Hosea 7:2

And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. AND THEY CONSIDER NOT IN THEIR HEARTS - literally, say not to, etc. (). The voice of conscience no longer pleads in the hardened sinner's heart: the man no longer communes seriously with his own heart. THAT I REMEMBER ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS - and will punish it. NOW - while they are so reckless as not to "consider in their hearts" - at this very moment. NOW - while they are so reckless as not to "consider in their hearts" - at this very moment. NOW THEIR OWN DOINGS HAVE BESET THEM ABOUT - as so many witnesses against them (;...

The Prophet shows here that the Israelites had advanced to the highest summit of all wickedness; for they thought that no account was ever to be given by them to God. Hence arises the contempt of God; that is, when men imagine that he is, as it were, sleeping in heaven, and that he rests from every work. They dare not indeed to deny God, and yet they take from him what especially belongs to his divinity, for they exclude him from the office of being a judge. Hence then it is that men allow themselves so much liberty, because they imagine that they have made a truce with God; yea, they think that they can do any thing with impurity, as if they had made a covenant with death and hell, as Isaiah says, (Isaiah 28:15.) Of this sottishness then does the Prophet here arraign the Israelites, _They have not said, _he says, _in their heart, that I remember all their wickedness; _that is, “They so...

1-7 A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a nation, the people never thought of seeking help from God. The actual wickedness of men's lives bears a very small proportion to what is in their hearts. But when lust is inwardly cherished, it will break forth into outward sin. Those who tempt others to drunkenness never can be their real friends, and often design their ruin. Thus men execute the Divine vengeance on each other. Those are not only heated with sin, but hardened in sin, who continue to live without prayer, even when in trouble and distress....

Verse Hosea 7:2. _THEY CONSIDER NOT IN THEIR HEARTS_] They do not consider that _my eye is upon all their ways_; they do not think that I _record_ all their wickedness; and they know not their _own_ evil _doings_ are as a _host of enemies encompassing_ them about....

AND THEY CONSIDER NOT IN THEIR HEARTS - Literally, (as in the E. M) “they say not to their hearts.” The conscience is God’s voice to the heart from within; man’s knowledge of the law of God, and his memory of it, is man’s voice, reminding his heart and rebellious affections to abide in their obedience to God. God speaks through the heart, when by His secret inspirations he recalls it to its duty. Man speaks to his own heart, when he checks its sinful or passionate impulses by the rule of God’s law, “Thou shalt not.” “At first, people feel the deformity of certain sorts of wickedness. When accustomed to them, people think that God is indifferent to what no longer shocks themselves.” “They say not to their heart” anymore, that “God remembers them.” I REMEMBER ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS - This was the root of “all their wickedness,” want of thought. They would not stop to say to themselves, that...

EXPOSITION This chapter may be divided into three sections. In the first section, including Hosea 7:1, the prophet reproves with much but deserved severity the depraved morals of king and princes. In the second section, consisting of Hosea 7:8, he rebukes their sinfulness, silliness, pride, and stupid obstinacy, notwithstanding the many manifest tokens of decay. Otherwise the first section deals with the internal corruption of the northern kingdom, and the second exposes their sinful and harmful foreign policy. The third section, continuing from the twelfth verse to the end of the chapter, that is, Hosea 7:12, threatens the infliction of punishment incurred by their gross wicked. Hess and base ingratitude to God....

AND THEY CONSIDER NOT IN THEIR HEARTS [THAT] I REMEMBER ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS,.... That is, the people of the ten tribes, and the inhabitants of Samaria, whose iniquity and wickedness are said to be discovered, and to be very notorious: and yet "they said not to their hearts" m, as in the original text; they did not think within themselves; they did not commune with their own hearts; they did not put themselves in mind, or put this to their consciences, that the Lord saw all their wicked actions, their idolatry, falsehood, thefts, and robberies, and whatsoever they were guilty of; that the Lord took notice of them, and put them down in the book of his remembrance, in order to call them to an account, and punish them for them: NOW THEIR OWN DOINGS HAVE BESET THEM ABOUT; or, "that now their own doings", c. n they do not consider in their hearts that their sins are all around them, on every...

CHAPTER 7 The Moral Depravity of Israel _ 1. Their moral depravity (Hosea 7:1) _ 2. Mingling with heathen nations (Hosea 7:8) Hosea 7:1. All the gracious efforts of the Lord to heal Israel resulted in a greater manifestation of the iniquity of Ephraim. Instead of turning to Him in true repentance and self-judgment their evil heart turned away from Jehovah, and they continued in their downward course. They did not consider that the Lord would remember all their evil deeds and punish them for it. The king and the princes, the political heads were as corrupt as the priests, they were pleased with the impenitence and wickedness of their subjects. Then follows a graphic description of their moral depravity. They w

HOSEA 6:4 TO HOSEA 7:2. ISRAEL'S MORAL CONDITION HOPELESSLY CORRUPT. The shallow expressions of loyalty by the fickle people mean nothing, and cannot avert Yahweh's inevitable judgment. He looks for real loyalty, not for a hollow ritual of sacrifices (Hosea 6:4). Examples of the anarchy and crime that prevail, involving even the priests in the charge of murder and immorality, are given, demonstrating Israel's utter corruption, Judah also (Hosea 6:11_ a_, if this is not a gloss) being involved (Hosea 6:7_ a)._ Every attempt to heal the disease only reveals how deep-seated and

_they consider not in their hearts_ Rather, as margin, THEY SAY NOT TO THEIR HEART. -Heart" here = self; the meaning is therefore they have no pricks of conscience. _now their own doings have beset them about_ They are so entangled in sin (to use a more familiar figure) that they cannot even try to repent. _they are before my face_ Comp. Psalms 90:8....