Hos 7:8-16 | KingComments | STEP | In their personal need, the people try to get rid of their rulers. The people feel the yoke of their king too much. He does not give them the space they want. There is not only internal dissatisfaction, but also danger externally. In the north is Assyria. When danger from that side really threatens, they seek help from southern Egypt. If Egypt becomes a threat, they try to make an alliance with Assyria. In this way Ephraim, that is Israel, seeks help with the nations. They are actively engaged in intermingling. They have forgotten what God has had said of them as a people through Balaam: “Behold, a people [who] dwells apart, And will not be reckoned among the nations” ( ). How God judges this mixture becomes clear from a second imagery from the baker’s world. Through his action, Ephraim resembles a cake that a baker has forgotten to turn. As a result, the bread is burned on one side and the other side is not yet cooked. This picture represents people who are extreme on two sides: they are zealous in evil, the black baked side, and they neglect the service of the LORD, the side that is not cooked. The underside, directed toward the world, is overheated; the top, directed toward God, is still dough, so disgusting. Assyria and his idols are served with all diligence, while they forget the LORD. This makes Israel an abomination. It cannot be eaten or sold. You cannot do anything with it. The only thing it is good for is to be thrown away. This is what happened through the scattering. The Christian is also warned not to mingle with the world: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers” ( ). In the verses that follow, the absurdity and foolishness of such mingling is made clear ( ).

‏ Hosea 7:8-16

No Mixing with the Nations

In their personal need, the people try to get rid of their rulers. The people feel the yoke of their king too much. He does not give them the space they want. There is not only internal dissatisfaction, but also danger externally. In the north is Assyria. When danger from that side really threatens, they seek help from southern Egypt. If Egypt becomes a threat, they try to make an alliance with Assyria. In this way Ephraim, that is Israel, seeks help with the nations. They are actively engaged in intermingling. They have forgotten what God has had said of them as a people through Balaam: “Behold, a people [who] dwells apart, And will not be reckoned among the nations” (Num 23:9).

How God judges this mixture becomes clear from a second imagery from the baker’s world. Through his action, Ephraim resembles a cake that a baker has forgotten to turn. As a result, the bread is burned on one side and the other side is not yet cooked. This picture represents people who are extreme on two sides: they are zealous in evil, the black baked side, and they neglect the service of the LORD, the side that is not cooked. The underside, directed toward the world, is overheated; the top, directed toward God, is still dough, so disgusting.

Assyria and his idols are served with all diligence, while they forget the LORD. This makes Israel an abomination. It cannot be eaten or sold. You cannot do anything with it. The only thing it is good for is to be thrown away. This is what happened through the scattering.

The Christian is also warned not to mingle with the world: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers” (2Cor 6:14a). In the verses that follow, the absurdity and foolishness of such mingling is made clear (2Cor 6:14b-16).

He Does Not Know It

The third metaphor is that he “got grey hair”. This indicates that the strength and energy of the past are no longer there. Greyness is often a sign of old age and wisdom, but not here. Here it means diminishing strength, which culminates in the end of their existence as a people. When the first gray hairs become visible in someone, it is immediately noticed. There are mirrors for this. If it is not noticed, it is unnatural. This is the case with Israel. Having gray hair is not a disgrace, but not seeing it is. Twice it says in this verse that he does not know it. How tragic!

In the book of Malachi, we also come across this lack of awareness of one’s own shortcomings. We hear the people asking the question several times that they have done this or that. They are unaware that they have strayed in the things about which they are addressed.

From a spiritual point of view, the first gray hairs become visible in us when, for example, our need to come together with God’s people begins to diminish; or when our interest in God’s house diminishes; or when our commitment and need to bring people the gospel diminishes; or when we no longer take it so strictly in our work and the like. It can also happen to us that we do not notice it. And the cause? Strangers have taken away our strength. Strange thoughts have gained access to our thinking by opening the door to worldly thinking.

