017. III. Later Sermons Delivered Between 740 And 734 B.C.
III LATER SERMONS DELIVERED BETWEEN 740 AND 734 B.C.
1. Jehovah’s Stern Arraignment and Condemnation of Israel and Israel’s Leaders (Hosea 4:1 to Hosea 5:14)
General charge against the nation (Hosea 4:1-3). Give heed, O Israelites, to the awful charge which Jehovah, as the plaintiff, brings against your nation. Whereas he had every reason to expect the fruits of fidelity and love, and the evidence of a true knowledge of him, he finds none of these; but false swearing, murder, theft, and adultery, characterize the people. Lawless deeds of bloodshed follow each other in rapid succession. As a result, the very land itself is going to ruin, and its inhabitants are perishing. The masses misled by their religious leaders (Hosea 4:4-6a). Not the common people, however, but their leaders, are to blame for this shameful state of affairs.[6] The ordinary citizens cannot be expected to be better than their priests and prophets who have themselves fallen into such heinous crimes. Through ignorance of the real character and demands of the God whom they blindly worship, the masses are perishing.
[6] Accepting the emendation demanded by the sense “my people are but as their priestlings.” Cf. G. A. Smith, “The Twelve Prophets,” I, 257.
Condemnation of the corrupt priesthood (Hosea 4:6-10). O you faithless priests who, instead of teaching them, have turned your back upon the law, the sacred treasure entrusted to your keeping, Jehovah declares that he has revoked your commission! Traitors, you have perverted your high office; you have grown fat on the sin offerings of the people; you have encouraged them in their crimes. Little wonder that they are so corrupt. The penalty of their guilt shall be upon their own heads. Having given free rein to greed and lust, their appetite shall become an insatiable master; childlessness shall be their lot. The gross immorality of the masses; (Hosea 4:11-15). Immorality and intemperance always dim the intellect, as is clearly illustrated by the way in which this people, instead of seeking Jehovah, consult the inanimate symbols of the Baal cult. That corrupt religion, which gives free license to the passions, has led them far astray from the true God. In connection with the rites of Baal, the men have committed abominable excesses. In the light of such an example, Jehovah cannot hold their daughters culpable, even though they have shamelessly bartered their chastity. Thus this stupid people are rapidly rushing on to their ruin. [Although the Israelites are so corrupt, let the Judeans avoid the temptation and shun the northern sanctuaries, with their debasing customs.]
Hopelessness of trying to save the northern kingdom (Hosea 4:16-19). How can Jehovah exercise his tender care toward Israel, as he fain would, when the nation manifests such a rebellious, defiant spirit? These northerners have so completely transferred their devotion to idols that there is little hope of saving them. No sooner are they through with one form of dissipation than they turn to another, while their rulers exult in their shame. Yea, and already they are in the power of the Assyrian tempest which shall rudely awaken them to a sense of their heinous apostasy.
Personal arraignment of the priests and princes (Hosea 5:1-7a). Hear, O priests and princes of Israel! your condemnation. You, who should be the shepherds of this people, for the sake of your own profit have lured them on to their ruin by encouraging them in the lewd practices, which are observed in connection with such sanctuaries as Mizpah and Tabor. The gross crime of this nation has made return to Jehovah impossible, for they are but the expression of the low state of morality which prevails, and which indicates that the people possess no real knowledge of Jehovah’s character and demands. Israel and Judah both shall fall under their load of guilt. Vainly do they outwardly worship him with their ceremonial offerings, while their deeds reveal only treachery.
Prediction of speedy destruction because of the crimes and political mistakes of Israel’s rulers (Hosea 5:7-14). Any month the foreign invader may swoop down upon you. Already, in imagination, I can hear the dread alarm announcing his approach. From the heights let the trumpet blast resound, calling the people to the defense of their homes. Vain, however, shall be their efforts, for the overthrow of the northern kingdom is determined. Jehovah will execute dire vengeance upon these despicable cheats, who rule over this wilful and foolish nation, oppressing their subjects and perverting judgment. Indeed, he has already begun to destroy from within both the kingdoms of the north and of the south. The short-sighted politicians of Israel, recognizing the internal weakness of their state, have sent their ambassadors to the land of the Tigris in the wild hope of gaining health and healing from that beast of prey, the Assyrian king. Bitterly shall they be disappointed. Jehovah himself will pitilessly complete the judgment upon Israel and Judah which he has begun, and no human power can hinder him.
