Osea 7:7 Commento

In this chapter we have, I. A general charge drawn up against Israel for those high crimes and misdemeanors by which they had obstructed the course of God's favours to them (Hos 7:1, Hos 7:2). II. A particular accusation, 1. Of the court - the king, princes, and judges (Hos 7:3-7). 2. Of the country. Ephraim is here charged with conforming to the nations (Hos 7:8), senselessness and stupidity under the judgments of God (Hos 7:9-11), ingratitude to God for his mercies (Hos 7:13), incorrigibleness under his judgments (Hos 7:14), contempt of God (Hos 7:15), and hypocrisy in their pretences to return to him (Hos 7:16). They are also threatened with a severe chastisement, which shall humble them (Hos 7:12), and, if that prevail not, then with an utter destruction (Hos 7:13), particularly their princes (Hos 7:16).

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 7 This chapter either begins a new sermon, discourse, or prophecy, or it is a continuation of the former; at least it seems to be of the same argument with the latter part of it, only it is directed to Israel alone; and consists of complaints against them because of their manifold sins, and of denunciations of punishment for them. They are charged with ingratitude to God, sinning in a daring manner against mercy, and with falsehood, thefts, and robberies, Hos 7:1; with want of consideration of the omniscience of God, and his notice of their sins, which surrounded them, Hos 7:2; with flattery to their king and princes, Hos 7:3; with adultery, which lust raged in them like a heated oven, Hos 7:4; with drunkenness, aggravated by drawing their king into it, Hos 7:5; with raging lusts, which devoured their judges, made their kings to fall, and brought on such a general corruption, that there were none that called upon the Lord, Hos 7:6; with mixing themselves with the nations of the earth, and so learning their ways, and bringing their superstition and idolatry into the worship of God, so that they were nothing in religion, like a half baked cake, Hos 7:8; with stupidity and insensibility of their declining state, Hos 7:9; with pride, impenitence, and stubbornness, Hos 7:10; with folly, in seeking to Egypt and Assyria for help, and not to the Lord; for which they would be taken as birds in a net, and sorely chastised, Hos 7:11; with ingratitude, hypocrisy, and deceitfulness; for all which they are threatened with destruction, Hos 7:13.

They are all hot as an oven,.... Eager upon their idolatry, or burning in their unclean desires after other men's wives; or rather raging and furious, hot with anger and wrath against their rulers and governors, breathing out slaughter and death unto them: and have devoured their judges; that stood in the way of their lusts, reproved them for them, and restrained them from them; or were on the side of the king they conspired against, and were determined to depose and slay: all their kings have fallen; either into sin, the sin of idolatry particularly, as all from Jeroboam the first did, down to Hoshea the last; or they fell into calamities, or by the sword of one another, as did most of them; so Zachariah by Shallum, Shallum by Menahem, Pekahiah by Pekah, and Pekah by Hoshea; see Kg2 15:1. So the Targum, "all their kings are slain:'' there is none among them that calleth unto me; either among the kings, when their lives were in danger from conspirators; or none among the people, when their land was in distress, either by civil wars among themselves, or by a foreign enemy; such was their stupidity, and to such a height was irreligion come to among them!

"all of them were heated like a hot oven, and they devoured their judges: all their kings fell, there is none who cries out to me from them." LXX: "All are heated like an oven of burning fire, and fire devoured their judges. All their kings fell: there is none among them who calls upon me." What more? All were heated as if in a furnace, with the fire of idolatry, and devoured their judges, so that he who could have been good by nature and could have remembered the religion of the Lord, seeing both rulers and people subject to calves, and thinking that they were gods, also was devoured by wickedness. Finally, all the kings of Israel fell, and they walked in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nabath, who caused Israel to sin, and no one was found who, having abandoned idols, returned to God. And [heretics] devour their judges, or if they can have anything in mind with virtues, or senses by which they can discern evils from goods. Whether this is to be said, that the leaders of the heretics are devoured by their own people, as they devour their homes for the sake of shameful gain, they themselves are devoured by their consent. All the leaders of the heretics have fallen: although he cries out to the Lord, there is no one who calls upon his name: "For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans X). "Moses and Aaron were among his priests, and Samuel among those who called upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them" (Psalm XCVIII), he does not hear them who are kings and princes of the heretics, because there is none among them who calls upon the Lord.

