The Gravity of a Bent Will Text: Hosea 11:5-7
Introduction: The Politics of Apostasy
We live in an age that is allergic to consequences. Modern man wants to live in a universe of his own making, a world where his choices have no necessary or binding outcomes, a moral playground where he can redefine the rules on a whim. He wants to sow the wind and not reap the whirlwind. He wants to have his sin and eat it too. But the God of Scripture is the God of reality, and in His world, actions have consequences. Choices have weight. Rebellion has a trajectory, and that trajectory, unless sovereign grace intervenes, is always downward.
In the book of Hosea, God puts the infidelity of His covenant people, Israel, on full display. He uses the tragic marriage of the prophet to an unfaithful wife as a living, breathing parable of His own relationship with a people He had redeemed, loved, and provided for, only to be met with spiritual adultery. The northern kingdom of Israel had thoroughly corrupted their worship and their politics. They had set up golden calves, chased after foreign gods, and played the harlot with foreign powers. They thought they could play the geopolitical game with the big boys, Egypt and Assyria, leaning on one and then the other, using them as a hedge against God's threats.
But what happens when a people refuse to return to God? What happens when their necks are stiff and their wills are bent on backsliding? Our text this morning lays it out with terrifying clarity. God's judgment is not arbitrary. It is, in a very real sense, the natural harvest of a people's choices. God gives them over to the very things they were chasing. They looked to Assyria for security, so God says, "Fine. You want Assyria? You can have him as your king." This is not God losing control; this is God in meticulous, sovereign control, weaving the rebellious choices of men into the tapestry of His perfect and just judgment.
This passage is a stark reminder that there are only two paths. You can return to the Lord, or you can be returned to bondage. There is no third way, no neutral ground, no demilitarized zone between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men. Israel refused to return, and so God orchestrated their return to a bondage far worse than the one from which He had originally saved them.
The Text
They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria, he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me.
And the sword will whirl against their cities And will consume their gate bars And devour them because of their counsels.
So My people are hung up on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.
(Hosea 11:5-7 LSB)
The Great Reversal (v. 5)
We begin with the stark political reality of God's judgment in verse 5:
"They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria, he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me." (Hosea 11:5)
At first glance, this seems like a reprieve. "They will not return to the land of Egypt." Egypt was the house of bondage, the place of slavery from which God had miraculously delivered them. So, not returning there sounds like good news. But this is divine irony. It is a biting, judicial sarcasm. They will not return to the old house of bondage, but this is only because God has arranged for them a new one, and a far more brutal one at that. They will trade the whips of Pharaoh for the swords of Shalmaneser.
Israel had been flirting with Egypt, trying to form a political alliance against the rising threat of Assyria (2 Kings 17:4). They were trying to play the world's game, trusting in chariots and horses rather than the Lord of Hosts. God's response is to shut that door. You will not get the alliance you want. The escape route you have planned is a dead end. Instead, the very power you fear will become your master. "But Assyria, he will be their king." The "he" is personal and emphatic. This is not just a shift in political influence; it is a total subjugation. You will have a new sovereign, a new ruler who will not lead you with cords of kindness as I did (v. 4), but with iron hooks in your noses (2 Kings 19:28).
And the reason for this is stated with devastating simplicity: "Because they refused to return to Me." The Hebrew word for return, shuv, is central here. It means to turn back, to repent. The political disaster is a direct consequence of a spiritual refusal. They would not turn to God, so God turned them over to their enemies. This is the fundamental law of spiritual physics in God's world. If you will not have God as your king, you will get a tyrant as your king. If you will not be ruled by the Word of God, you will be ruled by the sword of the ungodly. Men who cast off the light yoke of Christ will find themselves crushed under the heavy yoke of a pagan master. This is as true for nations today as it was for Israel then. A people that refuses to return to God will find that He has appointed Assyria to be their king, whether that Assyria comes in the form of a foreign power or a homegrown godless bureaucracy.
The Fruit of Their Counsels (v. 6)
Verse 6 describes the violent outworking of this judgment, linking it directly to Israel's own choices.
"And the sword will whirl against their cities And will consume their gate bars And devour them because of their counsels." (Hosea 11:6 LSB)
The judgment is not abstract; it is visceral. The sword will "whirl" or "rage" against their cities. This is a picture of relentless, furious violence. The "gate bars" represent their security, their defenses, their civic strength. The very things they trusted in, their fortified cities, will be the epicenter of their destruction. The sword will "consume" and "devour" them. This is the language of a covenant curse. God had promised that if they obeyed, He would be their shield, but if they rebelled, the sword would pursue them (Lev. 26).
