Charles Spurgeon Commentary Hosea 11:3

"Yet I taught Ephraim to walk; I took them on my arms; but they knew not that I healed them." — Hosea 11:3 (ASV)

I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

God describes himself as acting like a nurse that holds a child up by its arms and teaches it its first steps. Yet they did not know what God was doing for them. God has done great things for many of us, and perhaps we have never recognized his command. Years of mercy, and yet never a day of gratitude. It is sad that it should be so.

I taught Ephraim also to go, —

Just as nurses teach children to walk: I taught Ephraim also to go, —

Taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

God has done great things for many of us who, possibly, have never noticed his hand at work on our behalf. Lives which were in great peril have been saved, yet the goodness of God has never been acknowledged by those whom he has delivered. Men have been raised up from beds of sickness, yet the great and good Healer has never been thanked for what he has done for them. Oh, how sad it is that God should do so much for us, and yet that we should not even thank him for doing it.

Taking them by their arms;

As nurses hold up their little children when for the first time they try to stand or toddle along.

But they knew not that I healed them.

This was a singular thing, and it shows the great blindness of humankind, that they do not know their own Physician. It was so with Israel: They knew not that I healed them. Surely, brothers and sisters, it seems impossible that we should not know our Divine Healer; yet our blindness is extreme by nature and leads to many follies.