Introduction
In this part of Chapter 7, the prophet Hoshea continues his rebuke of the kingdom of Ephraim in its final days. The prophet describes the political entanglement that the kings of Israel brought upon themselves by turning to Egypt and Assyria, and compares them to a cake baked over coals with no one to turn it over: burned on the bottom, yet remaining raw dough on top. Through this, the root of the sickness is exposed: a people who sees its afflictions, feels its humiliation, and yet does not return to Hashem, does not seek Him, and even attributes to Him only evil rather than good.
"Ephraim mingles himself among the nations" - Who Caused the Assimilation Among the Nations?
אֶפְרַיִם בָּעַמִּים הוּא יִתְבּוֹלָל, אֶפְרַיִם הָיָה עֻגָה בְּלִי הֲפוּכָה׃ - Ephraim mingles himself among the nations; Ephraim has become an unturned cake.
The Malbim explains: by assassinating their kings, they brought it upon themselves that Ephraim would mingle and assimilate among the nations. How so? Menachem called upon the king of Assyria to help him hold onto the throne. When Pekach conspired against Pekachiah the son of Menachem, the king of Assyria came to take up his cause, and in doing so also championed the cause of the king of Yehudah and exiled the land of Naftali. Later, when Hoshea ben Elah killed Pekach, the king of Assyria came against Hoshea. Thus, they brought this upon themselves: you go and forge alliances with foreign kingdoms to help you, and in the end they become your downfall. The assassination of kings forced the monarchs to seek foreign aid, and when the foreign enemy arrived, he struck down the inhabitants living here.
The Unturned Cake
Since until now the prophet spoke in the imagery of an oven and a baker, he continues with the same metaphor: they were not baked properly in an oven, but were like a cake that was not turned over. In those times there was a chararah - a flat loaf baked on coals, as is frequently found in the Gemara ("a dog that took a chararah," etc.). And "ugah" does not refer to our modern sweet cake, but to bread; it is called an ugah because it is round (from ug, to draw a circle), as in "he drew a circle [ag ugah] and stood inside it," and as in the children's song "ugah, ugah, ugah, in a circle we dance" - where children might think they are singing about a cake, but that was not the lyricist's meaning; it means a circle. This is also the origin of the word challah, which was also round in their day, related to machol (dance), which likewise denotes something circular. They would bake this bread directly on the coals, and it had to be flipped so it would bake thoroughly on both sides; otherwise, the bottom would burn on the glowing embers while the top remained unbaked dough. This is the meaning of "Ephraim has become an unturned cake": like that bread baked directly on the coals with no one to flip it.
"Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not" - The Meaning of the Parable
אָכְלוּ זָרִים כֹּחוֹ וְהוּא לֹא יָדָע, גַּם שֵׂיבָה זָרְקָה בּוֹ וְהוּא לֹא יָדָע׃ - Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not; gray hair is also sprinkled upon him, and he knew it not.
The unturned cake is burned on one side and remains soft and inedible on the other. This is what happened to Ephraim. "Strangers have devoured his strength" - the king of Assyria consumed their strength, seized their wealth, and exiled them; this corresponds to the bottom of the cake, scorched and burned on the coals. "Gray hair is also sprinkled upon him" - this corresponds to the top of the cake, which remained soft like loose dough. Thus they themselves became weak, drained of strength, and soft-spirited, their might resembling an old man whose vigor has waned. From below they were burned, and from above they were enfeebled.
The Radak adds an explanation for "gray hair is also sprinkled upon him": it is human nature to repent of evil ways in old age, as a person sees his strength is spent and he is going the way of all the earth, so he repents before death. When a person is young, his blood runs hot; he has desires, plans, and pleasures, and repentance is not on his mind. But as he matures and grows old, suddenly you see him attending the synagogue, connecting and drawing near. What happened? He realizes that before long he will be pushing up daisies, so he takes no chances and begins recalculating his route. This is what is written here: these afflictions are compared to old age, which is a time of repentance and awakening. Gray hair is sprinkled upon him, yet even in the days of Pekach ben Remalyahu and Hoshea ben Elah - the final kings - they did not turn from their ways, nor did they act like an elderly man who repents at the end of his days; rather, they persisted in their corrupt ways.
"And the pride of Israel testifies to his face" - Humiliated, Yet They Did Not Return
וְעָנָה גְאוֹן יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּפָנָיו, וְלֹא שָׁבוּ אֶל ה' אֱלֹהֵיהֶם וְלֹא בִקְשֻׁהוּ בְּכָל זֹאת׃ - And the pride of Israel is humbled to his face, yet they did not return to the Lord their God, nor did they seek Him for all this.
