Hosea 7:11

"And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding: they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria."

Neither Egypt nor Assyria had any interest whatever in Israel, except in the sense of being ready to invade and plunder it at any time the opportunity presented itself; but such was the perverse blindness and stupidity of God's people that, in their extremity, they did not return to the Lord, but sought help from their very worst enemies. They must have been the laughing-stock of the whole ancient world. "Silly dove" is indeed an apt metaphor for such naive and irresponsible conduct on the part of a nation that fancied that it knew how to govern itself. "The dove is the proverbial creature of innocence and thoughtlessness. It can be easily snared into a trap by food .... or it can lose itself, blissfully ignorant of the danger that surrounds it."[11] The mention of both Egypt and Assyria suggests that there were probably pro-Egypt and pro-Assyria parties in Samaria; and as conditions changed, first one and then the other had the ear of the gullible and indecisive king. "This panicky dependence on foreign powers was also condemned by other prophets of the time (See Isaiah 30:1-7)."[12]