Hosea 7:11-16 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.… Every sinner may read a warning in the words here addressed to Ephraim. I. FLEEING FROM GOD. (Vers. 11, 12.) The wicked "say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways" (Job 21:14). They themselves try, though vainly, to escape from God. They would fain put a great distance between him and them (Jonah; the prodigal). 1. Fleeing from God is sin. It is an attempt on the part of the creature to establish an independence which the Creator does not allow. Even the attempt at such flight God must check and punish. 2. Fleeing from God is folly. It is foolish (1) because it is an attempt at the impossible; and (2) because, if the wicked could succeed in the attempt, it would still be to their own hurt. Abandoning God, the soul is doomed to the pursuit of vanity. It cannot rest in itself, for it is not self-centered; but neither can it rest in the creature, for the creature is constantly proving itself a false support. Besides, life without God has no longer a proper aim. The soul is thus smitten with restlessness; its movements become vague, methodless, erratic. "They call to Egypt; they go to Assyria." It flits from one object to another, and finds repose in none. Existence is a succession of new trials, and a series of new disappointments. 3. Fleeing from God is destruction. God declares that when the sinner flees, he will pursue (ver. 12). No matter how lofty their soarings, he will spread his net for them, and bring them down. He has forewarned them of this, and they will find it true, Jonah found, when he tried to escape, that God's net was spread for him. Every sinner will find the same. The net which God spreads for the haughty, would-be independent ones is that of his punitive justice. Their pride will end, as all evil ends, in destruction. II. FALSE DEALING WITH GOD. (Vers. 13-16.) A main part of the charge against Ephraim is falsehood (vers. 1, 3). The falsehood is primarily falsehood towards God. We have here three phases of it. 1. Insincerity in repentance. "They have not cried with their heart, when they howled upon their beds, etc. (ver. 14). The insincerity of their repentance was evinced: (1) By the very noise they made about it "they howled," etc. (2) By their unabridged indulgence in sin: "They assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me." They insulted God by lying protestations of a desire to return to him, while openly dishonoring him by their wickedness. It is not loud outcries, but changed actions, which show the reality of repentance (Matthew 3:8). 2. Speaking lies against God. (1) God had attested his willingness to redeem, but they alleged that he would not do so. "I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me" (ver. 13). It was easier to profess doubt of God's Word than to fulfill the moral conditions necessary for the securing of the blessing. (2) God had shown himself their true Helper - " I instructed and strengthened their arms" - yet they plotted alliances with heathen powers, disowning his past goodness. "They imagine mischief against me" (ver. 15). Thus, doubly, they made God a liar. But their whole life and worship was a denial of his Word. They gainsaid the Word sent them by the prophets, denied his anger at their sins, changed his truth into a lie in the worship of the calves, etc. 3. Faithlessness in promises. Even when, for a brief moment, they seemed wishful of amendment, their goodness did not last (Hosea 6:4). Their promises were broken. They did not keep faith with God. They were as "a deceitful bow" (ver. 16). The deceitful bow: (1) Holds out a promise. The person who shoots thinks he can depend upon it. It seems a bow that will serve his ends. (2) Suggests an aim. The use of a bow is to drive the arrow to the point aimed at. God had an aim in the calling of Israel. It was his desire to reach that aim through the obedience of the nation. He has an aim in our own creation, calling, and moral discipline. (3) Proves treacherous on trial. It either does not shoot at all, or sends the arrow but a little way, or turns it off in a different direction from that which the shooter intended. In any case, it proves not to be depended on. Confidence cannot be placed in it. It deceives and disappoints. Israel had thus repeatedly disappointed the expectations raised by repentances and vows. III. A LAUGHING-STOCK TO MEN. (Ver. 16.) "This shall be their derision in the, land of Egypt." Their princes had used boastful language - "the rage of their tongue." Once their pretensions were exposed, they would become a mockery to those for the sake of whose friendship and help they had deserted God. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. |
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