Rashi explains based on the Targum: "The glory of Israel is brought low, and they see it" - they witness the collapse of Israel's honor, seeing how it is continually diminished and degraded. They have already been depleted and humbled, and nevertheless, "they did not return to the Lord their God." You see the disastrous consequences; why do you not repent? Rashi also notes that *ve'anah* ("is humbled") is in the past tense, similar to *vekara zeh el zeh ve'amar* ("and one called to the other and said") or *ve'asah lo ketonet passim* ("and he made him a striped tunic"). That is to say: even though the glory of Israel had already been humbled and brought low, they persisted in their evil ways and refused to learn the lesson.
The Malbim connects this to what we saw earlier in chapter 5, verse 5: "And the pride of Israel is humbled to his face." There he explained that his pride would be broken - that he would feel within himself that he is being punished for his corrupt ways, which would crush his arrogance, and then "with their flocks and with their herds they will go to seek the Lord." When a person realizes that he brought this calamity upon himself and that he alone is to blame for his suffering, he will go seek the Lord. Now the prophet proclaims: Come and see that this has indeed occurred, yet they still did not go to seek the Lord. They have been degraded, their standing has collapsed, they are plunged into deep poverty and humiliation, and though they are in an apparent state of submission, they did not submit to the Lord, they did not repent, and they "did not seek Him." For "to seek Him" means through sacrifices and prayer; sometimes a person does not achieve full repentance, but at the very least he turns toward the Lord, which has some value - as if acknowledging that he has an address to turn to. Here, however, even when they cried out to the Lord, their only plea was "Send us help, deliver us," lacking any approach through sacrifices and prayer that stems from an acknowledgment of sin and an awareness of wrongdoing.
"Like a Silly Dove Without Heart"
וַיְהִי אֶפְרַיִם כְּיוֹנָה פוֹתָה אֵין לֵב, מִצְרַיִם קָרָאוּ אַשּׁוּר הָלָכוּ׃ - And Ephraim was like a silly dove without understanding; they called to Egypt, they went to Assyria.
Radak explains: The prophet compares Ephraim to a dove ensnared in a net because of its sheer gullibility. The dove walks along, spots grains of food, enters and eats, completely oblivious that it is being trapped - it lacks the sense to realize that a net has been spread to capture it.
Tragically, today as well there are many who lack the sense to realize that a different kind of "net" is spread out, ensnaring so many good people. In the past, it was a net that caught doves; today it is the internet, where people fall like a silly dove without understanding. At first, one merely searches for Torah lectures, or simply wants a convenient way to access online banking - this is the naive dove - and later he is seduced and wanders into places he never should have reached. Our Sages already taught that "there is no guardian against illicit desire." What a person must do is not rely on his willpower, but put up robust barriers. Even one who absolutely requires it for his livelihood must install filters that even a tech-savvy person cannot bypass, and not merely local filters on his computer, but at the level of the internet service provider. This is the only framework through which the Gedolei Yisrael permit someone with a genuine necessity to engage with these devices. Otherwise, one is like a silly dove without sense, falling into the net out of pure naivety.
Returning to our passage, Radak explains: Ephraim went to seek assistance from Assyria and Egypt, and their folly lay in their certainty that these nations would come to their aid. What actually happened? Not only did they fail to help, but they turned around and inflicted great harm upon them. Just as the dove innocently walks into the trap, they were naive, confident that they would receive support and salvation there.
The State of Israel has long ceased viewing the UN as a helpful or supportive body, an entity to which one can appeal regarding the actions of Hamas and Hezbollah; they understand that no relief will come from there. In precisely the same way, we have never turned to the High Court of Justice to seek relief in religious matters. When Aharon Barak was celebrated by the Reform movement after stepping down from the bench, it became abundantly clear which way the wind blows, what kind of people are involved, and what their agenda is. For that reason, we never contemplated asking them for aid - both because they are the last ones who would ever help, and because the very act of petitioning grants them legitimacy, as if recognizing them as a judicial authority over us. To us, they are nothing at all, not even like the dust of the earth. We pray every day, "Restore our judges as at first and our counselors as at the beginning," and any judge who adjudicates contrary to the laws of the holy Torah - as codified in the Shulchan Aruch based on the Rambam - has raised a hand against the Torah of Moshe. We know in advance whom not to approach. Ephraim, however, was like a silly dove: in sheer foolishness, they turned to Assyria and Egypt, entirely confident that relief and salvation would come from them.
