TEXT [Commentary]
7. God’s concern for disloyal Israel (6:4–7:16)
what should I do with you?” asks the LORD.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
to slaughter you with my words,
with judgments as inescapable as light.
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me[*]
more than I want burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam,[*] you broke my covenant
and betrayed my trust.
8 “Gilead is a city of sinners,
tracked with footprints of blood.
9 Priests form bands of robbers,
waiting in ambush for their victims.
They murder travelers along the road to Shechem
and practice every kind of sin.
10 Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:
My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
11 “O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,
though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.
CHAPTER 7
1 “I want to heal Israel, but its[*] sins are too great.
Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
and bandits on the outside!
2 Its people don’t realize
that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
and I see them all.
3 “The people entertain the king with their wickedness,
and the princes laugh at their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
while the baker is kneading the dough.
5 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
carousing with those who mock them.
6 Their hearts are like an oven
blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders[*] through the night,
and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
7 Burning like an oven,
they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
and no one cries to me for help.
8 “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!
9 Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
10 Their arrogance testifies against them,
yet they don’t return to the LORD their God
or even try to find him.
11 “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
12 But as they fly about,
I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
I will punish them for all the evil they do.[*]
13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
but they have told lies about me.
14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves,[*] begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me.
15 I trained them and made them strong,
yet now they plot evil against me.
16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
will laugh at them.
NOTES
6:4 what should I do with you? The first series of divine oracles and prophetic responses reaches it climax with the record of God’s poignant question here (see “Outline” in the Introduction).
6:6 I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. Sacrificial observance without heartfelt devotion was unacceptable to God (1 Sam 15:22-23; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:11-20; Jer 7:21-23; Amos 5:21-27; Mic 6:6-8). Israel’s syncretistic religion and its dead orthodoxy were not pleasing to God. For an interesting discussion of the dimensions of the Hebrew word translated “love” here, see Edin 1998:355-363.
6:7 like Adam. Several different positions have been held as to the understanding of these words. (1) Some modern translations (e.g., NRSV, NJB) and many commentators (e.g., Garrett 1997:164-165; Andersen and Freedman 1980:435-436; Chisholm 1990:35; Hubbard 1989:128-129) understand Adam to be a place name, either Adam near the Jordan River (Josh 3:16) or Admah (REB), the city that was overthrown in the judgment against the cities of the plain (Gen 10:19; 14:2, 8; Deut 29:23; cf. Gen 19:29). (2) Others translate the Hebrew noun as “men” (KJV, NRSV), hence the thought being “as mankind commonly does.” (Note also the LXX: hōs anthrōpos [TG5613/444, ZG6055/476], “like/as a man”; and the French La Sainte Bible: comme le vulgaire.) (3) Still others understand Adam to be the well-known biblical person (e.g., Keil 1954:100; Hailey 1971:157; von Orelli 1977:38-39; McComiskey 1992:95; so GW). In accordance with this reading, 6:7 became a proof text for the covenant of works in some earlier systems of reformed theology (see, e.g., Berkhof 1959:213-218).
6:8 Gilead is a city. Other than a few vague references (e.g., Judg 10:17; 12:7), Gilead is not known as a city but only as a district beyond the Jordan River. McComiskey (1992:95) suggests that Hosea may have used Gilead to designate all of Israelite Transjordan much as he employs Ephraim in referring to the northern kingdom (cf. NIDOTTE 4.682-683). Hosea probably used the term “city” (qiryat) as a metaphor. The whole district was one big “city” of iniquity and bloody deeds. What a contrast with the integrity of Gilead’s earlier settlers (Num 32:16-32)! Hosea would speak of Gilead in another connection later (12:11).
sinners. Lit., “doers of evil.” The same noun for “evil” (’awen [TH205, ZH224]) was used earlier to depict Bethel: Due to its housing of the cult shrine, Hosea called it Beth-aven (“house of wickedness”) in 4:15.
footprints of blood. The word for “footprints” denotes particularly the heel (‘aqubbah [TH6121, ZH6814]), but is used here as a synecdoche for the foot (hence, “bloody footprints” rather than “bloody heels”). The noun’s root is the same as that underlying Jacob’s name (ya‘aqob [TH3290, ZH3620]). Because of the juxtaposition of the noun for wickedness (see prior note on “sinners”) and a noun from the same root as Jacob’s name, it may be that the point Hosea makes in 12:2-6 is hinted at here. Thus Garrett (1997:163) remarks, “The point here appears to be that the Israelites . . . instead of being transformed into Israel, into people of God, remained Jacob, a name that Hosea has transformed into the grim phrase, ‘stained with footprints of blood.’”
