Hosea 7

Sacrifice is one of the two broad requirements for Christian living. That great word implies surrender, and often painful surrender. We are, then, to be both priests and sacrifices. We are to lay ourselves, and especially our active life, our senses, appetites and activities on the altar. That is no mere metaphor, but means continual self-suppression—the bridling always, the slaying often of natural instincts. The word implies, further, surrender to God, the continual recognition of Him, and the yielding of ourselves, not to any cold abstraction like duty or necessity, but to that merciful God who has given us all, and who gives us back glorified the self that we offer to Him.

The other great word descriptive of Christian living is transformation. That requirement presupposes that change is needed before we can be right with God or moulded as He would have us to be. “This age,” the present order of things, presses in on us on every side, and, unless we oppose strenuous, constant resistance, will mould us like clay into its own ugly likeness. Resistance, nonconformity, is necessary for all nobility of character. And the change must be continuous and progressive. It must be a daily work. It is our work; for though we cannot change ourselves except very superficially, we can keep ourselves in contact with Him who can change us down to the roots of our being. A. M.

11. Also, O Judah, He has set a harvest for thee; thou must be reckoned with as well as Ephraim; and the time, even the set time, of thy destruction is hastening on when thou that hast ploughed iniquity and sown wickedness shalt reap the same. The general judgment is compared to a harvest (Matt. 13 : 39); so are particular judgments (Joel 3 : 13; Rev. 14 : 15). H.

7 : 1 WHEN I would heal Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood: and the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. 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. They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. 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. On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. 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. Ephraim, he mixeth himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: yet they have not returned unto the LORD their God, nor sought him, for all this. And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding: they call unto Egypt, they go to Asyria. When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven: I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard. Woe unto them! for they have wandered from me; destruction unto them! for they have trespassed against me: though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me. And they have not cried unto me with their heart, but they howl upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, they rebel against me. Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return, but not to him that is on high; they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

8:1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he cometh against the house of the LORD: 2 because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. They shall 3 cry unto me, My God, we Israel know thee. Israel hath cast off that which is good: the 4 enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may 5 be cut off. He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how 6 long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel is even this; the workman 7 made it, and it is no God: yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing corn; the blade shall 8 yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up; now 9 are they among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. For they are gone up to As- 10 syria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers. Yea, though they hire among the nations, now will I gather them; and they begin to be minished by reason of the 11 burden of the king of princes. Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars have 12 been unto him to sin. Though I write for him my law in ten thousand precepts, they are 13 counted as a strange thing. As for the sacrifices of mine offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit 14 their sins; they shall return to Egypt. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and builded palaces; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.

9:1 Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, like the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from 2 thy God, thou hast loved hire upon every cornfloor. The threshing-floor and the winepress 3 shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her. They shall not dwell in the LORD’s 4 land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of the LORD. 5 What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of the LORD? 6 For, lo, they are gone away from destruction, yet Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their 7 tents. The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the multitude of thine 8 iniquity, and because the enmity is great. Ephraim was a watchman with my God: as for 9 the prophet, a fowler’s snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, 10 he will visit their sins. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated 11 themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall be no birth, and none with 12 child, and no conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, 13 that there be not a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! Ephraim, like as I have seen Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring out his 14 children to the slayer. Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying 15 womb and dry breasts. All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house: I will love them no 16 more; all their princes are revolters. Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb. 17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Chap. 7. Speaking of Ephraim, this chapter continues to portray his treachery, blindness, intense passion in sinning, and extreme folly. It should be specially noted that throughout this and the succeeding chapters to the twelfth, Ephraim, the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, is the theme of remark, Judah being scarcely mentioned. The historic events alluded to fell within the last years of the kingdom—some of them in the reign of Hoshea, its last king.

1. Their case was bad, but it was not desperate; nay, it was hopeful when God would have healed Israel. He would have reformed them, would have parted between them and their sins, would have purged out the corruptions that were among them by His laws and prophets. He would have delivered them out of their troubles, and restored to them their peace and prosperity. Several healing attempts were made, and their declining state seemed sometimes to be in a hopeful way of recovery; but their own folly put them back again.

