Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

This is completely wrong.  The people are judged for following their 
passions which are likened to the hotness of an oven - their passions 
burn like an oven fired by a baker.  The baker is an allegory for the 
Inciter - evil inclination - which arouses the peoples' passions, and 
then sits and waits for his plan to work, just as the baker sits and 
waits for his dough to get ready for him to bake it.

And the word "Meir" refers to the Inciter

Shoshanna



and Hosea means, "they are adulterers like the
baker."
> > The baker does nothing while the dough is in the oven, and Hosea accuses
the
> > people of similarly abandoning their duties.
>
> HH: Here is the NIV translation:
>
> Hos. 7:4 They are all adulterers, burning like an
> oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the
> kneading of the dough till it rises.