Targum Yonatan translates "like a silly dove" as *keyonah serichata*. The Baal HaAruch explains that this denotes a bird that strikes and scratches its own face, and Radak notes that this is derived from the Arabic language, where a woman who strikes and scratches her face in mourning is termed *sharcha* or *sarcha*. That is, Ephraim is likened to a dove that scratches and batters itself in moments of catastrophe and despair. This resembles the Arab custom during funerals of tearing their faces and pulling out their hair, which the Torah explicitly forbids: "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead," and "You shall not lacerate yourselves."
The Malbim explains "like a silly dove without understanding": they carried out all their actions with complete thoughtlessness, without considering the inevitable consequences. They were already subjugated under the Assyrian empire, which had conquered them; in such a reality, how could you turn and call upon Egypt? The king of Assyria interpreted this as outright rebellion against his rule: I am the sovereign here, and you are inviting Egypt to assist you! Thus, the king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy on the part of Hoshea son of Elah, who had sent emissaries to So, king of Egypt. Consequently, the verse records: "and he shut him up and bound him in prison," "and besieged Samaria," and "exiled Israel to Assyria." This was their first act of folly: while subjugated under one monarch, you appeal to another, thereby entangling yourself with the first and conspiring against him.
And there was a second act of folly: after calling upon Egypt, Scripture records that Hoshea went directly to Assyria - "and the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison; then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years." This indicates that King Hoshea son of Elah (not to be confused with Hoshea the prophet; this was King Hoshea son of Elah, the last king of Ephraim) initially went of his own accord, appearing as a submissive vassal, whereupon the king of Assyria refused to let him return and marched against Samaria. Had he remained in Samaria, his position would have been far stronger. This is "a silly dove without understanding": an entirely irrational, senseless step. How could you march directly into the hands of a king with whom you are deeply entangled, walking voluntarily into his territory? This was not an orderly, lawful government; it was a brutal regime akin to modern Iran, which arbitrarily instituted an ayatollah dictatorship and imprisoned the entire American diplomatic corps. Today, no civilized state would do such a thing, as it violates every accepted norm, but when dealing with radical regimes, who cares about norms? They seized hostages and refused to release them until their funds were unblocked, and in the end, lives were lost in a botched rescue operation. This serves merely as an illustration: when you are embroiled in conflict with an enemy, you do not walk straight into his grasp, especially when he recognizes neither law nor justice. Yet that is precisely what Hoshea did: he thought he could go and appease the king of Assyria, but the king promptly threw him into prison, and since no king remained to defend the realm, Assyria invaded and conquered the land. "They called to Egypt" - you provoked Assyria, the reigning ruler; "they went to Assyria" - and then you delivered yourself into his hands in surrender, like ripe fruit falling before the enemy. Ultimately, this brought about catastrophic ruin, marked by utter foolishness from beginning to end.
"As they go, I will spread My net over them" - Everything Is from Him, Blessed Be He
כַּאֲשֶׁר יֵלֵכוּ אֶפְרוֹשׂ עֲלֵיהֶם רִשְׁתִּי, כְּעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם אוֹרִידֵם, אַיְסִירֵם כְּשֵׁמַע לַעֲדָתָם׃ - As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them as has been heard by their congregation.
Do you suppose that Hoshea committed a senseless act of folly here? The Holy One, blessed be He, says to you: You are mistaken; this came from Me. "I will spread My net over them" - I spread a net for him there, and through this I planted in his heart the thought to go there, in order to exact retribution from him, as he was among the wicked kings.
The Malbim explains the parable: A hunter cannot catch a bird of the sky while it flies high above. What does he do? He spreads a net below, and the bird sees seeds and grains, descends into the net, and is trapped. In the same way, the king of Assyria could not reach Hoshea ben Elah as long as he remained inside Samaria, which was under siege. Rather, Hashem says: I spread a net for him, and like a silly dove he went on his own, like a submissive slave, to the king of Assyria, and there he was caught in his trap. This was not folly that entered his mind out of nowhere - I placed that foolishness within him.
