‘And they consider not in their hearts, That I remember all their wickedness, Now have their own doings beset them about, They are before my face.' But worst of all was the fact that the people were blind to their sins. They did not even consider in their hearts the possibility that YHWH knew ab... [ Continue Reading ]
They make the king glad with their wickedness, And the princes with their lies.' We might cite here ‘like people, like king'. For as the people carry on in the ways of sinfulness and apostasy, and especially in whoredom after the Baalim, their kings are delighted with them, and their princes delig... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE AND THEIR KINGS ARE BOTH ALIKE, BURNING HOT IN THEIR SINS, IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH THEIR KINGS ARE ASSASSINATED ONE AFTER THE OTHER (HOSEA 7:3). Hosea now likens the people of Israel in their sins to a burning baker's oven which is overheated. They are hot after adultery, they are hot af... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They are all adulterers, They are as an oven heated by the baker, He ceases to stir the fire, From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.' They are in fact all spiritual adulterers, hot after false gods. And they are so hot and overheated after sin that the baker can, as it were, cease... [ Continue Reading ]
On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine, He stretched out his hand with scoffers.' And the people have the leadership that they deserve. On the ‘day of the king' (either his birthday or the anniversary of his coronation) they all make themselves sick with wine... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For they have made ready 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.' Meanwhile the people, sickened at the behaviour of their leaders, plot a coup in order to remove them. Those who are unfaithful to YHWH and ho... [ Continue Reading ]
They are all hot as an oven, And devour their judges, All their kings are fallen, There is none among them who calls to me. So the people, hot like a stoked oven, stoked by the leaders of the conspiracy, devour their judges and destroy their kings. Both princes and kings fall together to be repl... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Ephraim, he mixes himself among the peoples, Ephraim is a cake not turned.' The use of ‘Ephraim' may indicate a time when what was mainly left of Israel was that part which was on the mountain of Ephraim and its surrounds, around Samaria. The complaint here is that they have turned to the nations... [ Continue Reading ]
IN TURNING TO FOREIGN NATIONS FOR THEIR SUPPORT INSTEAD OF TURNING TO YHWH, EPHRAIM DO NOT REALISE WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE (HOSEA 7:8). Hosea now parodies the people's attempts to find help from foreign nations. This initially had included Aram (Syria), but then moved on to the Philistine nat... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Strangers have devoured his strength, And he does not know it. Ephraim's vulnerable situation is underlined by the fact that it has lost its wealth to the nations, either by tribute, bribes or treaty presents. Contact with foreigners has not been good for their wealth. And yet the sad thing is th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, Yet they have not returned to YHWH their God, Nor sought him, for all this.' But Israel are so full of false pride and arrogance that they give evidence before Him (or before themselves) of what they have done (compare Hosea 5:5), seemingly without... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Ephraim is like a silly dove, Without understanding, They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria.' Ephraim is depicted as a hapless, fluttering bird, which, ignorant of what was best for it (genuinely and submissively calling on YHWH, and on Him alone), at one moment ‘called' to Egypt (instead of... [ Continue Reading ]
EPHRAIM (ISRAEL) ARE PICTURED AS A HAPLESS DOVE FLUTTERING BETWEEN EGYPT AND ASSYRIA AS THEY ENDEAVOUR TO AVOID YHWH'S NET (HOSEA 7:11). Ephraim are now depicted as being willing to do anything rather than rely on YHWH. They are seen as so lacking in understanding that they are like a fluttering and... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When they will go, I will spread my net on them, I will bring them down as the birds of the heavens, I will chastise them, In accordance with the announcements of their assembly.' The idea of the ‘silly dove' continues. When they rise up and start to fly YHWH will spread His net over them, and... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Woe to them! for they have fled from me, Destruction to them! for they have trespassed (rebelled) against me, Though I would redeem them, Yet they have spoken lies against me.' YHWH now pronounces a lament over them. Woe is to come on them because they have fled from Him. Destruction is to come... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they have not cried to me with their heart, But they howl on their beds, They assemble themselves for grain and new wine, They rebel against me.' For rather than calling on YHWH from their hearts, they have howled to Baal from their cushion beds which they had placed around his altar as they... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, Yet they do devise mischief against me.' And yet it was YHWH and not Baal Who had taught them and made their arms strong. This may refer to the fact that He had brought them to young adulthood, rearing them as His children (compare Hosea 11:3). Or... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They return, but not to on high, They are like an unreliable bow, Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue, This will be their derision in the land of Egypt. Thus it was to Egypt that they returned and not to ‘on High'. They looked back to Egypt and not upwards towards Y... [ Continue Reading ]