Hosea 6:1-7:16--Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

Hosea 6-7
English Standard Version

Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant
6 “Come, let us return to the LORD;
    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
    his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
    as the spring rains that water the earth.”

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes early away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
    there they dealt faithlessly with me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    tracked with blood.
9 As robbers lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to Shechem;
    they commit villainy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.
When I restore the fortunes of my people,

7 when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of Samaria,
for they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.
2 But they do not consider
    that I remember all their evil.
Now their deeds surround them;
    they are before my face.
3 By their evil they make the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
4 They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
    from the kneading of the dough
    until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
6 For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

8 Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9 Strangers devour his strength,
    and he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and he knows it not.
10 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
    yet they do not return to the LORD their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.
11 Ephraim is like a dove,
    silly and without sense,
    calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.
12 As they go, I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
    but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
16 They return, but not upward;
    they are like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

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Today's passage spans both chapters 6 and 7.  Though the LORD has been warning His people through the prophets (arguably since the time of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy) about their sin and the consequences that would result in exile, the people of Israel and Judah refuse to listen.  They think that this will be like all the other times where a simple "I'm sorry, I promise to never do it again" will suffice (fully intending to go right back to their wicked ways when the LORD's anger subsides.

It is interesting the Hosea uses language of being raised up on the third day which Jesus would later cite as evidence that He must die and be raised on the third day because He took the wrath that Israel deserved and stood in their place with His death, burial, and resurrection.  They think they are going to go out and fight those that are taking them into exile, but the LORD will not be with them.

Then comes a verse that you probably know from other passages because it is quoted, "For I desire steadfast love, and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."  The next verse might be a bit surprising though.  It tells us that "like Adam" they transgressed the covenant.  That's some interesting language because most people don't think of Adam being under any covenant, but there was a very simple Law for Him--don't eat of the tree in the middle of the Garden.  It came with a curse--"For the day you eat of it, you will surely die."  There are implied blessings for obedience--eternal life (since death comes as a result of sin), no separation from God, perfect peace, and having everything they need provided for just to name a few.  In the same way, the people of Israel and Judah have exchanged all of the blessings that they could have had for the curses because they believed God to be a liar and did not believe He had their best interest in mind or at heart.  God has been faithful and they have been faithless.  The fault does not lie with the LORD.

The land has become overrun by robbers and the priests have become murderers.  The kingdom of Israel has become something detestable to the LORD and the Gentile nations.  They have become defiled and the time of reckoning and judgment is upon them.

A day is coming when all will be laid bare and revealed.  The evils of the northern ten tribes will be made evident to everyone and no one will doubt why the LORD judged His people.  They believe the LORD will will be forgetful or will wink at their sin.   They are hedonistic, trying to gain pleasure from doing evil.  They are known as adulterers, drunkards, mockers, and people who are quick to anger.

The northern tribes look to Egypt for salvation from Assyria, but Egypt will have trouble of its own and will not come to their rescue (though it will be happy to steal their wealth).  The LORD has warned the people of impending doom, but they are eating and drinking and partying like times are good.  They are willfully ignorant of what is going to happen.  It is not because they were not told, but because they did not listen.  For these reasons and many more, the LORD is going to judge His people great and small according to the insolence of their tongues (the careless words they said).  They think Egypt will befriend them, but it will instead mock them when their time of judgment and destruction comes.