The only fruit Israel reaps from its search for help from the worldly powers is dependence. The people end up in a dependent position and are sucked out. We can think of the heavy tax Menahem has to pay for the help he asks from the king of Assyria (2Kgs 15:19-20). Any favor that a believer asks of the world must be paid dearly. The world never gives anything for nothing. Dealing with the world consumes the power of a believer without him knowing it.

Ephraim is a decrepit greybeard, stumbling to the grave. It should be a separated people, as a testimony of God. Nothing comes of this testimony because the people went on the way of the pagans and adopted pagan customs.

Samson is an imaginative illustration of what is said here about Ephraim. When Samson has revealed the secret of his power, which lies in his being a Nazirite – that is, his separation for the LORD – his power is gone. Just as tragically as with Ephraim, we read of Samson that he does not know that the LORD is no longer with him: “But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him” (Jdg 16:19-20).

Any fraternizing with the world, under whatever cover, causes the Christian to lose his fellowship with the Lord and therefore all spiritual energy, often without being aware of it.

Pride Makes Blind

It testifies of pride when people boast about their own qualities, while they are blind to the flaws that make these highly praised qualities fade away. This is how it is with Israel. Blind as they are for the blurring of national fame, they see no reason to repent to the LORD their God. Why should they repent at all? Surely there is nothing wrong with them, is there? What is wrong with them is that they are blind to their own pride.

What the Lord Jesus says to the Pharisees applies to them. They also believe that they see and do everything well, while they are blind to their sins because of their pride (Jn 9:40-41). Those who think they see, but in reality are blind to their own sins, remain in their sins. Such a person thinks he does not need repentance; there is no search for God. After all, do they think they already belong to Him?

It is an attitude that we also encounter in Christianity. It is presented to us in particular in the message to the church in Laodicea. This church boasts that everything is perfectly in order with them. There is nothing wrong with them. Listen to their language: “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Rev 3:17a). Do we recognize any of this in our own hearts or in the local church of which we are a part? Then that must be judged.

In reality, the Lord Jesus is outside the door in Laodicea. His reaction is therefore not soft: “And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” In His love to win them back, He gives them good advice (Rev 3:17b-18). Here too, as in Hosea, through pride, there is a lack of awareness of the misery in which the church finds itself. The way out that is still offered, is to open the door of our hearts and let the Lord Jesus enter to have fellowship with Him. That is the repentance He is waiting for (Rev 3:19-20).

Dear fellow Christians, give Him again all the authority in your life. As long as the Lord Jesus is knocking, there is still hope. For Israel that hope lies in that touching “their God”, as He still calls Himself here.

A Silly Dove

With ever new metaphors the prophet tries to make clear to the people what position they are in. He uses a fourth metaphor, that of a dove. This animal often represents something positive. We have to be ‘innocent’ or ‘simple’ as doves, says the Lord Jesus (Mt 10:16). “Innocent” or “silly” is opposed to cunning and unreliability. A dove is rather naive and is easily deceived and captured. A dove knows its home, it almost always goes back there.

But Israel has no sense. They are silly and without sense. Who goes to Egypt or to Assyria to seek protection, peoples who also easily reveal themselves as enemies (Hos 5:13)? There is a hesitant policy that makes the folly of forgetting God even greater. The inner state of half-heartedness has an effect on entering into these foreign relations. This behavior is as reprehensible as the cake that cannot be eaten (Hos 7:8). Without sense is literally ‘without heart’. They do not even realize that the danger comes from the side where they seek support.

The Net Is Spread Out

By “My net,” God means Assyria. Just as a bird moves thoughtlessly into the net, so too Israel, with its policy of unbelief, plunges blindly into destruction. That destruction is caused by the righteous judgment of God on them. The swarm of birds in the sky, the fifth metaphor, seems to indicate a common attempt by the leaders to get help from both Egypt and Assyria. They will be brought down. This punishment of God will come fully upon them when He surrenders Israel into the power of the king of Assyria.

The meaning of the last line is that they will be chastised according to the judgments in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 27-28), which are to be read to the whole people (Deu 31:12).