2. The Fitful Repentance of the Israelites Belied by their Hideous Crimes (Hosea 5:15 to Hosea 7:16)
True repentance alone will save (Hosea 5:15). As Jehovah has so often declared by his prophets, the one hope of deliverance is through repentance. Until he sees evidence of genuine contrition he will leave the Israelites to their fate. Their words lightly spoken, not sufficient (Hosea 6:1-4). Let the people not deceive themselves by thinking that all that is necessary is merely to come to Jehovah with the formulas of repentance upon their lips, and that he will forthwith avert his judgment and cure all their ills. The spirit of their prayers reflects a fundamental ignorance, both of the nature of repentance and of the character of Jehovah. The Eternal himself is perplexed to know what to make of a people like these; for their love, which he craves, and which is the only basis for sincere contrition, is like the morning mist, which is quickly dissipated by the rising sun. The true evidences of repentance not ceremonial offerings but loving service (Hosea 6:5-6). And yet there is no excuse for their ignorance of Jehovah’s demands, for he has taught them his will forcibly and often by the mouth of his prophets, and by his unmistakable judgments, impressing upon them the eternal truth that what he pre-eminently desires is not merely formal service, but, glowing within their hearts and prompting each action, a warm love for him and for their fellow-men. It is far more pleasing to him that they become acquainted with his will and character than that they conform in the minutest details to the dictates of the ceremonial law. The horrible crimes, daily committed in Israel, evince no true popular contrition (Hosea 6:7toHosea 7:2). But when Jehovah looks for the fruits of love, what does he find? Forgetting their peculiar relation to Jehovah, like any heathen nation, they have broken their solemn covenant and betrayed him. Go into any of their cities,—as, for example, Gilead,—and you may see the bloody footprints of the murderer. Assassins lie in wait for their victims; and, greater horror still! on the road to Shechem a band of priests are carrying on organized highway robbery. A gross licentiousness also is corrupting all the people of Israel. Thus, when Jehovah would fain heal the ills of this northern kingdom, their crimes of treachery and robbery cry to heaven for vengeance rather than for mercy. He, who sees all, cannot overlook them.
Corruption of the court (Hosea 7:3-7). Note also the wickedness and the treachery which is openly countenanced in the court. A consuming passion inflames all. You are, alas! familiar with the sickening picture of the king, shamelessly holding court attended by drunken, unscrupulous cut-throats, waiting only for a favorable opportunity to murder their royal master, who himself had mounted the throne by the use of the assassin’s knife. In all this unholy crew no one has cried earnestly to Jehovah.
Evidences of Israel’s decay (Hosea 7:8-16). Thus the nation under their blind guidance, at the present critical period upon which it has entered, is constantly aping the heathen states about, and trying to save itself by foolish and entangling alliances. The result is that it is indeed a cake unturned. With its nobles at the head of its social organization corrupt and oppressive, the masses beneath defrauded and wronged, its religion outwardly dead ceremonialism, inwardly rotten, its political policy characterized by a long series of blunders, its condition, indeed, is pitiable. In its foreign relations, although not knowing it, Israel has been the loser. Already the signs of premature decay have begun to appear. Instead, however, of turning to Jehovah for help in the time of need, these foolish Israelites, like a silly dove, without any consistent political policy, seek disgraceful alliances, first with Egypt and then with their arch-enemy, Assyria. Jehovah’s judgment shall surely overtake them, for their conduct represents open rebellion against him. He would, it is true, have gladly delivered them, had not they proved traitors in all their conduct. Not one cry of genuine contrition has escaped their lips. Only when famine stares them in the face do they look upward, and then it is to howl for food with which to sate their sensual appetites. Alas! no dependence is to be put upon them. For their insolence their rulers shall fall by the sword, while the Egyptians, their allies, in whom they trust so much, will only jeer at their misfortune.
