Hosea 7:1-10
THE MORAL CORRUPTION OF ISRAEL... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MORAL CORRUPTION OF ISRAEL... [ Continue Reading ]
When I would have healed Israel, when the Lord attempted to remove their corruption, THEN THE INIQUITY OF EPHRAIM WAS DISCOVERED, it became known openly, AND THE WICKEDNESS OF SAMARIA; FOR THEY COMMIT FALSEHOOD, so that intercourse became impossible because no man could trust the other; AND THE THIE... [ Continue Reading ]
And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness, that it is known and recorded in the book of God's remembrances; NOW THEIR OWN DOINGS HAVE BESET THEM ABOUT, like mountains hedging them in on every hand; THEY ARE BEFORE MY FACE, making it impossible to ignore them.... [ Continue Reading ]
They, the criminals of every type, MAKE THE KING GLAD WITH THEIR WICKEDNESS AND THE PRINCES WITH THEIR LIES, a fact which shows that the highest ranks of the people were infested with the corruption.... [ Continue Reading ]
They are all adulterers, the spiritual and moral condition of the entire people being the very lowest, AS AN OVEN HEATED BY THE BAKER, WHO CEASETH FROM RAISING, that is, from heating the oven further, AFTER HE HATH KNEADED THE DOUGH, UNTIL IT BE LEAVENED. The adulterous and idolatrous lust of the pe... [ Continue Reading ]
In the day of our king, his birthday or the day of his inauguration, THE PRINCES HAVE MADE HIM SICK WITH BOTTLES OF WINE, or, "the princes became ill with the heat of the wine"; HE STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND WITH SCORNERS, accepting their company with a ready spirit, making them his boon companions, so... [ Continue Reading ]
For they have made ready their heart like an oven whiles they lie in wait, that is, as men bring fuel for an oven, so they have brought their hearts into their cunning; THEIR BAKER SLEEPETH ALL THE NIGHT; IN THE MORNING IT BURNETH AS A FLAMING FIRE. The baker is the ringleader, who inspires passion,... [ Continue Reading ]
They are all hot as an oven, aflame with the various passions to which they have yielded themselves, AND HAVE DEVOURED THEIR JUDGES, their magistrates; ALL THEIR KINGS ARE FALLEN, the references probably being to the time when the last kings of Israel, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Peka... [ Continue Reading ]
Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people, by entering into friendships with heathen nations, adopting their ways and serving their idols. EPHRAIM IS A CAKE NOT TURNED, like a pancake burned on the lower side, while the upper side is not yet done. The entire cake is then not fit for eating.... [ Continue Reading ]
Strangers have devoured his strength, partly on account of the wars waged against Israel, partly as a consequence of the heathen ways which had been adopted in the northern kingdom, AND HE KNOWETH IT NOT, he was not even aware of his unfortunate condition; YEA, GRAY HAIRS ARE HERE AND THERE UPON HIM... [ Continue Reading ]
And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face, Cf Hosea 5:5, AND THEY DO NOT RETURN TO THE LORD, THEIR GOD, NOR SEEK HIM FOR ALL THIS. The situation was like that of which also other prophets complain when they state that the people have become hardened to the chastising hand of the Lord. Cf Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart, one which is too simple to notice the snare of the fowler. THEY CALL TO EGYPT, THEY GO TO ASSYRIA, not realizing that the very nations whose help they invoked would prove their undoing.... [ Continue Reading ]
HYPOCRISY REBUKED... [ Continue Reading ]
When they shall go, when their embassies are dispatched to seek the aid of the great foreign nations, I WILL SPREAD MY NET UPON THEM, using the foreigners as His instruments to carry out His punishment upon them; I WILL BRING THEM DOWN AS THE FOWLS OF THE HEAVEN, dragging them down into the net of t... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto them! For they have fled from Me, forsaking the one Rock of their salvation. DESTRUCTION UNTO THEM! BECAUSE THEY HAVE TRANSGRESSED AGAINST ME, they have rebelled and thereby forsaken Him, who is the only One who could and would help them. THOUGH I HAVE REDEEMED THEM, from the bondage of Egy... [ Continue Reading ]
And they have not cried unto Me with their heart, for whatever praying they did was performed in hypocrisy, WHEN THEY HOWLED UPON THEIR BEDS, with cries of sleepless anguish, after the usual manner of their kind, resorting to extremes in order to make an impression; THEY ASSEMBLE THEMSELVES FOR CORN... [ Continue Reading ]
Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, teaching them where to get and how to use their strength, YET DO THEY IMAGINE MISCHIEF AGAINST ME, by their idolatry and rebellion.... [ Continue Reading ]
They return, but not to the Most High, or, "upwards," with their faces turned to His power alone; THEY ARE LIKE A DECEITFUL BOW, whose string has lost its tenseness and cannot carry the arrow to its mark. THEIR PRINCES SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD FOR THE RAGE OF THEIR TONGUE, on account of their proud b... [ Continue Reading ]