"I will chastise them as their congregation hears" - the Malbim explains that it is as if the verse reads: "When they hear the chastisement of their congregation, then I will redeem them," linking directly to the next verse. That is to say: even then, in that dire state, there was still a remedy had they accepted reproof and listened to rebuke. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I thought that if they would hear mussar - "I will chastise them [ayasserem, related to mussar] in their congregation" - I would deliver words of rebuke to their assembly: Come and see what caused you to stray from the path, what caused you to abandon Hashem! And I thought that upon hearing, they would repent, realize what sin causes, and through this, "I would redeem them" - it would be possible to deliver them from the distress they were in at the hands of the king of Assyria.
"Woe to Them, for They Have Wandered from Me"
אוֹי לָהֶם כִּי נָדְדוּ מִמֶּנִּי, שֹׁד לָהֶם כִּי פָשְׁעוּ בִי, וְאָנֹכִי אֶפְדֵּם וְהֵמָּה דִּבְּרוּ עָלַי כְּזָבִים׃ - Woe to them, for they have wandered from Me; destruction unto them, for they have transgressed against Me! Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.
They ought to have awakened and realized: Woe unto us, we have abandoned Hashem and strayed from Him; a plunderer has come upon the land because we transgressed against Him. And had they done so - "I would redeem them." But not only did they fail to mend their ways, but "they have spoken lies against Me": they did not submit to discipline by listening to rebuke, they paid no heed to the fact that the calamity came from Hashem, and they even denied divine providence and reward and punishment. Thus, even the afflictions I brought upon them proved useless to them, and consequently, punishment must inevitably come.
We have seen ayasserem in the sense of afflictions and reproof, and Rashi similarly explains in the name of Dunash ben Labrat, who was a great grammarian. However, Rashi brings an additional interpretation in the name of Menachem: that ayasserem is related to binding and fetters (moserot), meaning "I will bind them in chains." And regarding "they have spoken lies against Me," Rashi explains: I desired to redeem them from harm by sending them prophets - I sent Jeremiah to rebuke them - but they said to him, "You speak falsehoods; you are not a messenger sent by Hashem." I send them a messenger, and they claim the messenger's words are a lie and not from Hashem - in such a state, they are certainly unworthy of My redeeming them.
"They Did Not Cry Out to Me with Their Heart"
וְלֹא זָעֲקוּ אֵלַי בְּלִבָּם כִּי יְיֵלִילוּ עַל מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָם, עַל דָּגָן וְתִירוֹשׁ יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ יָסוּרוּ בִי׃ - They did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds; they assemble for grain and wine, turning away from Me.
Even when they wail upon their beds out of the abundance of troubles, they merely wail; they do not cry out to Hashem, nor do they seek Him. And even if they do cry out, it is not with their heart, but merely lip service - crying from the lips only because they feel the pressure. There is no genuine cry here emanating from the heart out of a desire to return to Hashem.
"For grain and wine they assemble / sojourn [yitgoraru]" - the Malbim explains that this is related to megurim (dwelling), wandering and living from place to place: they reached a terrible state where they had no grain in their own locality, and were forced to wander and dwell in a different place each time in order to sustain themselves. The Radak, on the other hand, explains that when grain and wine merchants would arrive in the city, everyone would gather around them, and yitgoraru is an expression of gathering, like one of the interpretations of "you shall not gather [lo taguru]" and "terror/gathering all around [magor misaviv]" - taguru being like ta'agru (you shall gather/store). That is to say, out of the sheer hunger and hardship, they would gather and crowd around the merchant. Rashi explains yitgoraru from the word megurot, the granaries in which produce is stored, and according to this, this is the very reason they do not repent: because they have granaries full of grain, they feel satiated and lack nothing. This is actually an opposite interpretation: it is not hunger being described here, but satiety, because of which they felt no need to cry out to Hashem.
"They rebel against Me [yasuru vi]" - the Malbim explains that this is from the language of a ben sorer u'moreh (a stubborn and rebellious son): they are stubborn and rebellious, deviating from the upright path, gluttonous and wine-bibbing, and they do not turn to Hashem nor seek Him.
"Though I trained and strengthened their arms"
וַאֲנִי יִסַּרְתִּי חִזַּקְתִּי זְרוֹעֹתָם, וְאֵלַי יְחַשְּׁבוּ רָע׃ - Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against Me.
The Radak explains: When things were good for them and they were strong against their enemies, where did their strength come from? "Though I bound [yisarti]" - from the language of binding and bonds (mosrot), as in "He loosens the bonds [musar] of kings" and "bonds." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Who bound and strengthened their arms? It was I. Their triumph over their enemies came from Me, yet they say it did not come from Me, but from their own might. "Yet they plot evil against Me" - when good happens to them, they do not attribute it to Me, but when evil happens, it is from Me. I strengthened them and they did not acknowledge Me, and when evil occurred, they blamed it on Me.
