether we have His Spirit in our spirit.
This is the picture of Gomer, running from one man to another,
serving as cult prostitute for multiple idols. Superficial, refusing to
stop and consider, doing what feels and seems good for the moment- and
ignoring the huge love of God for her, represented by Hosea's love.
Our instinctive tendency is to rely upon human strength in time of
trouble, to take the insurance policies of the world, to do what seems the
humanly sensible thing to do, to take humanly wise precautions. If a
person does that and also proclaims a trust in God, we tend to think
that’s fair enough. But Hosea absolutely lambasts Israel for trusting in
political alliances. He calls them a silly dove, fluttering between
Assyria and Egypt. Hosea seriously advocated a national defence policy of
total trust upon Yahweh, and nothing else. What he was suggesting was
against every human instinct. But the spirit of the prophets was to live
and proclaim life to be lived in a counter-instinctive way, to do what
seems humanly foolish, because of our faith. We have ample opportunity to
show that spirit of the prophets, in a society which increasingly seeks to
insure and re-insure itself against every possible ‘act of God’. Yet Hosea
went even beyond all this- he spoke of how Israel would be left “without a
king” (Hos. 3:4), and that the ruling dynasty would be overthrown. This
would’ve been seen as seditious and revolutionary, a desire to overthrow
the King.
Hos 7:12 When they go, I will spread My net on them- Their trusting in human strength, like a dove flying off to Egypt and Assyria, was what provoked God's judgment of them. And yet we all so easily do this. For in the figure, He caught them in the net whilst they were in flight.
I will bring them down like the birds of the
sky. I will chastise them- Chastisment is language which carries with
it the hope of correction. Although God would catch the Israel of that
moment in a net and bring them down, He sees "Israel" His people on a
collective level, outside the time-space construct. His motivation of
'chastising' them through the suffering of one generation was therefore in
hope that later generations would learn. "Bring them down"
alludes to how the fowler brought down a net hung on a pole, with the
captured birds within it.
As their congregation has heard- From Hosea's public proclamation of these prophecies to the congregation of Israel.
Hos 7:13 Woe to them! For they have wandered from Me. Destruction to
them! For they have trespassed against Me. Though I would redeem them, yet
they have spoken lies against Me- As Gomer lied to Hosea despite the
fact he had redeemed her (Hos. 3:2), so Israel despised God's redemptive
love for them. Their professions of loyalty to Him were lies, as :14 will
exemplify (Ps. 78:36). If we don't mean the words of our prayers said and
hymns sung, we are doing the same to God.
"Destruction" is what God's people had done to each other by not forgiving debt, talking harshly and abusing each other with injustice (s.w. Is. 59:7; Jer. 6:7; Ez. 45:9). Their "destruction" was again a judgment of themselves by themselves. Likewise they "wandered" from God to others, and so their judgment was to "wander" among the Gentiles in their dispersion (s.w. Hos. 9:17). Their wandering was in going to Egypt and Assyria for help (:12); they therefore were sent into Assyria in exile.
The Hebrew for "redeem" is literally 'to sever'. By being intimate with the world, we are denying God's redemption of us; both that historically achieved on the cross, or in the Passover lamb redeeming Israel from Egypt, and also that final redemption which is potentially possible for us. Or we have the same idea as in :1. God, like Hosea, thinks of redeeming His woman... but decides not to, at this point, because their protestations of loyalty to Him in :14 are insincere. But finally He will decide to redeem them by sovereign grace alone.
Hos 7:14 They haven’t cried to Me with their heart, but they howl on
their beds- Perhaps they really did howl to God on their beds, as a
desperately sick person does. But even that howl to God was not from their
heart, and so God would not respond. Here again we see the critical
importance of the heart. We can pray, even howl to God, not just in church
but from our own bed- and yet not pray from the heart.
They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from Me- The peopled synagogued or assembled themselves before God to pray for corn and wine, the blessing for obedience. But like Gomer with Hosea, they turned away from God. The juxtaposition is intentional and is a favourite device of Hosea's prophecies. They howled even privately on their beds to God- but not from their heart. They begged Him to take away drought and famine, to give them grain and wine- whilst turning away from Him to other gods. This potential for dualism is a sad feature of human nature.
Or "they assemble themselves" can mean "they store up". The idea would then be 'They have many granaries of corn; therefore, they turn away and rebel against Me'. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked; Gomer like Israel, turned against her husband the more he gave her. But LXX has "they cut themselves", as Baal worshippers did in order to plead with their god, as on Mount Carmel. They were thus crying both to Yahweh and to Baal. And this was not acceptable to God for Him to redeem them (:13).
Hos 7:15 Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they
plot evil against Me- Hosea has pointed out the dualism within their
approach to God, begging Him for blessings of corn and wine, just as Gomer
did to Hosea, whilst at the same time turning away from Him to other gods.
And God says that even as babies, whilst He taught them to walk and
strengthened their arms by exercise (the figure is repeated in Hos. 11:3),
yet even at that young age they plotted evil against God their loving
Father. Or perhaps the idea is that now in their maturity they refused to
remember God's tender grace to them in the past, both personally and on a
national level in the wilderness, and plotted evil against Him. They of
course would have denied making such plots; but their plans to get help
from Egypt and Assyria were "evil" and were "against" God.
To seek human help rather than Divine appears
a mere common failure. But Hosea uses the same Hebrew words to describe
his wife’s desertion [“she walked / departed from me”, Hos. 2:7,15] as he
does to describe the embassage to Assyria as departing / walking there
(Hos. 7:11). To seek human help in distress is to be unfaithful to our
God. And yet when health fails, a lump appears, the car won’t start, we
lose our job… to whom do we instinctively turn? Here is the huge relevance
of all this to modern humanity, who have striven to
insure and protect themselves against calamity to an unprecedented extent.
Hos 7:16 They return, but not to the Most High- Just as they howled to God in prayer and through attending religious meetings, yet they did so whilst turning away from God (see on :14). Their return or repentance was not genuine; they indeed had the motions of returning to God, but such feelings are not of themselves repentance. This is a chilling warning to us as we ask ourselves whether our self-examination and repentance is in fact genuine, or just the external appearance of it in time of need. Likewise Israel's return from captivity was indeed a return, but not to God; just as Gomer returned to Hosea when in need, but not from her heart.
Or the reference may be to their return to Egypt for safety there, rather than trusting in God.
They are like a faulty bow- Ancient bows had the string as a C-shape, curving towards the archer. If misfired, then the string came powerfully back against the archer. Their 'return' was as if God had fired them as an arrow back toward Judah. But the arrow didn't fly and the string lashed back against Him. His efforts to get them to return, like Hosea's to bring about Gomer's return, badly backfired. And He was personally shocked and hurt.
Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue- This continues the theme of God uttering apparently extreme judgments against His people for things such as 'having a rant' which we might consider surface level failure. Or it could be that quietly sending princes with a charmingly worded message to Egypt for help, as in 2 Kings 17:4, was seen as raging against God,
Perhaps there is a prophecy here against Jonathan son of Kareah and all the officers of the armies who returned to Egypt.
This will be their derision in the land of
Egypt- See on H
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