and the sword shall turn about in his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour [them], because of their own counsels.
Hosea 11 remembers God's love for Israel — His kindness, His goodness, His care. Then the sword arrives, and verse 6 blames it not on Assyria's ambition but on Israel's own plans.
Verse 5 says Assyria will be their king "because they have refused to return." Verse 6 shows what that refusal produced. Israel had a plan for escaping Assyria, and the plan itself destroyed them. Kelly points to Egypt, the shelter Israel kept eyeing.
The meaning implied is that in rebellion against God some would have liked Egypt as a refuge from the Assyrian invader… It was not that Israel had reason to love the iron furnace they had come out of — their house of slavery until God rescued them through Moses; but man is always perverse. Even Egypt displeases God and is due for judgment after Israel. Still, to their blind unbelief it looks like a shield they want against the sword of Assyria when it comes — and come it surely will. What we run from against God's will becomes our worst punishment.
The "counsels" were not vague attitudes. Rossier ties them to a real piece of foreign policy under Hoshea, Israel's king.
"But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year." In fact, the prophet mentions this two-faced, suspicious conduct of the king: "Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt." So Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, discovered Hoshea's plot and "shut him up and bound him in prison."
Assyria appears twice: first as the power Israel leaned on, then as the power that carried them off.
It is similar in Hosea 8:9, "For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone" — only here it seems to be one of the reasons for the captivity. Israel relied on Assyria instead of Jehovah. So Jehovah let him become a captive of the nation he had relied on.
Verse 6 leaves nothing standing: the sword rages, consumes, devours. Gaebelein reads the judgment as complete — and then points to what comes next in the chapter.
But the Lord declares that they shall not return to Egypt, but Assyria is to be their king, because they refused to return. The sword of judgment would do its work completely (verses 6–7). Then follows a most wonderful outburst of deepest sorrow over the stubborn nation.
The sword of verse 6 is not the last word of the chapter. Darby traces the whole movement: love remembered, captivity, then home again.
After all this (Hosea 11), God still remembers His early love for Jacob; He reminds them of all His lovingkindness, His goodness, His care for them. They should not return to their former condition in Egypt; Assyria should be the place of their captivity. But however great the sin of Israel, the heart of their God cannot forsake His people. He will not destroy them. He is God, and not man. In the end He will place the people, trembling now and submissive, back in their homes.
- Counsel. The sword comes from a source inside Israel. Their own plans, not just Assyria's armies, bring the blade to their gates.
- Refusal. Those plans grew out of one root sin: they would not return to God, so they went looking for a shield somewhere else.
- Egypt. The shield they wanted was Egypt, the land of slavery God had rescued them from. What we run from against God's will becomes our worst punishment.
- Assyria. The nation they leaned on became the nation that carried them off. Their chosen ally became their king.
- Mercy. God carries the sentence out to the full, and still His heart will not let Ephraim go. He strikes, grieves, and promises to settle them in their homes again.
Yea, my people are bent upon backsliding from me though they call them to the Most High, none at all exalteth [him].
Hosea 11 has just described God carrying Ephraim — that is, Israel — in His arms and drawing him with cords of love. Verse 7 shows how Israel answered that love, and what God says to a people set on leaving Him.
Translations differ at the end of this verse. The ESV has "he shall not raise them up at all"; others read "none at all exalts Him."
The Hebrew word behind "turning away" carries a stronger sense than the English suggests. The same word links this verse to Jeremiah and to Hosea's final chapter.
meshubah, "a turning away, apostasy." Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 3:6-12, 22; Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 8:5; Jeremiah 14:7; Hosea 11:7; Hosea 14:4.
The verse describes a direction, not a single slip. One writer traces where that direction leads when it is not judged.
Nor is this all, because unjudged sin leads to worse evil. Go on to Jeremiah 8, where the Lord asks, "Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return" (Jeremiah 8:5). If I do not listen to His word and return, I will get into this dreadful condition of perpetual backsliding. We may well take to heart the warning of Hebrews 3:12-13. "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God … that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
God did not leave them to drift in silence. What He had already done for them makes their refusal starker.
He sent them prophets who called them, but they turned away from Him and gave themselves over to the Baals and the idol-gods. How loving He had been to them! He led them, took them into His arms and healed them. He drew them with cords of love … It is a beautiful picture of His great gentleness with them … The Lord declares that they will not return to Egypt. Assyria is to be their king, because they refused to return. The sword of judgment would do its work completely (verses 6-7).
Israel hoped to slip away from Assyria into Egypt. The place they ran to for safety was the last place that could give it.
The meaning implied is that, in rebellion against God, some would have liked Egypt as a refuge from the Assyrian destroyer … Israel had no reason to love the iron furnace they had come out of. Egypt was their house of slavery until God delivered them through Moses. But man is always perverse. Egypt displeased God, and He was about to judge it after Israel. Even so, to their blind unbelief it looked like a fine shield from the sword of the Assyrian — and that sword will surely come. What we run from in opposition to God's will becomes our severest scourge.
The problem is not that God's call is hard to understand. It is that His call cuts across what a person wants.
It is the truth that grates on the reluctant will of man. This is the source of all unbelief … Why then does man not love it? Because he has departed from God and refuses to return in God's way. He fools himself with the comfortable idea that he would like to serve God someday, if not now. But he likes nothing except his own will. Yet anyone who serves God must serve Him according to His will, which alone is holy and good.
Verse 7 is not the last word. Even here, they are still "My people." The next verse shows God refusing to give Ephraim up — and His own feel the same toward those who wander.
Speaking through Hosea, the Lord says, "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? … My heart recoils within Me; My compassion grows warm and tender." (Chapter 11:8.) No! The Lord never forgets His people, however badly they may have sinned … If He does not forget backsliders, His people will not forget them either. If He yearns over them and pleads with them, they will do the same — when His own affections are active in their hearts.
The same word appears again in Hosea's last chapter. There God promises to heal it Himself.
"I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for My anger has turned from them" (Hosea 14:4). What could be more blessed than this? … It is love's victory over the lack of it.
- Bent — the word behind "turning away" means apostasy: a settled direction, not one slip.
- Hardened — sin left unjudged grows into "perpetual backsliding": people hold fast to deceit and refuse to return.
- Refused — God carried them in His arms and sent prophets to call them. They refused to return, and Assyria came.
- Enslaved — leaving God frees no one. The refuge chosen against His will becomes the severest scourge.
- Healed — the apostasy no one could cure is the very thing God promises to heal, loving them freely.