An anatomy of sin and the painful cost of healing
Hos 7:1-16
At the end of 2019, the effects of the devastating bush fires in Australia were felt even in New Zealand, over 2,000 km away. I remember waking up on New Year’s Eve to an eery yellow glow with the sun struggling to break through the smoke in the atmosphere all day. Closer to home, the bush fire on the Port Hills of Christchurch in 2017 started from a spark caused by an electrical fault early on a Monday evening. Combining with a second fire suspected to be the result of arson, the two fires rapidly established themselves. By Wednesday morning 10,000 hectares had burnt and by the same evening, a raging fire tornado reached a height of about 100 metres. By Thursday morning, the fire had doubled to over 2,000 hectares. It took 66 days to extinguish the flames demonstrating how difficult it is to deal with such a destructive force.
The anatomy of sin: a fire that needs no stirring
This image of a fire burning in our reading, albeit in an oven, shows Israel heated to a ferocious blaze. God wants to restore and heal, but sin must be revealed for what it is first (Hos 6:11; 7:1).[1] Israel is immersed in self-serving lies (sheqer, NASB ‘deal falsely’), while the corruption of society is characterised by thieves within and bandits without (v.1). This rampant depravity flows from the people’s conviction that God will not hold them responsible (‘remember their wickedness’) so that their sins engulf them and are, as it were, in God’s face, too (Hos 7:2).[2] The political intrigue around the monarch is like a burning oven that needs no stirring and does not abate at night but comes back in the morning as a flaming fire (Hos 7:4, 6).[3] The king seems to be passive in all this, surrounding himself with wicked company (liars and scoffers, Hos 7:3, 5) and intoxicated officials (v.5), who are either unaware of the intrigue brewing against their ruler or part of the plotting themselves. It is an apt picture of the chaotic last years of Israel with four kings assassinated (2 Kings 15:8-10, 14, 23-25, 30; Hos 7:7).
Israel mixed up, consumed but stubborn
Continuing the baking imagery, Israel (Ephraim) is depicted as an ingredient in a cake that mixes itself with other peoples until it becomes indistinguishable from them (Hos 7:8). In worldview, worship and behaviour, Israel took over the thinking and habits of the nations. Like a half-baked cake, raw where it is not turned to touch the wall of the oven (v.8), it became useless: neither one thing, nor the other. The people’s strength is sapped (Hos 7:9) as the king follows a human agenda of buying foreign military support (Hos 7:11), depleting the treasury thereby and taxing the population. The very thing the people look to for help, takes their vitality. Yet they do not even notice (v.9) and refuse to call on God, return or seek Him (Hos 7:7, 10, 14). How thoroughly they have adjusted to pagan thinking is evident in their wailing for material prosperity (v.14), a common feature of pagan worship that assumed loud cries and a pitiful stance (even cutting oneself, 1 Kings 18:28) would get the gods to respond. Even in their greatest misery, Israel’s answer to God is rebellion and lies (Hos 7:13, 15). It is this antagonism and stubborn refusal to trust the Lord that needs breaking and, sadly, only the drastic measures of captivity and devastation (Hos 7:12, 16) can do it.
The painful cost of healing
The level of depravity and corruption in this passage may feel a little unrelatable in our Christian context. Nevertheless, the comparison with the fire reminds us that a raging inferno begins with small sparks that catch on and spread. Let us not wait until the passion for certain sins burns with such ferocity that we can no longer put it out. The anatomy of Israel’s sin and the behavioural patterns that follow from it are a deterrent for us all. When we are not shaped by God’s teaching and will but are immersed in thoughts and attitudes contrary to His perspective, our awareness of spiritual realities diminishes and our desire for His ways abate. Instead of seeking God’s help, we are more likely to rely on other people or our own efforts to get out of difficult situations. Yet, God is able to heal us, but it comes at a painful cost because breaking the terrible hold of sin may require a severe mercy.
[1] The transition to Judah is abrupt and whether it fits with what has gone before or what follows depends on the meaning of the ‘harvest’ (v.11). If this is an image of judgment, then Hosea is saying that just as Israel was guilty (and by implication will be judged), so Judah will face the same. If the harvest is understood positively as God’s blessing, then it should be read as a restoration that will come to them, as well as to Israel.
[2] The concept of remembering in Hebrew is an active bringing to mind, so that God not remembering (e.g. sins) means His forgiveness, and remembering them indicates judgment.
[3] Hosea 7:4 may be read as the baker not stirring to knead the dough and thereby showing passivity and neglect in his duties (bakers tend to work at night to have fresh bread ready in the morning). Likewise, Hosea 7:6 takes up the oven imagery again where NASB’s ‘their anger smolders all night’ may be translated as ‘their baker sleeps all night’. One suggestion is that the baker represents the king, unaware of what is going on, not controlling the fire or kneading the bread, but the former blazes even when left alone and the leaven spreads in the dough without kneading. If the fire is seen as the destructive political intrigue and the leaven as the moral corruption of the people, then this suggests that the king allows conspiracy and evil influence to flourish in the land through his neglect. Duane A. Garrett, Hosea, Joel, NAC 19A (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 1997), 169.
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