Hosea 7

Hosea 7:1

I. The Wickedness of Israel Unveiled (Chap. 7)7:1-7 The corruption of Ephraim was great, including fraud, robbery, lies, wicked deeds, adultery, and drunkenness. The people and the royal princes were inflamed with lustful passions. 7:8-10 They mixed with foreigners, wasting their substance, and they would not listen to rebuke. The metaphor of Ephraim being a cake unturned suggests a lack of balance. On one side the cake is burnt and overdone; on the other side it is doughy and underdone. In short, Ephraim is completely spoiled. 7:11, 12 Ephraim flew like a silly dove . . . to Egypt and Assyria for help, but God would catch the dove in a net and punish the people. 7:13, 14 They had fled from the Lord and showed no genuine repentance. They wailed to God with their voice but not with their heart. It wasn’t the soft sobs of repentance but the howling with pain of a wounded animal. 7:15, 16 The Lord had taught them how to win victories by being disciplined and strengthened; yet they trusted in idols, and so would meet defeat and derision.