Hosea 7:1

“When I would have healed Israel, etc.] Or rather, “when I healed Israel”f129; for this is not to be understood of a velleity, wish, or desire of healing and saving them, as Jarchi; nor of a bare attempt to do it by the admonitions of the prophets, and by corrections in Providence; but of actual healing them; and by which is meant, not healing them in a spiritual and religious sense, as in (<280601>Hosea 6:1); but in a political sense, of the restoring of their civil state to a more flourishing condition; which was done in the times of Jeroboam the son of Joash, as Kimchi rightly observes; who restored the coast of Israel, from the entering of Hamath, unto the sea of the plain, (<121425>2…”

“REPROOF OF ISRAEL. (Hos. 7:1-16) Probably delivered in the interreign and civil war at Pekah's death; for Hos 7:7, "all their kings . . . fallen," refers to the murder of Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah. In Hos 7:8 the reference seems to be to Menahem's payment of tribute to Pul, in order to secure himself in the usurped throne, also to Pekah's league with Rezin of Syria, and to Hoshea's connection with Assyria during the interregnum at Pekah's death [MAURER]. I would have healed Israel--Israel's restoration of the two hundred thousand Jewish captives at God's command (Ch2 28:8-15) gave hope of Israel's reformation [HENDERSON]. Political, as well as moral, healing is meant.…”

“When I would have healed Israel - God begins anew by appealing to Israel, that all which He had done to heal them, had but served to make their sin more evident, and “that,” from highest to lowest, as to all manners and ways of sin. When the flash of God’s light on the sinner’s conscience enlightens it not, it only discloses its darkness. The name “Israel” includes the whole people; the names, Ephraim and Samaria, probably are meant to designate the chief among them, Ephraim having been their royal tribe, and being the chief tribe among them; Samaria being their royal city. The sins, which Hoses denounces in this chapter, are chiefly the sins of the great, which, from them, had spread among…”

“Of Ephraim - Of Ephraim the chief tribe of this revolting kingdom. Hosea 7:2”

“7:1-2 I want to heal Israel: God’s overwhelming desire was to heal Israel’s harlotry (see 14:4) and restore her to right relationship with him, but she was filled with liars, thieves, and bandits. • The Israelites might have thought that the Lord was unaware of their sins, but he was watching them, and he saw everything they did.”

“I would: Jer 51:9; Mat 23:37; Luk 13:34, Luk 19:42 the iniquity: Hos 4:17, Hos 6:8, Hos 8:9; Isa 28:1; Mic 6:16 wickedness: Heb. evils, Hos 8:5, Hos 10:5; Eze 16:46, Eze 23:4; Amo 8:14 they commit: Hos 5:1, Hos 6:10, Hos 11:12, Hos 12:1; Isa 59:12; Jer 9:2-6; Mic 7:3-7 the troop: Hos 6:9 spoileth: Heb. strippeth Hosea 7:2”

“In the first strophe ( Hos 7:1-7) the exposure of the moral depravity of Israel is continued. Hos 7:1. "When I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim, reveals itself, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they practise deceit; and the thief cometh, the troop of robbers plundereth without. Hos 7:2. And they say not in their heart, I should remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds have surrounded them, they have occurred before my face. Hos 7:3. They delight the king with their wickedness, and princes with their lies." As the dangerous nature of a wound is often first brought out by the attempt to heal it, so was the corruption of Israel only brought truly to light by the effort to stem it.…”