Straying, Rebellion, Lying

God Himself calls out the “woe” over them because they have strayed from Him. He who leaves God has to fear grief after grief. He who falls away from God violates his own soul and proves to be completely blind to all God’s goodness. Both the “strayed” and the “rebelled” indicates that the connection with God has been there, but that they no longer appreciate it. That shows a hardened heart, a conscious turning its back on God.

In order to justify this attitude, they can think of nothing else than to speak lies against God. When the Lord Jesus is on earth, the religious leaders do the same. They even dare to attribute His works of mercy to the prince of demons (Mt 9:32-34). In this way, Israel answers all God’s goodness with nothing but ingratitude. It is possible that they accuse God of not helping them against their enemies in the past, although He did.

It can happen in the life of someone who confesses to have become a Christian, that life as a Christian is so difficult for him, that he turns his back on God. In order to justify his return to the world, such a person often attributes incongruous things to God. Disappointed as he is in God, he is going to badmouth God.

For the sake of convenience, he forgets that God did prove Himself as the redeeming God in his life. For example, God has saved him from a difficult situation in financial matters or in things within the family or with regard to health. But if the heart has not come into a living relationship with God through true repentance and faith, things will happen that will bring to light the reality of his relationship with God. Then it will turn out that such a person did not have a real relationship with God.

Believing Because of Earthly Happiness

“God, who knows the heart” (Acts 15:8) knows exactly why a man cries to Him. His people cry to Him because of the lack of earthly prosperity. They are sad that they no longer have them in such abundance. Alas, they ignore the fact that the scarcity is the result of the discipline of God because they are unfaithful. But they do not manage to acknowledge that. They cry to the LORD, but not with their heart. They cry only because they have lost their prosperity and blessing. They treat Him as a pagan idol, who by their self-flagellation will break down and give them what they ask for (cf. 1Kgs 18:26-28).

Today is no different. Christians also sometimes believe that they can use God to act favorably for them through all kinds of self-designed actions. In doing so, they hurt themselves or they refrain from certain things. Their goal is earthly prosperity and a healthy life. They ignore the fact that faith in the Lord Jesus guarantees nothing with regard to natural happiness and physical health. On the contrary. God says in His Word: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim 3:12). This is different from the gibberish talking of the success preachers, who promise their hearing richness and health when they accept Jesus.

God’s Help and the Response of His people

God has not left His people in doubt about His plans with them and how He wants them to live. His servants have always taught them about that. His power is also at their disposal, so that they can fulfill His will. For His part, He has done everything to keep His people on the right track. But the people do not care about God’s will and His message. Not only do they not listen to Him, but they also even turn against Him.

In spite of who He has been for them and what He has done for them, the people treat Him wickedly. The evil they conceive against Him can be seen in their worship of the idols in Bethel and Dan. They decide for themselves how and where they will serve God.

Every form of self-willed religion is a devising of evil against God. He sees that as rebellious acting. No one who pursues a self-willed religion can be excused, because God has clearly revealed His will in His Word.

A Deceitful Bow and the Derision in the World

In the first words of this verse we see the restless search for support from the surrounding nations, while their gaze is not directed upward, i.e. to the Most High, to seek help from Him. But those who expect help from people resemble “a deceitful bow”, the sixth metaphor used for the people. A deceitful bow hits no target, or any other target than that on which it is aimed. The bow is no good. It does not allow you to shoot accurately, and it does not keep the distant enemy away from you (cf. Gen 49:23-24). If Israel, like Joseph, had put its trust in God, they would have been exactly as God wanted: a bow against evil and idolatry. Instead, they turn against God.

In spite of their big mouths, their kings will fall by the sword. We can think of men like Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah and Pekah, who have all fallen victim to murder. If we do not use our weapons to keep the enemy at a distance, they will be used to cause mischief in the midst of the people of God. This will deprive the people of God of their power and at the same time make them a derision in the world. This is how it has been with Israel. In the days of prosperity during the reign of Jeroboam II, Israel has boasted against Egypt in its power. Now, Israel is derided by Egypt because of the fall of their kings.

People who first expressed themselves to be Christians and later started looking for the world again, eventually become a derision for that world. Those who seek the friendship of the world not only lose God, but also the world, of whom one becomes a slave again.