“Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned” (Hosea 7:8).

Some believe that this refers to Israel’s idolatry. Homer Hailey commented, “’A cake not turned,’ burnt on one side and uncooked on the other, fit for nothing. They were ‘cooked’ by heathenism but ‘uncooked’ or raw in their relation to God” (Hailey, The Minor Prophets. p. 159). Garland Elkins, “They tried to serve both God and idols, and that is an impossibility. God will not accept a divided allegiance (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 22:37; 6:24; 12:30)” (The Power Lectures, The Minor Prophets, pp. 46-47). The book of Hosea addresses idolatry (Hosea 4:12a, 13, 17a), Baal worship (Hosea 2:8, 13, 17; 11:2), and calf worship (Hosea 8:5-6; 10:5; 13:2). They were not thoroughly ‘cooked’ for God.