6:10 horrible. A similar form of this rare word (sha‘arur [TH8186, ZH9136]) occurs in Jeremiah to designate the deceit and wickedness of Israel’s spiritual leadership (Jer 5:30; 23:14) and the almost unbelievable fact that Israel had forgotten God and gone after idols (Jer 18:13-15).
6:11 I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people. This sentence is often understood to form an introductory clause to the sentence in 7:1, “When I restore the fortunes of my people, when I heal Israel, the guilt of Ephraim will be revealed” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB). The NLT rendering agrees with many commentators and translations (KJV, NKJV, NJB, GW) that, following the MT, take the clause with 6:11 and consider it a reminder that Judah, too, will not escape judgment during the process of God’s restoring his people’s fortunes (e.g., Keil 1954:103; Hailey 1971:157; Laetsch 1956:61; cf. 10:13; Isa 63:3). For the phrase “restore the fortunes,” see the note on Joel 3:1.
7:1 liars . . . Thieves . . . bandits. Hosea’s penchant for grouping items in three is seen once more (cf. 5:1). Three classes of people are singled out: deceivers, thieves who break into buildings, and robbers who wait outside to do their mischief. Another group of three (king, princes, and people) is clustered in 7:3. Thus, all Israel is condemned.
7:4 like an oven. The simile of the heated oven dominates these verses (7:4-7). The MT is difficult in its reading and interpretation. Therefore, these verses have occasioned many suggested emendations and varied interpretations. The NLT rendering envisions a setting that likens Israel’s adulterous passion to an oven kept hot while the bread dough is left to rise. In a slight twist, the people’s political intrigues are compared to an oven whose fire is banked, smolders all night and grows to a red-hot blaze by the morning. So it is that the heat of the people’s deception, at last, comes forth in violent behavior.
7:6 Their plot smolders. The MT reads, “their baker sleeps.” The difficulty in understanding who the baker is and why he slept while the fire grew hotter has led to a repointing of the Hebrew. The NLT seemingly draws the idea of plotting from “intrigue” in the previous line and follows the lead of the Syriac and the Targum by reading ’appehem [TH639, ZH678] (“nose”; figurative of anger; cf. NASB, RSV, NIV, ESV) rather than the MT’s ’opehem [TH644A, ZH685] (“baker”; cf. NASB mg; NLT mg). This involves no change in the consonantal text of the MT.
7:8 half-baked cake! Lit., “a cake not turned.” If the imagery here builds on the previous simile, the flat cakes are those pressed upon the oven wall. Left unturned, the bread would be burned on the one side and doughy on the other. The imagery, however, may envision cakes laid on hot stones (1 Kgs 19:6). Thus, A. Ross explains, “The stones would be well-heated, the cinders knocked off, and then the cakes laid on the stones and covered with ashes. Later the ashes would be removed and the cake turned over (7:8) to obtain a balanced baking” (NIDOTTE 4.434).
7:9 hair is gray. As hair gradually turns gray (almost imperceptibly) with age, so Israel seems unaware of its ever-increasing inner wickedness.
7:11 like silly, witless doves. Israel’s foreign policy was likened to a dove that flutters about erratically.
7:12 like a bird from the sky. As a fowler brings down a bird from the sky, so God would bring Israel down; God’s people are doomed.
for all the evil they do. Lit., “according to the report to their assembly.” The NLT emends the MT (within the constraints of the context) by reading the consonants as ‘al-ra‘atam [TH5921/7451B, ZH6584/8288] instead of the MT’s la‘adatam [TH3807.1/5712, ZH4200/6337] (cf. Wolff 1974:107). This change involves the transposition of the letters resh and ayin and the replacement of a resh (ר) in the MT with a daleth (ד) (resh and daleth were often confused; see the note on 7:14). Several other suggested emendations have been put forward (cf. Stuart 1987:115-116; Andersen and Freedman 1980:471).
If the MT is to be retained, God’s punishment of Israel will proceed on the basis of “a report that will come to the community” (McComiskey 1992:112). Keil (1954:109), however, suggests that the report is one already known to the congregation, being written in the law (Lev 26:14-35; Deut 28:15-68) and proclaimed often by God’s prophets.
7:13 What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me! The NLT catches well the force of the MT, which casts these final verses in the form of a woe oracle: “Woe to them, for they have strayed from me.”
told lies. The charge repeats the notice that Samaria is filled with liars (7:1).