But notice the reason given. Why will this happen? "Because of their counsels." This is crucial. God is not an arbitrary cosmic bully. The destruction they face is the logical end point of their own plans, their own strategies, their own political machinations. The word "counsels" points to their self-reliant scheming. They held committee meetings about the Assyrian problem. They sent ambassadors to Egypt. They drew up treaties. They trusted their own wisdom, their own political savvy. They were full of brilliant plans that left God entirely out of the equation.
And God's judgment is simply to say, "Alright, you have trusted in your own counsels. Let us see where they lead." And where they lead is to the sword. Their plans were not just ineffective; they were suicidal. This is because all human counsel apart from the fear of the Lord is ultimately foolishness. It is an attempt to build a tower of Babel that will inevitably come crashing down. When men take counsel together, but not of God (Isaiah 30:1), the end of that counsel is always destruction. The sword that devours them is a sword they, in effect, forged themselves through their own proud and godless planning.
The Posture of Rebellion (v. 7)
Verse 7 gets to the heart of the matter. It is a diagnosis of the soul of Israel, the internal condition that produced the external disaster.
"So My people are hung up on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him." (Hosea 11:7 LSB)
The phrase "hung up on turning from me" is a powerful idiom. The Hebrew literally says they are "bent on backsliding." It is their inclination, their disposition, their default setting. It is not that they occasionally stumble; it is that their entire posture is oriented away from God. Their will is bent. Like a warped piece of wood, they are intrinsically and stubbornly resistant to being made straight. This is a profound description of fallen human nature. We are not neutral, waiting to decide. We are born bent on turning away from God.
And this is God's people He is talking about. "My people." This is the tragedy of it. This is not the Philistines or the Babylonians. This is the people He redeemed, the ones He called His son (Hosea 11:1). This is the covenant community, the visible church, that is stubbornly set in its ways.
The second half of the verse reveals the emptiness of their religion. "Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him." The prophets, like Hosea, are calling them to return. The message is being preached. There is a call to look up, to turn to the Most High. But the response is zero. "None at all exalts Him." The word for "exalts" means to lift up, to raise. They hear the call, but their hearts remain flat. Their affections are not stirred. Their wills are not moved. There is no genuine worship, no heartfelt praise, no true submission.
This describes a dead orthodoxy, a formal religion that is completely hollow. They might go through the motions. They might even use the right language, calling on "the One on high." But it is all lip service. There is no corresponding heart-change. It is the form of godliness without the power thereof. And this is a condition that is perpetually dangerous for the church in any age. It is possible to be surrounded by the call to worship, to hear sermons week after week, and yet for no one at all to truly exalt God in their hearts. This is the final stage of apostasy before the judgment falls: a people whose wills are bent on leaving, listening to a call to return that they have no intention of heeding.
Conclusion: The Unbending God
So what are we to do with such a grim diagnosis? This passage lays bare the anatomy of rebellion. It begins with a refusal to return to God. This refusal leads to foolish and destructive counsels. And at the root of it all is a heart that is simply bent on going its own way. The result is judgment, a judgment that is not an overreaction from God, but rather the logical and just conclusion to our own choices.
If Israel's will was bent on backsliding, the glorious truth of the gospel is that God's will is bent on redeeming. The very next verses in this chapter contain one of the most astonishing turns in all of Scripture. God asks, "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? ... My heart is turned within Me; All My compassions are kindled" (Hosea 11:8). The stubborn rebellion of His people does not have the final word. The steadfast love of God does.
Our wills are bent, and we cannot unbend them ourselves. Our counsels lead to the sword, and we cannot devise a plan to escape it. We refuse to return, and we are incapable of turning ourselves around. The only hope is for the God against whom we have rebelled to intervene. And He has. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who was not bent. He was the straight-grained Son of God whose will was perfectly aligned with the Father's.
On the cross, Jesus took the whirling sword of God's justice that we deserved. He was handed over to the true Assyria, the kingdom of darkness, and He was made a curse for us. He was devoured by the consequences of our wicked counsels. He did this so that bent, backsliding people like us could be forgiven, straightened out, and made new. He did this so that our refusal to return could be overcome by His gracious call to come home.
Therefore, do not be like Israel, who heard the call but would not exalt Him. When you hear the call to return, do not trust your own counsels. Recognize the bentness of your own will and look to the only One who can make you straight. Look to Christ, and in Him, you will find that the God of righteous judgment is also the God of astonishing, unrelenting, and redeeming grace.