Hosea 7:8

The outward evidences of Israel's decay

8. he hath mixed himself among the people Rather, he mixeth himself among the peoples. How? By courting the favour now of Egypt, now of Assyria (Hosea 7:11).

a cake not turned Burnt to a coal at the bottom, raw dough at the top: an apt emblem of a character full of inconsistencies (Bishop Horsley). The explanation is plausible, as long as we look at the figure by itself. But the context, which refers only to Israel's political decline, favours another view. -A brand snatched from the burning" is a figure of a country, rescued only just in time from destruction. Hosea's -cake not turned" may equally well be an emblem of a country half ruined by calamities, and not rescued. The calamities of Israel, alas! are of his own making; by mingling with -the peoples" he sought for warmth, but found a destroying conflagration (cf. Isaiah 47:14). The -cake" is the round flat cake of bread which was baked on hot stones (1 Kings 19:6) or on hot ashes, and required frequent turning, to prevent its being burned.