7:14 They cut themselves. The NLT (like the RSV, ESV) follows the reading of the LXX (Gr., katetemnonto) and numerous Hebrew mss that read the root gadad [TH1413, ZH1517] here rather than garar [TH1481, ZH1591] (drag away) found in the MT (cf. HALOT 1.204), which is usually rendered as “assemble themselves” (or similarly, cf. NASB; NIV) and creates an unintelligible reading. Similar cultic lacerations are recorded of the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs 18:28).
grain and new wine. For the significance of grain and wine, see comments on Joel 1:10. God here repeats his earlier charge against his people (cf. 2:8).
7:16 They look everywhere except to the Most High. The opening line is terse and notoriously difficult. It has occasioned various emendations. The NLT follows the common suggestion of understanding the ‘al after lo’ [TH3808, ZH4202] (except) to be the substantive ‘al [TH5920, ZH6583], meaning “that which is alone on high” (cf. 11:7; 2 Sam 23:1; Laetsch 1956:65). The normal noun for “Most High” is ‘elyon [TH5945B, ZH6610], although the Canaanite ‘ly has often been suggested for some OT texts (cf. Dahood 1953:452-457). Andersen and Freedman (1980:477) propose that the MT’s lo’ ‘al means “no god” (cf. LXX, “nothing”), a derogatory epithet referring to Baal. Idolatry is often condemned in the OT as a worthless worshiping of that which is not a god (e.g., Deut 32:21; Isa 37:19; 44:9-20; Jer 16:20).
as a crooked bow. Lit., “as a loose bow.” This simile compares the policies of Israel’s leadership to a bow that has lost its tension and hence cannot hit its mark. The NLT envisions a crooked bow, which yields the same result.
the people of Egypt will laugh at them. S. M. Paul (1995:707-712) makes the interesting suggestion that the Israelite ambassadors who were carrying on negotiations with Egyptian officials will be mocked because of their crude attempts to speak in Egyptian. Their efforts would likewise amount to little more than meaningless gibberish.
COMMENTARY [Text]
Hosea recorded God’s great disappointment and frustration with his people. Despite all that he had done for them and despite the constant warnings that the Lord’s prophets had delivered, God’s people remained spiritually unmoved. Like Adam, they were covenant-breakers. In an extended series of graphic similes, the sinful nature and deeds of God’s people are presented. Israel’s love for God was as ephemeral and fleeting as the morning mist and early dew, which disappear with the rising sun (6:4). Feigning continued devotion to God, the citizenry, leaders and people alike, had gone after other gods (6:10; cf. 7:9, 10, 14). God wanted their heartfelt affection, and he wanted them to know him experientially. Mere ritual sacrifice would not do (6:6).
Indeed, lackluster love had caused Israel to perpetuate all manner of wickedness. Their society abounded with thievery and robbery. Even the priests behaved like marauding brigands waylaying devotees on the highway to Shechem. Thereby they reproduced the same evil associated with that city (6:9; cf. Gen 34). All of this took place despite God’s longing to restore and bless his people (6:11b).
In another simile, God warned his people that judgment was coming, as surely as day follows night (6:5). Adopting an agricultural metaphor, God called that judgment a harvest—a harvest of punishment for Israel (6:11a).
God’s charges against Israel continue in chapter 7, this portion again being laced with a string of powerful similes. Having termed Samaria (capital of the northern kingdom and representative of the whole) a bunch of liars, thieves, and bandits (7:1), God told them that he had seen all of it (7:2). Therefore, he would punish them for their wickedness. Indeed, debauchery haunted the highest places of state; the whole royal household was infected. Not content with crimes of deceit and thievery, God’s people were filled with adulterous passion. Their lustful hearts were likened to an oven that is kept aflame, even though it should have been banked while the dough was rising (7:4).
Moreover, the kingdom was ablaze with intrigue like a fiery furnace. Such plotting was like a fire which, having smoldered all night, burns with raging fire by morning. Certainly such political deceit, together with plots and counterplots, marked the closing years of the northern kingdom. After the death of Jeroboam II in 752 BC, six kings occupied the throne in the space of 30 years. Only Menahem escaped a violent end, and he himself was an assassin (2 Kgs 15:13-14, 16-22). Some of the intrigue was occasioned by Israel’s vacillating foreign policy. Kings were often deposed and killed in accordance with the prevailing pro- or anti-Assyrian sentiment (2 Kgs 15:19-20, 29-30; 17:3-6; cf. my remarks in Patterson and Austel 1988:236-237, 239-240).