And this is the reality of human nature. When something good happens to someone and he succeeds, people ask him: "How did you succeed?" He answers, "Divine assistance (siyata di'shemaya), believe me, Hashem helped me" - meaning: "My friend, it was really me, but one cannot leave Hashem out completely." On the other hand, when a person falls, suffers troubles and illnesses, and people ask what is happening to him, he answers, "It is all from Hashem, may He be blessed, everything is from Him." All of his troubles are from Hashem, while all of his successes are his own doing, with Hashem merely lending a little help - pure lip service. He does not say: "Listen, we need to repent; our sins have turned these things away; I need to examine what I corrupted that caused the Holy One, blessed be He, to bring this upon me." He thinks this attitude is trust in Hashem (bitachon), failing to realize that he merely avoids taking responsibility for anything - treating it as an arbitrary decree of Heaven unrelated to his actions: "This is what Hashem wanted, and that is that." Yet his successes he does not attribute to Heaven's decree: "Those I achieved, I accomplished, and Hashem just assisted a little." Concerning this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Though I trained and strengthened their arms" - here they did not see Me; and when there is evil - "yet they plot evil against Me."
And the Malbim connects this to "they rebel against Me" mentioned earlier, that they are like a stubborn and rebellious son: when I chastised this rebellious son, My intention was "to strengthen their arms" - to strengthen their resolve to repent and draw close again to Hashem, as we saw: "I will discipline them as their congregation has heard, and I would redeem them," meaning that through tribulations it would be possible to redeem them from distress. But "they plot evil against Me": they do not think that My entire intention in chastising them is that they should repent, but rather that Hashem wants to harm them. They fail to understand that all these tribulations were meant to save them, an instant before Hashem brings greater afflictions upon them - so that perhaps one will awaken; instead, they believe that the afflictions came merely to distress and torment them, because Hashem seeks their harm.
"They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a deceitful bow"
יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל, הָיוּ כְּקֶשֶׁת רְמִיָּה, יִפְּלוּ בַחֶרֶב שָׂרֵיהֶם מִזַּעַם לְשׁוֹנָם, זוֹ לַעְגָּם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃ - They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue; this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
This verse is very difficult to understand. The Radak explains: "Not to Al" - Al means the Most High (Elyon). When trouble comes upon them, they return and cry out - to whom? To idols. They do not turn to the King Who is Supreme, to the Holy One, blessed be He, but instead return to idolatry and cry out for it to save them.
"They are like a deceitful bow" - a deceptive bow. The Radak explains that this is like someone drawing a bow in the direction of one target, and at the last second aiming it elsewhere and firing. He created the impression that he was about to hit someone, and ultimately struck another. Even though the deceit lies with the archer and not with the bow - for the bow merely shoots wherever it is aimed - nevertheless, the trait is attributed to the bow, which appeared to point in one direction and ultimately acted in another. So too with Israel: at times they would repent on account of the tribulations with which Hashem chastised them, yet they were like a deceitful bow - for a moment turning here, and at the last second swerving in another direction. Their repentance was momentary and fleeting, and they promptly returned to their corrupt ways.
And the example the Radak brings: consider Eliyahu. Eliyahu succeeded in bringing the entire nation to cry out, "Hashem is God! Hashem is God!" We were certain that a new era was beginning here - they had abandoned the prophets of Baal, abandoned Izevel (Jezebel) and falsehood, and everyone had become servants of Hashem. Yet immediately afterward, they returned to worshiping the Baalim, the calves, and idolatry, remaining in their corruption. "They return" - but "not to the Most High"; there is no true return to Hashem. And even when they do return, it is like a deceitful bow, purely temporary, and they instantly revert to their old ways.
"Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue" - the princes who led them down an evil path would tell them: Let us go to Egypt and ask them for help; let us turn to the other nations so they may assist us - anything rather than turning to Hashem. They would suggest seeking help elsewhere, and this is "the rage of their tongue," for through these declarations they provoked the wrath of God. Therefore, their punishment is that "they shall fall by the sword": this journey itself brought them down and caused them disaster, as some fell on their way to Egypt and died there. As it is said in the prophecy of Yeshayahu, "The burden of the beasts of the south: through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion" - some of them were devoured by wild beasts, and some fell by the enemy's sword. Thus, the advice given by their princes to go and seek aid from Egypt was advice that caused ruin and brought them down by the sword, "for the rage of their tongue," since with this counsel they provoked Hashem to anger.
