Hosea 7

In our search for knowledge in God's ways we reach a point and then stop. We understand a concept and then don't put it into practice. We get half way there and turn around and go the other way. We are half baked. How sad. We look at ourselves and promptly forget who we are. We have allowed the ways of the world to permeate our thoughts and our actions. We have forgotten that the knowledge of God is the beginning of understanding life. We try to live with one foot in the spiritual and one foot in the world. It doesn't work and God will not be mocked. As a people and as a nation we must put our trust in Him and Him alone.

"When I would have healed Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,

And the wickedness of Samaria.

For they have committed fraud;

A thief comes in;

A band of robbers takes spoil outside.

2 They do not consider in their hearts

That I remember all their wickedness;

Now their own deeds have surrounded them;

They are before My face.

4 "They are all adulterers.

Like an oven heated by a baker—

He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,

Until it is leavened.

5 In the day of our king

Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine;

He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

7 They are all hot, like an oven,

And have devoured their judges;

All their kings have fallen.

None among them calls upon Me.

8 "Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake unturned.

9 Aliens have devoured his strength,

But he does not know it;

Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,

Yet he does not know it.

10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face,

But they do not return to the Lord their God,

Nor seek Him for all this.

12 Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air;

I will chastise them

According to what their congregation has heard.

15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,

Yet they devise evil against Me;

16 They return, but not to the Most High;

They are like a treacherous bow.

Their princes shall fall by the sword

For the cursings of their tongue.

This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

The NKJV Study Bible says this: Hardened sinners typically do not consider that God will hold them accountable for their deeds. While kings should promote justice and be appalled by wickedness Israel's rulers approved of the people's sin. The background for these verses is the political turmoil of the northern kingdom. Instead of depending on the Lord for political stability, Israel formed alliances with surrounding nations. The destructive outcome of this policy is compared to a cake that has been placed over a fire and left unturned. Israel did not recognize that its power was declining and its freedom was slipping away, like an aging man who is gradually overtaken by the signs of old age. Like a bird that flies away when frightened , Israel fled from the Lord and His standards, despite His willingness to help the people. God sent a drought that took away Israel's grain and new wine. Yet instead of turning to Him in repentance, the idolatrous Israelites demonstrated their devotion to Baal. According to Canaanite religious beliefs, prolonged drought was a signal that the storm god Baal had been temporarily defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. Baal's worshipers would mourn his death in hopes that their tears might facilitate his resurrection and the restoration of crops. Though the Lord had been faithful to Israel, Israel had not been loyal to Him. Though Israel claimed to acknowledge the Lord's authority, it had violated His covenant and rejected the qualities the Lord regarded as good, such as justice, loyalty, and humility.