2. As good say that there is no God as say that He is either ignorant or forgetful; that there is none that judges in the earth as say that He remembers not the things He is to give judgment upon; it is a high affront they put upon God; it is a damning cheat they put upon themselves; they say, “The Lord shall not see.” H.

7. All their kings are fallen. The prophecy looks forward to the fall of the last six kings in uninterrupted succession—Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, Hoshea. Bp. Horsley.

8. Ephraim hath mixed himself with heathens and is a professed associate with them; Ephraim is grown irresolute in his religion. Like a cake that is half dough and half baked, so is he half Israelite, half pagan. Bp. Hall.—One thing on one side, another on the other. Burned to a coal at bottom; raw dough at the top. An apt image of a character that is all inconsistencies. Bp. Horsley.—A cake not turned. All along the Black Sea, from the Mæotic Lake to the Caspian Sea, in Chaldea and in Mesopotamia, except in towns, the people often make their bread about an inch thick; this they lay on a corner of the hearth and cover it with hot embers and ashes; in a quarter of an hour they turn it. Pocock.

As in Ahab’s time, so now, they halted between God and Baal; sometimes they seemed zealous for God, but at other times as hot for Baal. It is sad to think how many who after a sort profess religion are made up of contraries and inconsistencies, as a cake not turned; a constant self-contradiction, and always in one extreme or the other. H.

The man who lives for pleasure alone is a cake not turned. One side of his nature is unduly baked; the other is entirely neglected. Pleasure has its uses, but pleasure as a business is a very poor business indeed. Honey is good, but the man who undertakes to eat nothing else will have neither brawn nor brain. In all walks of life there are many representatives of this class. The man who lives for business alone is a cake not turned. This man stands higher, all will admit, than the mere votary of pleasure. Business is good; business has its claims; these claims must be recognized. But even though the business be honorable and the methods of its pursuit unobjectionable, the man who lives for this life alone loses this life as well as the life which is to come. The world has claims upon men of wealth. Great possessions involve corresponding responsibility, and the intellect that is used in acquiring ought also to be used in wisely distributing. God will not hold him guiltless who amasses great wealth for personal gratification or family aggrandizement. The wants of ten thousand needy enterprises demand recognition. A man who lives for culture alone—as that word is usually understood—is a cake not turned. Culture will adorn piety; but piety crowns and glorifies culture. We want both. Both are one. That is not true culture which fails to cultivate the nobler, the diviner elements of the soul. The man who neglects this is a crude Ephraim—a cake not turned. A man who is half hearted in religion is a cake not turned. A half-and-half man is a failure always and everywhere. No compromise! This should be the Christian’s watchword. That was a magnificent army of David’s—“fifty thousand who could keep rank; they were not of double heart.” The literal rendering is, “who were not of a heart and a heart.” They had but one purpose—the honor of their king and the glory of their God. They did not have one heart for the field and another for the home. MacArthur.

9. Though the young will hardly credit it, men with furrows in their brow and gray hairs on their head often find it difficult to remember that they are old; to believe it; to realize the approach of their end; how near they are to the grave. Death seems to flee before us, like the horizon which we ever see and never reach. Guthrie.

11. Assyria was to Israel what Babylon was to Judah—the appointed destroyer. But the greater part of the prophets living later than Israel’s captivity, and being chiefly concerned with the condition and destiny of the kingdom of Judah, and Assyria being already overthrown, and the Babylonian empire established, it is only in two or three of the minor prophets, and in the earlier prophecies of Isaiah, that we look for direct information respecting the Assyrians. The three prophets, Hosea, Amos and Jonah, lived when the Assyrian empire was in its most flourishing estate; when that power was well known in Syria and Palestine, and when the kingdom of Israel felt deeply the weight of its imperial arm. Kitto.

13. The passage puts in forcible contrast the loving faithfulness of God, still warm and sure, on the one hand; and, on the other, the treachery and utter infidelity of His people. The original makes this contrast the more palpable by writing out in full the pronouns “I” and “they.” These pronouns are not usually written in Hebrew except for the sake of emphasis. H. C.