Israel’s uneven attempts at dealing with the rising power of Assyria (see commentary on 5:8-13) not only weakened its spiritual and moral fiber (7:8) but would ultimately destroy the nation (7:16). Israel’s moral condition was likened to baking bread in an ancient oven without turning it, leaving it burnt on one side and doughy on the other. Like the worthless half-baked bread, so Israel’s conduct had no redeeming value. Spiritually, the dangers that they had forged for themselves by worshiping foreign gods had weakened the soul and strength of the nation. Like an aging man who ignores the graying of his hair, blissfully unaware of his diminishing strength, so Israel’s spiritual prostitution had robbed it of the vitality to sustain itself.
How foolish Israel’s foreign policy had been! Flitting back and forth like directionless doves, they turned to the powers of the day, Egypt and Assyria (cf. 2 Kgs 17:2-4). But like a flying bird, which the fowler traps with his net, so God would bring his people down because of all their evil (7:11-12).
The chapter closes with the only woe oracle in the book (7:13-16). God assured his wicked and apostate people that they would be horribly punished. Despite his longing for them and desire to bring them back to himself, they had been insincere toward him. For they had lacerated themselves in meaningless rituals aimed at securing the fertility of the land. How foolish! It was Yahweh, not Baal or the other so-called gods, who had sustained them all along the way. Rather than calling on him in trouble (cf. Ps 69:17-18), they turned everywhere but to the true God. Accordingly, like a bow that had lost its proper tension so that the archer cannot hit his mark, their deceitful policies would fall back upon them. Those in whom they had placed their trust would prove to be their executioners (cf. 2 Kgs 17:5-6). This would be the reward of their unfaithfulness, for they had treated their Redeemer and Helper most insolently. Moreover, the very ones to whom they turned for sustenance would laugh at them. How tragic are the fruits of disloyalty and disobedience! Unrealistically thinking to define God for themselves, they had thrown away the one who alone is ultimately real. Thus Pusey (1953:78) observes, “All God’s creatures are made for His glory, and on earth, chiefly man; and among men, chiefly those whom He had chosen as His people. In that, then, they set themselves to diminish that glory, giving to idols, they, as far as in them lay, devised evil against Him. Man would dethrone God, if he could.”
This section details many of the dangers inherent in turning away from a wise and holy God. Covenant-breaking Israel cast off its proper allegiance to the Lord in favor of what was at best a dead orthodoxy mingled with pagan ritual. The results would prove to be disastrous. From top to bottom, Israelite society became plagued with all manner of crimes. Corporately and individually, the abandonment of God’s standards of righteousness for the pursuit of pagan beliefs brought morality to a new low. Deceit, intrigues, adultery, prostitution, and drunken revelry were rampant. By bringing Yahweh down to the level of Baal, God’s people were deceiving themselves in the pursuit of sensual pleasures.
Such is the fate of any nation or society that abandons the true revelation of God so as to recreate him in its own selfish image and exchange pleasure for God’s guidance (Prov 11:14; 14:34; 29:18; Isa 2:1-6). Paul predicted that such an egoistic hedonism would be a distinguishing mark of earth’s final era before the return of Christ (2 Tim 3:1-5).
Indeed, when people abandon God and his standards for their own self-gratification, the pursuit of pleasure too often becomes a dominating purpose. Not only unbelievers but Christians can be thus afflicted. For it is all too easy for people to fall into a daily routine that takes God for granted and superimposes personal desires upon a professed orthodoxy. Paul reminded the believers that such unchristian behavior ought not to mark those who have come to faith in Christ (Titus 3:1-8).
The Scriptures warn that the pursuit of pleasure can choke out the effectiveness of prayer (Jas 4:3) and God’s Word (Luke 8:14) in one’s personal life. Even Christian gatherings can be corrupted by the indulgence of worldly pleasures (2 Pet 2:13). How much better for the believer to live a life of faith that chooses (as did Moses) to live for God and be identified with those who love him, rather than follow the temporary pleasures of sin (Heb 11:25). Believers do well to remember that the pursuit of aimless, self-indulgent, sinful pleasure is a mark of the fool (Prov 10:23; Eccl 7:4) and can easily lead to poverty (Prov 21:17). The verdict of the wise author of Ecclesiastes was that pleasure as an end in itself “was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind” (Eccl 2:11). How much better, then, for nations, societies, and individuals to desire the true and eternal pleasures that God gives to his faithful followers (Ps 33:12).