2 And they do not say to their heart, `That' all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have their doings, Over-against My face they have been.
Thus said Jehovah concerning this people: Well they have loved to wander, Their feet they have not restrained, And Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin.
Instruct thee doth thy wickedness, And thy backslidings reprove thee, Know and see that an evil and a bitter thing `Is' thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, And My fear not being on thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
and there is not a created thing not manifest before Him, but all things `are' naked and open to His eyes -- with whom is our reckoning.
so, then, nothing before the time judge ye, till the Lord may come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of the darkness, and will manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then the praise shall come to each from God.
Sworn hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob: `I forget not for ever any of their works.
They have gone deep -- have done corruptly, As `in' the days of Gibeah, He doth remember their iniquity, He doth inspect their sins.
Sins of my youth, and my transgressions, Do not Thou remember. According to Thy kindness be mindful of me, For Thy goodness' sake, O Jehovah.
Jehovah hath been known, Judgment He hath done, By a work of his hands Hath the wicked been snared. Meditation. Selah.
Great in counsel, and mighty in act, in that Thine eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of Adam, to give to each according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
For Mine eyes `are' upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes.
An ox hath known its owner, And an ass the crib of its master, Israel hath not known, My people hath not understood.
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering. His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
For His eyes `are' on the ways of each, And all his steps He doth see.
His bones have been full of his youth, And with him on the dust it lieth down. Though he doth sweeten evil in his mouth, Doth hide it under his tongue, Hath pity on it, and doth not forsake it, And keep it back in the midst of his palate, His food in his bowels is turned, The bitterness of asps `is' in his heart. Wealth he hath swallowed, and doth vomit it. From his belly God driveth it out. Gall of asps he sucketh, Slay him doth the tongue of a viper. He looketh not on rivulets, Flowing of brooks of honey and butter. He is giving back `what' he laboured for, And doth not consume `it'; As a bulwark `is' his exchange, and he exults not. For he oppressed -- he forsook the poor, A house he hath taken violently away, And he doth not build it. For he hath not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he delivereth not himself. There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good doth not stay. In the fulness of his sufficiency he is straitened. Every perverse hand doth meet him. It cometh to pass, at the filling of his belly, He sendeth forth against him The fierceness of His anger, Yea, He raineth on him in his eating. He fleeth from an iron weapon, Pass through him doth a bow of brass. One hath drawn, And it cometh out from the body, And a glittering weapon from his gall proceedeth. On him `are' terrors. All darkness is hid for his treasures, Consume him doth a fire not blown, Broken is the remnant in his tent. Reveal do the heavens his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him. Remove doth the increase of his house, Poured forth in a day of His anger. This `is' the portion of a wicked man from God. And an inheritance appointed him by God.
`And if ye do not so, lo, ye have sinned against Jehovah, and know ye your sin, that it doth find you;
O Jehovah, in distress they missed Thee, They have poured out a whisper, Thy chastisement `is' on them.
And none doth turn `it' back unto his heart, Nor hath knowledge nor understanding to say, `Half of it I have burned in the fire, Yea, also, I have baked bread over its coals, I roast flesh and I eat, And its remnant for an abomination I make, To the stock of a tree I fall down.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Hosea 7
Commentary on Hosea 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
Ho 7:1-16. Reproof of Israel.
Probably delivered in the interreign and civil war at Pekah's death; for Ho 7:7, "all their kings … fallen," refers to the murder of Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah. In Ho 7:8 the reference seems to be to Menahem's payment of tribute to Pul, in order to secure himself in the usurped throne, also to Pekah's league with Rezin of Syria, and to Hoshea's connection with Assyria during the interregnum at Pekah's death [Maurer].
1. I would have healed Israel—Israel's restoration of the two hundred thousand Jewish captives at God's command (2Ch 28:8-15) gave hope of Israel's reformation [Henderson]. Political, as well as moral, healing is meant. When I would have healed Israel in its calamitous state, then their iniquity was discovered to be so great as to preclude hope of recovery. Then he enumerates their wickedness: "The thief cometh in (indoors stealthily), and the troop of robbers spoileth without" (out-of-doors with open violence).
2. consider not in their hearts—literally, "say not to," &c. (Ps 14:1).
that I remember—and will punish.
their own doings have beset them about—as so many witnesses against them (Ps 9:16; Pr 5:22).
before my face—(Ps 90:8).
3. Their princes, instead of checking, "have pleasure in them that do" such crimes (Ro 1:32).
4. who ceaseth from raising—rather, "heating" it, from an Arabic root, "to be hot." So the Septuagint. Their adulterous and idolatrous lust is inflamed as the oven of a baker who has it at such a heat that he ceaseth from heating it only from the time that he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened; he only needs to omit feeding it during the short period of the fermentation of the bread. Compare 2Pe 2:14, "that cannot cease from sin" [Henderson].
5. the day of our king—his birthday or day of inauguration.
have made him sick—namely, the king. Maurer translates, "make themselves sick."
with bottles of wine—drinking not merely glasses, but bottles. Maurer translates, "Owing to the heat of wine."
he stretched out his hand with scorners—the gesture of revellers in holding out the cup and in drinking to one another's health. Scoffers were the king's boon companions.