14. “They have not cried unto Me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds.” It was a selfish, cowardly, resentful howling, and not the sigh of penitence or the storm of contrition. Men come to us with sad stories of distress, and they make long moans about pain and fear, about poverty and uselessness. They use the words which penitents might use, but not in a contrite spirit. Analyze their howling, and it is all selfish. It is the flesh that complains; it is not the spirit that repents. J. P.

16. If they turned, in any sense, it was not to the Most High. The original most naturally reads, “They will turn to a no-god"—to one not the Most High, but the opposite—one infinitely low and mean. Hoshea, the last king of the Ten Tribes, sought help from Egypt against the king of Assyria, but only to his shame and ruin (2 K. 17: 4). So shall it ever be with all who depart from God!

Chap. 8. Israel is still the subject of rebuke and of threatened judgment—the prophet bringing forth to view her sins, her resort to idol gods and to foreign alliances, to the rejection of her own ever-living God, and showing that this policy must be utterly ruinous.

1. This verse is remarkably in the peculiar style of Hosea—abrupt and bold. “To thy mouth the trumpet” [the foe comes down]; “as an eagle upon the house of the Lord, because they [My people] have broken My covenant and sinned against My law.”

The blast of the trumpet, long and loud, was the alarm for war. The coming of the foe is compared with the swoop of the eagle, when, from his lofty height, he comes down upon the temple.

2. Grievously as they had departed from God, they still made high religious professions, vainly claiming to know the true God. So in later times they said, “We have Abraham to our father.” “Have we not prophesied in Thy name?”

5. “Thy calf, Samaria,” is the golden one set up by Jeroboam (see 1 K. 12: 26-33), out of which grew the idol worship of the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. Samaria, the capital, here represents the whole kingdom; the calf was properly theirs. H. C.

The prophetic writings are of great value as regards the independent testimony they bear to the national history. This testimony is never at variance with, and it frequently illustrates, what we learn by the ordinary historical records. The calves of Bethel and Dan are assured to us as facts by the prophets of Israel, Hosea and Amos. Leathes.

6. The aggravation of this case was that the calf “came out from Israel”—from God’s chosen people. “A workman made it” with his human fingers, so that it is no god at all. On the contrary, according to the expressive Hebrew, “it shall become fragments.” The prophets were wont to expose the ineffable folly of idol-worship and of all trust in idols, by referring to their origin as nothing higher or other than human workmanship. A mere man made it, made all there is of it; and can that senseless, helpless thing be God? H. C.

7. Sown the wind . . . reap the whirlwind. The Divine law of requital (cf. Gal. 6: 7). Israel’s works, their idolatries, heathen alliances, and the like, were in themselves fruitless of good; but the disappointment attending upon them would be more than the loss of good desired; it would take the form of a hurricane of overwhelming destruction which would sweep them away themselves. B. C.

In the sorrow of the world the obliquity of the heart toward evil is not cured; it seems as if nothing cured it; heartache and trials come in vain; the history of life at last is what it was at first. The man is found erring where he erred before. The same course, began with the certainty of the same desperate end which has taken place so often before. They have reaped the whirlwind, but they will again sow the wind. F. W. R.

Multitudes, having passions given them for restraint from evil and for application to good, and for activity in the pursuit of pure happiness, and having seed sown, suggestions poured in, and influences lavished from God, for discipline and growth, for nurture and wise training toward a period of useful and blissful development, live upon their passions, exasperate and then exhaust them. They take their sowing time for spending-time; they eat their corn green; they consume for self and forbidden gratification the seed that God has given for

lasting happiness; they consume for hell the seed that God has given for heaven. But they who do this, while they seem to be spending, are really sowing. The seed in the waste of which they destroy the possibility of any good harvest springs up for evil. They are sowing sin and misery; sowing the wind, to reap the whirlwind. Their happiness must certainly be wrecked here, and wrecked hereafter. Every mad indulgence of passion, and every wicked neglect of the sowing of good seed, is the putting deep into the soul the seeds of a future tempest of remorse and havoc. G. B. C.