Book of Hosea Chapter 11 Vs. 7

 The Lord's Love for Israel

And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. Hos. 11:7

bent to backsliding... The idea is that they were bound to wrong, and they hung on to it, unmoved by all the appeals of God, conscience, or anything else (cp. Hos. 4:16). Not only do they backslide, and that too from Me, their chief good, but they are bent upon it. Though they (the prophets), called them (the Israelites), to the Most High (from their idols), none would exalt (that is, extol or honor), Him. To exalt God, they must cease to be bent on backsliding, and must lift themselves upwards.

though they called... The prophets, called them to the Most High; invited, exhorted, and encouraged them with many fair promises to give glory to God by returning.

none at all... Not one of many, scarce any one in those great numbers in Israel, would hearken and obey. Would exalt him; God in his holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, all which a repenting people do magnify, but these will not. They retain their idols, depend on Egypt, and put all on that cast, and will neither believe nor try God’s goodness.

Backsliding is listening to the lust of our own flesh. We are in a battle of the flesh against the spirit. To walk before God in a pleasing way and be satisfied with our own walk, we must put the flesh under the rule of the spirit.

The term backslider in heart was a term so often used by the prophets and is here used in such a way as to clarify who is a backslider. He belongs in the category of the fool, the wicked, and the disobedient and he is contrasted with the godly wise. It is a word that the prophets used of apostate unbelievers. (See Prov. 14:14).

They had been in right standing with God, and they of their own free will, have turned away from God. They are like many people today who walk with God for a while, and then the cares of this world cause them to fall away. God had called them to a special relationship with Him. They, of their own free will, refused to exalt Him as God.

He shall return to the land of Egypt, or Asshur shall be his king it is still an alternative, for they have refused to return to ‘Tis but one more instance of the age-long apostasy of the people. My people have a bias to turn from Me; and though they (the prophets) call them upwards, none of them can lift them.

The Hebrew text of Hos. 11:7 is so obscure that any translation must remain tentative. The problem is evidenced by the variations in the English versions. According to the NIV rendering, God refused to hear the desperate prayer of His obstinate people. But the NASB translates the text, though they call them to the One on high, none at all exalts Him, with they are referring not to Israel but to the prophets. In that view Israel rejected the prophets’ calls to repentance.