Hosea 7:1-7

ISRAEL'S INGRATITUDELOVE OF SIN

TEXT: Hosea 7:1-7

1

When I would heal Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers ravageth without.

2

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.

3

They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

4

They are all adulterers; they are as an oven heated by the baker; he ceaseth to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough, until it be leavened.

5

On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers.

6

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait; their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

7

They are all hot as an oven and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

QUERIES

a.

Why would the king be glad about the people's wickedness?

b.

Why the likening of the people to a baker's oven?

c.

How would the king stretch out his hand with scoffers?

PARAPHRASE

When I attempted to heal the nation of Israel of her wound, the full extent of her cancerous sinfulness was exposed. Especially is the malignancy resident in Samaria, her capital city. The land is full of liars, thieves and bandits. And what is most disastrous of all, the people are wilfully ignorant of both their own wickedness and of My Perfect Omniscience and Justice, The people have so deceived themselves, they have so encircled themselves with iniquity, they have become slaves to their sins, Their sinful deeds betray them on every side and I am fully aware of it all. Their king takes pleasure in their wicked deeds and the princes of the court are pleased with the lies told by the people. The whole nation is a nation of adulterers. Their burning passion to do evil resembles a furnace which a baker heats in the evening, and leaves burning all night while the dough is leavening, and then causes to burn with a still brighter flame in the morning, when the dough is ready for baking. On special royal holidays the noblemen of the government make themselves sick by drunkenness. The king gathers about himself such drunken fools and scoffers as advisers and confidants. Evil is allowed to smolder and simmer in their hearts like an oven whose fire has been banked for the night. Then, suddenly, the smoldering coals of evil imaginations are fanned into a roaring fire and the evil deeds are committed. These roaring fires of evil thoughts and deeds so consume the people they are oblivious to the fact that every vestige of justice, right, goodness and law and order has fallen as kings and judges are overthrownthey do not see that anarchy is ruling. And in the midst of it all, not one of them has the faith to call on Me!

SUMMARY

The moral depravity of Israel which is leading her inevitably in a headlong plunge into anarchy is pictured by the prophet. The hearts of the people are so passionate for evil they are insensible to it all!

COMMENT

Hosea 7:1 WHEN I WOULD HEAL ISRAEL. Like the surgeon who begins to dress a wound often exposes hidden contamination, so God as He began to heal Israel by sending the prophets to preach and by sending upon Israel certain providential, natural calamities, to call them to repentance, exposed the full content of the corruption of the nation. Especially was corruption rampant in Israel's capital city, Samaria, We are reminded of Micah's searing accusations against the capital cities of both Israel and Judah. Crime and corruption most often germinates in the urban societies. And, just as in the days of the prophets, so now, very often people blind themselves to their own condition.

Hosea 7:2 AND THEY CONSIDER NOT IN THEIR HEARTS. One cannot help but notice in this chapter how often the phrase knoweth it not recurs. Israel persistently ignored their own condition and persistently ignored God. It is dangerous for a nation to sin. But the most perilous condition possible is to sin and know it not. We shall have more to say about this condition in the next section. But here the prophet depicts the people as blissfully ignorant of God. They refuse to accept the fact that God is aware of their wickedness and that He will judge them for it. Their sin is apparent to everyone but themselves. They have became so captivated, enslaved in evil ways, it is their way of lifethey are beset about with it.

Hosea 7:3 THEY MAKE THE KING GLAD WITH THEIR WICKEDNESS. Pusey writes, Wicked sovereigns and a wicked people are a curse to each other, each encouraging the other in sin. There are at least two reasons rulers are made happy by the sins of the people: (a) In most cases the rulers profit in a monetary way through the indulgence and excesses of the populace. For this reason evil rulers do all within their power to legalize crime and evil; (b) and furthermore good and serious people would be a reproach to the consciences of the rulersif therefore the people condone and practice the evil the rulers practice, they are an encouragement to evil to one another. It goes without saying that this is true of every form of government devised by man, including democracy. The only nation where this is not so is the chosen nation of God, the kingdom ruled over by the Holy and Righteous King, Jesus Christ, the church of the living God! The citizens of this nation have been reborn and are being transformed into the image of their Kingloving, righteous, holy, pure and just. Their King hates sin and is made to grieve when it occurs and so do His subjects, (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-10; Isaiah 35:5-10).

