THE CONFUSION OF THE NATION
Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. Hos. 7:11
like a silly... There is nothing more simple than a dove. Ephraim ignored God’s calls, was unmoved by calamity and sufferings, and would not seek the Lord in all her trouble. No creature is less able to defend itself than the dove, which flies from the bird of prey to the net of the fowler. In this powerful metaphor, we have a political allusion. King Hoshea (19th and last king of Israel), is called Ausih on the Assyrian monuments. Having usurped the throne after the murder of Pekah, he purchased his recognition as king of Israel by giving a large present to the Assyrian monarch (730 B.C.).
they call to... Instead of calling to God who could and would help, they called to Egypt who could not, and went to Assyria who would not. So God complains by Isaiah, To Me, thou hast not called, O Jacob (Isa. 43:22). This was their folly; they called not to God, who had delivered them out of Egypt, but, alternately, to their two powerful neighbors, of whom Egypt was a delusive promisor, not failing only, but piercing those who leant on it; Assyria was a powerful oppressor.
A silly dove is unaware of the danger of flying head long into a net. Ephraim has forgotten their help is in God. They seek help from Egypt (world), and from Assyria. They are heading for their own trap.
There is nothing more simple than a dove. Ephraim ignored God’s calls, was unmoved by calamity and sufferings, and would not seek the Lord in all her trouble.
With virtue and single-hearted faith have disappeared intellect and the capacity for affairs. Ephraim is become like a silly dove-a dove without heart, to the Hebrews the organ of the wits of a man they cry to Egypt, they go off to Assyria. Poor pigeon of a people, fluttering from one refuge to another!
In her efforts to arrange foreign alliances, Israel could be compared to a dove, which exhibits little sense (cf. Hos. 11:11). Under Menahem (ca. 743 or 738 B.C) Israel submitted to Assyrian suzerainty (2Kgs. 15:19-20). Pekah (ca. 734 B.C) joined a coalition against Assyria, which Tiglath-Pileser III violently crushed (2Kgs. 15:29). Hoshea (ca. 732-722 B.C), after acknowledging Assyrian rulership for a time, stopped tribute payments and sought an alliance with Egypt (2Kgs. 17:3-4). This act of rebellion led to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom (2Kgs. 17:4-6), the inevitable result of a foreign policy which for 20 years had been characterized by vacillating and expedient measures.
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