Hos 7:8-9 | 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 7:8-9

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.