Jerome : When I wanted to heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was revealed, and the malice of Samaria: for they have wrought falsehood, and a thief is come in to spoil, a robber without. The Septuagint likewise. Often has Israel received wounds of idolatry, and especially that one, when in the desert they fashioned a calf's head, and said: 'These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt' (Exod. XXXII, 4). Therefore I, who desire the sinner's repentance rather than his death (Ezech. XVIII, XXXIII), afterwards say in the Gospel: 'They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill' (Luke V, 31), and have attempted to heal the wounds of my people. And when I treated all these things with every art, that the miserable people might be cured, suddenly Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim appeared, who made golden calves, and the wickedness of Samaria was revealed, following the impious king: for both the king and the people operated in falsehood, that is, idolatry. For just as an image is contrary to God, so is falsehood to truth. But the king himself, like a thief, entered among the people of Israel, and like a robber despoiled the unhappy people of God with the help of his people. And the sense is this: When I wished to wipe away the sins of my people, because of their ancient idolatry, Ephraim and Samaria found new idols. But it can also be said that after the shedding of his own blood, the Lord and Savior sought to heal the sins of the people and lead them to repentance, both Jews and Gentiles gathered in his Church. Suddenly Ephraim, who promised the fertility of false dogmas, and the people of Samaria who proclaimed they followed God's commands, arose and performed the idolatry of false dogmas, and through them, the thief and robber, the devil, entered the Church, or the doctrine of heretics entered like a thief and robber, of whom the Savior said in the Gospel, "All who came before me were thieves and robbers" (John 10: 8). Thieves lie in wait, and deceive with hidden fraud: robbers boldly plunder the possessions of others. For those who steal, steal at night and in darkness. Hence, it is significantly said, that the thief enters secretly, and the robber plunders outside. For they cannot strip those of Christ's clothes whom they have taught, unless they have led them out of the Church, and made them walk in the perverse way of their doctrines. We must consider thieves and robbers who came before the Lord, not Moses, and the prophets who are always praised by the Savior's mouth, but false prophets, and afterwards heretics who were not sent by the Lord, but came of their own will. — Commentary on Hosea 7:1