"This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt" - Rashi explains: When they arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians mocked them, saying: Why have you returned to us, to bring calamities upon us? Was it not enough that you embittered our lives during the Exodus from Egypt, and now you have come back to bring us more trouble? After all, it was said to you, "You shall see them no more." This is "this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt": the Egyptians derided them when they came seeking refuge under their protection.
The Malbim's Explanation: From Net to Net and the Returning Arrow
The Malbim explains "They return, but not to the Most High [lo al]" along the lines of the preceding parable. We saw that Hashem says He spread a net over them, over that silly dove and over that bird that sought to fly high in the heavens. "They return" - they turn back from the net, but when this bird escapes the net, instead of feeling "I have broken free" and soaring upward, it stumbles and falls into another net. "They return" - one might have thought there would be genuine repentance here, but "not upward" - the bird does not soar upward after leaving the net, but rather moves from this net into another net. This is a parable for the historical reality: initially they turned to Egypt, and after Hoshea ben Elah sent emissaries to So, the king of Egypt, he himself went to Assyria, and the king of Assyria imprisoned him in a dungeon.
"They are like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword" - the Malbim explains this as though it were written: "Their princes were like a deceitful bow." The princes who went to the king of Assyria went in order to inform on Hoshea ben Elah, reporting that he had made peace with Egypt and conspired against Assyria. They failed to realize that in doing so, they shot themselves in the foot: they thought they would receive help and support from Assyria, but what did Assyria do instead? He marched here and struck down all the inhabitants of the land. You went to inform on the actions of Hoshea ben Elah, and as a result, the king of Assyria came and killed you. Thus, their princes were like a deceitful bow: those who went to shoot an arrow at Hoshea ben Elah - come and see that the king of Assyria subsequently besieged Shomron and killed them as well.
The Malbim explains: a deceitful bow is like a boomerang, which you launch into the distance and it returns to you. Today, one might call it a ricochet - in gunfire, there are bullets that ricochet and strike the one who fired them. Such is a deceitful bow: you went to shoot an arrow at Hoshea ben Elah, and the arrow rebounded upon you - the arrows of their tongue. This is what is meant by "for the rage of their tongue," and according to the Malbim's words, this is profound: the way they brought the deceitful bow upon themselves was through lashon hara, through disparaging words that they went and spoke to the king of Assyria so that he would strike him, and behold, this very thing caused their downfall.
"This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt" - they made themselves a laughingstock there in the land of Egypt. See: these went to tell Assyria that Hoshea had made peace with Egypt, and ultimately Assyria came against them. And the Egyptians, sitting on the sidelines and watching, mocked them for how they had brought ruin upon themselves.
Unfortunately, this is often the reality: people are even willing to harm themselves, as long as someone else is not in leadership. Today we see this in various leftist movements, funded by the New Israel Fund, who go and slander the Jewish people abroad; even people from within academia demand abroad that an academic boycott be imposed on us. Impose a boycott on yourself! But no, they want it imposed on all of us, even though they themselves belong to academia. Rather, they are willing to shoot themselves in the foot, as long as someone else gets dragged down too. This is "Let me die with the Philistines." Thus, we see this pattern of absolute folly that existed in their time, and tragically, this reality persists to this day.
In Summary:
In these verses, the prophet depicts Ephraim as an unturned cake: burnt from beneath by the fire of Assyria which consumed its strength, and left raw and flabby from above like an aging man whose vitality is spent - yet he neither knows nor senses it. He witnessed his pride brought low, yet he did not return to Hashem, nor did he seek Him through sacrifices and prayer. Like a silly dove devoid of understanding, he turned to Egypt and went himself to Assyria, only to be snared in the net spread by the Holy One, Blessed be He. Even the afflictions, whose entire purpose was to strengthen their resolve to repent, were of no avail: they attributed good to themselves and adversity to Hashem, and even spoke falsehoods against Him, denying Divine Providence. Ultimately, they were like a deceitful bow - their repentance was momentary, and the evil of their tongue rebounded upon them like a boomerang, until they became a laughingstock in the land of Egypt. And the lesson for all generations is clear: to recognize the net that is spread before falling into it, to acknowledge that everything comes from Him, Blessed be He - both success and affliction - and to know that suffering is not meant merely to distress, but to awaken us to repentance.