God makes it clear that He would have healed Israel (v1) but they did not confess their sin. Repentance is essential before there can be forgiveness. It seems that they thought they could continue in their sin and that God did not see it. We must not think for one moment that we can commit sin in secret (v1-3) without God seeing it. He says that they do not consider that God remembers all their wickedness. All sin is in the face of God and He is offended however much it may please people – ‘…. Making a King glad with their wickedness’.
It is a picture of our present culture that the more one does evil the more people are pleased. It should be the other way around.
The description in v 4-7 indicates that Israel was exceedingly wicked. In chapter 5 they were offering sacrifices to The LORD, but it wasn’t genuine, and this is confirmed here. They were hot like a baker’s oven with passion for their sin. Their judges and kings, who were in authority, were rendered useless.
As I mentioned earlier Israel and Ephraim are one and the same, so the condemnation of Israel applies also to Ephraim. God states that Ephraim has compromised and is ‘a half-baked cake’, which sounds an insult, but they were compromising with idols whilst professing to serve God (v8-12).
The sad thing is that they didn’t realise that they were being deceived. They were being ruined without knowing it, even though God was willing to restore them. A humorous metaphor is used in that they had grey hairs and did not realise it. They were acting young when they were old and deceiving themselves.
Sin does that to us all, it deceives us, and most times, we do not realise it.
God goes on to call Ephraim a silly dove, without sense (v11), calling out for help to Egypt and Assyria, but God would bring them down like birds caught in a net. He reminds them how He rescued them from slavery in Egypt, but they had turned against Him and even lied about Him and failed to cry out to Him (v13-16). Israel recognised that they had problems but refused to admit that it was their sin. They even resorted to wailing on their beds, saying, ‘woe is me’, but refusing to return to Almighty God, the only one who could help them. They even turned to other nations, including Egypt, where they had been rescued from so miraculously. Not surprisingly, Egypt mocked them, and they were held in derision. They were described as a treacherous bow, one which was useless. Just imagine shooting with a bow that was useless when facing the enemy. A bow which couldn’t shoot straight!
