Psalm 78:57

Hebrew Bible

55 He drove the nations out from before them; he assigned them their tribal allotments and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down. 56 Yet they challenged and defied God Most High and did not obey his commands. 57 They were unfaithful and acted as treacherously as their ancestors; they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow. 58 They made him angry with their pagan shrines and made him jealous with their idols. 59 God heard and was angry; he completely rejected Israel.

Hosea 7:16

Hebrew Bible

14 They do not pray to me, but howl in distress on their beds; they slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from me. 15 Although I trained and strengthened them, they plot evil against me! 16 They turn to Baal; they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt.

 Notes and References

"... The piercing destructiveness of the arrow becomes a fitting picture of other destructive elements, from the conspiratorial or deceptive tongue on the personal level (Psalm 64:3; Jeremiah 9:8) to the onset of famine on a national level (Ezekiel 5:16). In the New Testament Paul adopts the imagery of arrows with heads set on fire to warn believers of the attacks of the devil and to encourage them to seek protection by taking up the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16). Consistent with its military usage, peace is symbolized by broken bows and the removal of bows and arrows (Psalm 46:9; Hosea 2:18; Zechariah 9:10). On one occasion, Hosea 1:5, the broken bow is used less happily to signal Israel’s defeat. Bows can fail, and God’s people are encouraged not to substitute their trust in him for trust in the bow (Psalm 44:6–7; Hosea 1:7). The image of the faulty bow is also developed differently as a picture of unreliable people in whom God cannot place his trust (Psalm 78:57; Hosea 7:16) ..."

Ryken, Leland Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (p. 183) InterVarsity Press, 1998

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