Here God complains that though he had employed every means for reforming Israel, they still persisted in their iniquity, without fearing the consequences, Hos 7:1, Hos 7:2; that those who ought to check their crimes were pleased with them, Hos 7:3; and that they all burned with adultery, as an oven when fully heated, and ready to receive the kneaded dough, Hos 7:4. The fifth verse alludes to some recent enormities; the sixth charges them with dividing their time between inactivity and iniquity; the seventh alludes to their civil broils and conspiracies; (see Kg2 15:10, Kg2 15:14, Kg2 15:25); the eighth to their joining themselves with idolatrous nations; and the ninth describes the sad consequence. The tenth verse reproves their pride and open contempt of God's worship; the eleventh reproves their foolish conduct in applying for aid to their enemies; (see Kg2 15:19; Kg2 17:4); the twelfth and thirteenth threaten them with punishments; the fourteenth charges them with hypocrisy in their acts of humiliation; the fifteenth with ingratitude; and the image of the deceitful bow, in the sixteenth verse, is highly expressive of their frequent apostasies; and their hard speeches against God shall be visited upon them by their becoming a reproach in the land of their enemies.

All their kings are fallen - There was a pitiful slaughter among the idolatrous kings of Israel; four of them had fallen in the time of this prophet. Zechariah was slain by Shallum; Shallum, by Menahem; Pekahiah, by Pekah; and Pekah, by Hoshea, 2 Kings 15. All were idolaters, and all came to an untimely death.

REPROOF OF ISRAEL. (Hos. 7:1-16) Probably delivered in the interreign and civil war at Pekah's death; for Hos 7:7, "all their kings . . . fallen," refers to the murder of Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah. In Hos 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]. I would have healed Israel--Israel's restoration of the two hundred thousand Jewish captives at God's command (Ch2 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).

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 Hos 7:1. none . . . calleth unto me--Such is their perversity that amid all these national calamities, none seeks help from Me (Isa 9:13; Isa 64:7).

In the first strophe (Hos 7:1-7) the exposure of the moral depravity of Israel is continued. Hos 7:1. "When I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim, reveals itself, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they practise deceit; and the thief cometh, the troop of robbers plundereth without. Hos 7:2. And they say not in their heart, I should remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds have surrounded them, they have occurred before my face. Hos 7:3. They delight the king with their wickedness, and princes with their lies." As the dangerous nature of a wound is often first brought out by the attempt to heal it, so was the corruption of Israel only brought truly to light by the effort to stem it. The first hemistich of Hos 7:1 is not to be referred to the future, nor is the healing to be understood as signifying punishment, as Hitzig supposes; but the allusion is to the attempts made by God to put a stop to the corruption, partly by the preaching of repentance and the reproofs of the prophets, and partly by chastisements designed to promote reformation. The words contain no threatening of punishment, but a picture of the moral corruption that had become incurable. Here again Ephraim is not the particular tribe, but is synonymous with Israel, the people or kingdom of the ten tribes; and Samaria is especially mentioned in connection with it, as the capital and principal seat of the corruption of morals, just as Judah and Jerusalem are frequently classed together by the prophets. The lamentation concerning the incurability of the kingdom is followed by an explanatory notice of the sins and crimes that are openly committed. Sheqer, lying, i.e., deception both in word and deed towards God and man, theft and highway robbery and not fear of the vengeance of God. "Accedit ad haec facinora securitas eorum ineffabilis" (Marck). They do not consider that God will remember their evil deeds, and punish them; they are surrounded by them on all sides, and perform them without shame or fear before the face of God Himself. These sins delight both king and prince. To such a depth have even the rulers of the nation, who ought to practise justice and righteousness, fallen, that they not only fail to punish the sins, but take pleasure in their being committed.