Hosea 7:6-10

Hosea 7:6 (KJB)

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

 

Israel did not just fall into sin, instead they had planned all their sinful ventures.  Just like a baker who puts wood in a stove and ignites it until it gets to the right temperature to bake.  They had ignited their passions for sin and while the oven was getting hot, they too were stoking the flame of their sins as they lied in wait, which means they were planning their sin.  The problem is that when the baker ignited the oven, he went to sleep and instead of watching the oven to make sure that it burned properly, he ignored his duty and when he awoke in the morning, he saw the oven was consumed with fire and all baked goods were destroyed.  The same thing happened to Israel instead of them watching their lives and living for the LORD, they played the harlot and sinned against the LORD and when they finally came to their senses, they would be in captivity with the Assyrians meaning their land would be taken and they would never again return to their land.

 

Hosea 7:7 (KJB)

They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

 

Just as the oven which was heated and then left by itself to burn and devour what was inside, Israel had devoured the last of the judges which would have been the honest magistrates who refused to rebel against the LORD and join the rabble who were living the life of debauchery.  As a result of their sin, there were no saved kings in the northern kingdom and this resulted in the fall of all the kings including the last one who would go into captivity with the Assyrians.  While they were suffering for their sins, none of them called upon the LORD to see what was happening so they could return and not face the coming judgment.

 

Hosea 7:8 (KJB)

Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

 

Ephraim had co-mingled with the pagans and this resulted in them turning completely away from the LORD.  A cake not turned would be uneatable because it would be burned on one side and still remain raw on the other side.  Israel was to be a holy nation unto the LORD instead they had become so co-mingled with the false religions and false gods that they were totally corrupted.  You could basically apply the term Total Depravity to Israel because everything they did was steeped in sin.  Exodus 19:6 (KJV) And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.  As Exodus 19:6 states, they were to be holy but they had strayed very far from that position.

 

Hosea 7:9 (KJB)

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

 

The one great principle which sin never lets a person know is deception.  Sin deceives to the point that you do not even know you are living in a state of sin.  2 Timothy 3:13 (KJV) But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.  2 Timothy 3:13 is very apropos to their situation because they had become evil men and were being deceived and in turn were continuing to deceive others and themselves.  They were as those with gray hairs which symbolized old age and the nearness of death but they were too busy in the life of sin to realize that judgment for their actions was soon to be upon them.

 

Hosea 7:10 (KJB)

And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

 

The pride of Israel which would have been from the king down had run rampant among them and there was no humility among the people.  Their pride would eventually testify against them as the cause of their refusal to turn back to the LORD.  They thought they were self-sufficient and did not need anyone to lead or guide them because they thought that their wisdom was all they needed.  No matter what they faced, they had outright refused to turn back to the LORD.  Even when they were punished for their sins, they would refuse to turn back to the LORD.  Some may have come to their senses but not enough to warrant a stay of execution from the LORD.

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