Hosea 7:8 NIV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Hosea 7:8

Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people - i. e., with the pagan; he “mixed” or “mingled” himself among or with them, so as to corrupt himself, as it is said, “they were mingled among the pagan and learned their works” Psalms 106:35. God had forbidden all intermarriage with the pagan Exodus 34:12-16, lest His people should corrupt themselves: they thought themselves wiser than He, intermarried, and were corrupted. Such are the ways of those who put themselves amid occasions of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Hosea 7:8-10

Hosea 7:8-10. Ephraim, he hath mixed among the people By his alliances with the heathen, and by imitation of their manners, he is himself become one of them. He has thrown off all the distinctions, and forfeited the privileges of the chosen race. “The Hebrew word here rendered people, עמים , is in the plural, and, when applied to bodies politic,” says Bishop Horsley, “always signifies the various nations of the earth, the unenlightened nations, in opposition to God’s peculiar people, the... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Hosea 7:8-16

Alliances with other nations (7:8-16)Israel is useless, like a cake that is burnt on one side but uncooked on the other. It has ruined itself by relying too much on other nations and too little on God. As a result Israel has, without realizing it, come under the power of these nations. God has allowed this to happen as a punishment on his people, but because of their arrogance they refuse to acknowledge the fact and will not return to God (8-10). Foolishly they make alliances, first with one... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Hosea 7:8

people = peoples, or nations. a cake not turned: i.e. a thin (pan)cake, burnt one side and moist the other, and therefore uneatable. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Hosea 7:8

"Ephraim, he mixeth himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned."The breaking of the ancient covenant is stressed here. God had specifically commanded that Israel was not to intermingle with the pagan nations they were displacing."He mixes himself among the peoples ..." The very purpose of the chosen people involved their segregation from the pagan populations of the earth; it was by this device that God sought to preserve the truth of monotheism among the sons of earth. As Given... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Hosea 7:8

Hosea 7:8. Among the people; Ephraim is a cake, &c.— Among the heathen, &c. This similitude of Ephraim to a cake, is accommodated to the Hebrew word בלל balal, rendered mixed, and which properly signifies the ingredients wherewith cakes are made, that they may be baked covered over with ashes and embers. Ephraim is said to mix himself with the heathen, partly because he worshipped their gods, and partly because he called in their aid, and made covenants with them. We have in the... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Hosea 7:8

8. mixed . . . among the people—by leagues with idolaters, and the adoption of their idolatrous practices (Hosea 7:9; Hosea 7:11; Psalms 106:35). Ephraim . . . cake not turned—a cake burnt on one side and unbaked on the other, and so uneatable; an image of the worthlessness of Ephraim. The Easterners bake their bread on the ground, covering it with embers (1 Kings 19:6), and turning it every ten minutes, to bake it thoroughly without burning it. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Hosea 7:8

Ephraim had mixed itself with the pagan nations like unleavened dough mixed with leaven. She had done this by making alliances with neighbor nations as well as by importing heathen customs and pagan gods into Israel."Hoshea’s lurching foreign policy is illustrative. In 732 B.C., Hoshea, after killing Pekah, suddenly shifted from alliance with Egypt, Philistia, and Aram-Damascus to alliance with Assyria. A few years later he broke that alliance, and coming virtually full circle, again sought... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Hosea 7:8-16

Reliance on foreigners 7:8-16This pericope condemns Israel’s foreign policy. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 7:1-16

Corruption of the CourtIn this chapter the tone again becomes despondent. How can Israel be saved when her iniquity is so deep, so glaring, so obstinate? Samaria is especially instanced as the centre of a wicked and corrupt government sustained by a lawless people and false teachers. Hosea dwells chiefly on some plot which ended in regicide and the reliance on foreign powers which meant want of faith in God.2. They fail to realise how patent in God’s sight their iniquity is, while they attempt... read more