Hosea 7:4. THEY ARE AS AN OVEN HEATED BY THE BAKER. The people allow their hearts to smolder and simmer with evil thoughts and imaginations and plans, like the smoldering fire built by the baker near which he places his kneaded dough ready to bake in the morning when he will fan the coals into a roaring fire. The people go to bed at night with their evil plans smoldering in their hearts to awake in the morning and fan the coals into roaring deeds of evil.

Hosea 7:5 ON THE DAY OF OUR KING. Just what this day of our king was we do not know. It was probably either the king's birthday or the anniversary of his coronation. It was a holiday of some significance devoted to much excess in feasting and drinking. The leaders of the nation spent the day in revelry and carousel over indulging themselves to the point of nausea. The king, drunken with wine, let down his royal dignity and joined the crude, boisterous, sacrilegious scoffers (or blasphemers). Wine is a mocker (or scoffer) (Proverbs 20:1) and drunkenness removes all restraint revealing the evil which is in the man. The king, rather than stretching out his hand to protect the few in Israel who were being exploited and persecuted for their righteousness, stretched out his hand (or welcomed) to join with these profane, degraded men. How can any society survive when its leaders become examples of corruption and excess? How can any nation hope to be a master of its destiny when it enslaves itself to indulgence and excess? May God raise up prophets of righteous indignation and fearless courage to pronounce the judgments of God upon the leaders of nations today who enjoy wickedness and indulge in excesses because of the profit they make.

Hosea 7:6-7. THEY HAVE MADE READY THEIR HEART LIKE AN OVEN. THEY. DEVOUR THEIR JUDGES; ALL THEIR KINGS ARE FALLEN. Now Hosea looks to the consequences of Israel's moral depravity. Perhaps such consequences are already beginning to take place. The leaders and the people are so saturated with sin they do not even let their hearts rest from devising new wickedness. The prophet is probably describing a scene of revelry, debauchery and scoffing which preceded the murder of Zechariah, king of Israel (became king in 753 B.C. upon the death of Jeroboam II). Zechariah was slain through conspiracy publicly in the open face of day, before all the people (2 Kings 15:9), no one heeding, no one resisting, about 10 years after his coronation by Shallum. From then on it was almost complete anarchy with one king after another being slain in Israel. We quote from Pusey:

The kingdom of Israel, having been set up in sin, was, throughout its whole course, unstable and unsettled. Jeroboam's house ended in his son; that of Baasha, who killed Jeroboam's son, Nadab, ended in his own son, Elah; Omri's ended in his son's son, God having delayed the punisment on Ahab's sins for one generation, on account of his partial repentance; then followed Jehu's to whose house God, for his obedience in some things, continued the kingdom to the fourth generation. With these two exceptions, in the houses of Omri and Jehu, the kings of Israel either left no sons, or left them to be slain. Nadab, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, Jehoram, Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, Pekah, were put to death by those who succeeded them. Of all the kings of Israel, Jeroboam, Baasha, Omri, Menahem, alone, in addition to Jehu and the three next of his house, died natural deaths. So was it written, by God's hand on the house of Israel, all their kings have fallen. The captivity was the tenth change after they had deserted the house of David. Yet such was the stupidity and obstinacy both of kinds and people, that, amid all these chastisements, none, either people or king, turned to God and prayed Him to deliver them. Not even distress, amid which almost all betake themselves to God, awakened any sense of religion in them. There is none among them, that calleth unto Me.

QUIZ

1.

Why was the iniquity of Israel uncovered when God set out to heal them?

2.

Why was their wickedness so staggering or unnatural?

3.

Why were the kings and princes glad at the wickedness of the people?

4.

What is the day of the king? How did the king behave?

5.

How did the people devour their judges and kings?