John Trapp on Hosea 7:3

Verſe 3. They make the king glad with their wickedneſſe,] A ſad ſyncratiſmus ſurely of king and people, exhilarating themſelves and each other in wickedneſſe. Their kings were well apaid of the peoples compliances with their unlawfull Edicts: and the people no leſſe well-pleaſed to gratifie and flatter their kings, as the Romans did Tiberius and other Tyrants, who therefore ſaid of them, that they were ſervum pecus, ſervile ſoules, & homines ad ſervitutem parati, men made for ſlaves. Tyrants care not how wicked their ſubjects are: for then they know they will ſwallow down any command though never ſo impious, without ſcrupling, or conſcience-making. They like to have ſuch about them, as will down with any thing, diſgeſt iron for a need, with the Eſtrich; and ſay as that wretched man ſaid (when one complained he could not do ſuch a thing for his conſcience) I am maſter of my conſcience, I can do any thing for all that. Thus Balaam reſolved to curſe what ever came of it: he went not aſide as at other times, neither built he any more altars; but ſet his face toward the wilderneſſe, as fully bent to do it, and nothing ſhould hinder him now, Numb. 24.1, 2. (confer Luke 9.51.) He alſo gave wicked counſell to king Balak (and ſo made him glad at parting, though before he had angred him) to lay a ſtumbling-block before the children of Iſrael, viz. to ſet fair women to tempt them to corporall and ſpirituall fornication, that God might ſee ſin flagrant in Iacob, ſome tranſgreſſion in Iſrael, and ſo fall foul upon them with his plagues, Numb. 23.21. Paraſites propound to kings ſuavia potiùs quam ſana conſilia, pleaſing, but peſtilent counſell: they alſo act for them, and under them, as Doeg did for Saul, and ſo gratifie them, Leti[illegible: 1 letter]ie them, as here,Rev. 2 make them glad, but it proves to be no better then riſus Sardonius, ſuch a mirth as brings bitterneſs in the end: Wo to ſuch mirth-mongers and mirth-makers; for if they ſhall ſtill do thus wickedly, they ſhall be conſumed, both they and their king, I Sam. 12.25.

And the princes with their lies] with calumnies and falſe accuſations, wherewith they load Gods innocent ſervants, and that againſt their own conſciences. Thus Doeg dealt by David; the Prieſts and Prophets by Ieremy; the Perſian courtiers by Daniel and his companions; Amaziah by Amoz, Haman by the whole nation of the Iewes, Tertullus by Paul, the Heathen Idolaters by the primitive Chriſtians; which cauſed thoſe many Apologies made for them by Tertullian, Athenagoras, and others. If a Ruler hearken to lies (and that's a common fault among them,Prov. 29.12. as David tells Saul, 1 Sam. 24.9. all his ſervants will be wicked: he ſhall have his Aiones and Nigones that will ſay as he ſayes, and fit his humour to an hair; he ſhall have plenty of ſuch as will ſlander the Saints, and caſt an odium upon the conſciencious. I once ſaw (ſaith Melancthon) an old coyn, on the one ſide whereof was Zopyrus, on the other Zoilus; he adds, fuit imago aulae, comitantur calumniae bene merentes, It was a picture of Princes courts, where are ſtore of ſuch, as, by flattery, dawb white upon black, and, by calumny, ſprinkle black upon white.