6. they have made ready—rather, "they make their heart approach," namely their king, in going to drink with him.
like an oven—following out the image in Ho 7:4. As it conceals the lighted fire all night while the baker sleeps but in the morning burns as a flaming fire, so they brood mischief in their hearts while conscience is lulled asleep, and their wicked designs wait only for a fair occasion to break forth [Horsley]. Their heart is the oven, their baker the ringleader of the plot. In Ho 7:7 their plots appear, namely, the intestine disturbances and murders of one king after another, after Jeroboam II.
7. all hot—All burn with eagerness to cause universal disturbance (2Ki 15:1-38).
devoured their judges—magistrates; as the fire of the oven devours the fuel.
all their kings … fallen—See on Ho 7:1.
none … calleth unto me—Such is their perversity that amid all these national calamities, none seeks help from Me (Isa 9:13; 64:7).
8. mixed … among the people—by leagues with idolaters, and the adoption of their idolatrous practices (Ho 7:9, 11; Ps 106:35).
Ephraim … cake not turned—a cake burnt on one side and unbaked on the other, and so uneatable; an image of the worthlessness of Ephraim. The Easterners bake their bread on the ground, covering it with embers (1Ki 19:6), and turning it every ten minutes, to bake it thoroughly without burning it.
9. Strangers—foreigners: the Syrians and Assyrians (2Ki 13:7; 15:19, 20; 17:3-6).
gray hairs—that is, symptoms of approaching national dissolution.
are here and there upon—literally, "are sprinkled on" him.
yet he knoweth not—Though old age ought to bring with it wisdom, he neither knows of his senile decay, nor has the true knowledge which leads to reformation.
10. Repetition of Ho 5:5.
not return to … Lord … for all this—notwithstanding all their calamities (Isa 9:13).
11. like a silly dove—a bird proverbial for simplicity: easily deceived.
without heart—that is, understanding.
call to Egypt—Israel lying between the two great rival empires Egypt and Assyria, sought each by turns to help her against the other. As this prophecy was written in the reign of Hoshea, the allusion is probably to the alliance with So or Sabacho II (of which a record has been found on the clay cylindrical seals in Koyunjik), which ended in the overthrow of Hoshea and the deportation of Israel (2Ki 17:3-6). As the dove betrays its foolishness by fleeing in alarm from its nest only to fall into the net of the fowler, so Israel, though warned that foreign alliances would be their ruin, rushed into them.
12. When they shall go—to seek aid from this or that foreign state.
spread my net upon them—as on birds taken on the ground (Eze 12:13), as contrasted with "bringing them down" as the "fowls of the heavens," namely, by the use of missiles.
as their congregation hath heard—namely, by My prophets through whom I threatened "chastisement" (Ho 5:9; 2Ki 17:13-18).
13. fled—as birds from their nest (Pr 27:8; Isa 16:2).
me—who both could and would have healed them (Ho 7:1), had they applied to Me.
redeemed them—from Egypt and their other enemies (Mic 6:4).
lies—(Ps 78:36; Jer 3:10). Pretending to be My worshippers, when they all the while worshipped idols (Ho 7:14; Ho 12:1); also defrauding Me of the glory of their deliverance, and ascribing it and their other blessings to idols [Calvin].
14. not cried unto me—but unto other gods [Maurer], (Job 35:9, 10). Or, they did indeed cry unto Me, but not "with their heart": answering to "lies," Ho 7:13 (see on Ho 7:13).
when they howled upon their beds—sleepless with anxiety; image of deep affliction. Their cry is termed "howling," as it is the cry of anguish, not the cry of repentance and faith.
assemble … for corn, &c.—namely in the temples of their idols, to obtain from them a good harvest and vintage, instead of coming to Me, the true Giver of these (Ho 2:5, 8, 12), proving that their cry to God was "not with their heart."
rebel against me—literally, "withdraw themselves against Me," that is, not only withdraw from Me, but also rebel against Me.
15. I … bound—when I saw their arms as it were relaxed with various disasters, I bound them so as to strengthen their sinews; image from surgery [Calvin]. Maurer translates, "I instructed them" to war (Ps 18:34; 144:1), namely, under Jeroboam II (2Ki 14:25). Grotius explains, "Whether I chastised them (Margin) or strengthened their arms, they imagined mischief against Me." English Version is best.
16. return, but not to the Most High—or, "to one who is not the Most High," one very different from Him, a stock or a stone. So the Septuagint.
deceitful bow—(Ps 78:57). A bow which, from its faulty construction, shoots wide of the mark. So Israel pretends to seek God, but turns aside to idols.
for the rage of their tongue—their boast of safety from Egyptian aid, and their "lies" (Ho 7:13), whereby they pretended to serve God, while worshipping idols; also their perverse defense for their idolatries and blasphemies against God and His prophets (Ps 73:9; 120:2, 3).
their derision in … Egypt—Their "fall" shall be the subject of "derision" to Egypt, to whom they had applied for help (Ho 9:3, 6; 2Ki 17:4).