Hosea 7:11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. The prophet blames Israel for foolish credulity, and compares them to a dove, for they had invited the Egyptians and sent to Assyria for help. Simplicity is indeed a commendable virtue when joined to prudence. But as everything reasonable and judicious in men is turned into wickedness, when there is no integrity; so when men are too credulous and void of all judgment and reason, it is then mere folly. And this folly is opposed to the knowledge which God had offered Israel in His law. It was not that they sinned through ignorance, but that they were destitute of all judgment. Men are not to be excused by the pretext of simplicity, for the prophet condemns this weakness in the Israelites. We ought to attend to the rule of Christ, "to be innocent as doves, yet to be prudent as serpents." When we despise the Word and neglect the Spirit of God, and follow our vagrant imaginations, we despise and quench the light of the Word, and we also wilfully perish, when the Lord would save us. ( John Calvin.) Parallel Verses KJV: Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. |
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