3. Israel’s Retribution Well Merited, Overwhelming, and Imminent (Hosea 8:1 to Hosea 10:15)
Having rejected their opportunities to save themselves, the Israelites shall soon know the woes of conquest (Hosea 8:1-3). Blow a blast of warning, for the enemy, like an eagle, is even now swooping down upon the land. The impending calamity is no mere chance. It comes because the inhabitants have broken their covenant with Jehovah and rejected his commands. Vainly do they claim that they stand in a peculiarly close relation to him. When they had the opportunity to win his favor, they spurned him who would have saved them in this time of need. Therefore retribution alone awaits them. Their artificial kings and idols no defense (Hosea 8:4-7). Following their own rebellious course, they have raised puppets to the throne and called them kings, but without the divine sanction. In the same way, out of their silver and gold they have manufactured idols to be torn down, even as have been their artificial kings. Do you, who worship Jehovah under the symbolism of a calf, know that you only arouse his indignation? Oh! when will your minds be freed from the thraldom of these degrading superstitions inherited from the less enlightened past? The calf of Samaria is, like the pagan idols, a creation of man’s hands. There is nothing divine about it. Like all things human, it shall be broken in fragments in the general destruction which is about to sweep over Israel. Dire shall be the consequence of long years of folly. Completely shall the territory be devastated, for the grain which escapes the blight shall the invader consume.
Evidence of Israel’s approaching downfall (Hosea 8:8-10). The absorption of the northern kingdom by foreign powers has already begun. Its prestige among the nations is gone. Blind to all reason, it has rushed into the hands of the Assyrians and sought to strengthen its weak position by foreign alliances, purchased with heavy gifts. Vain is their attempt to escape Jehovah’s judgment and to avert the national captivity which awaits them.[7]
[7]
Signs of the approaching dissolution (Hosea 9:7-9). Already the Israelites are beginning to reap the consequences of their sins. Into such excesses have they fallen that their prophets have gone mad, so that they utter no clear message, but only the incoherent muttering of frenzy. The true watchman of Ephraim, like myself, is guarded by his God, and is ever laying bare the faults of this people,[8] whom even the sanctity of the temple does not deter from base acts of treachery. Revolting deeds of lust, such as shocked even the imperfectly developed moral consciousness of the age of the judges, are common occurrences.[9] These crimes shall bring their own punishment.
Magnificent possibilities prodigally squandered through lustful indulgence (Hosea 9:10-17). In sad contrast with their present fruits was the promise of those earlier days in the wilderness when Jehovah chose the people to be his own. But from the moment that they came into contact with the debasing civilization of Canaan they yielded to the temptation. That process of moral deterioration has gone on until the once virile nation has completely lost its character. Sadder still, sinful indulgence of lust has rendered barren the sacred organs of generation. Even should children be born, they shall grow up only to meet death by the sword of the conqueror. Northern Israelite though I am, I cannot pray for anything but retributive judgment Jehovah will not be slow in answering my prayer, for all his love is transformed by their misdeeds into loathing and indignation. Lawless, disobedient vagabonds that they are, he will drive them forth to find a home where they may among the nations. The hollow insincerity at the bottom of Israel’s religious and political life (Hosea 10:1-4). Richly blessed with natural gifts was the land of Israel; but its very fertility became a stumbling-block to its inhabitants, leading them to fix their attention upon material things, and causing them to express their religious faith in the heathen symbolism of the Canaanites whom they found in the land. The fundamental error in Israel’s religion is the lack of sincerity. Jehovah can do nothing but show his disapproval of it all by overturning their altars and pillars. Already this fickle people, who have no real faith in their God, are also beginning to lose their faith in the king whom they have set up. Therefore the keystone of their political as well as their religious organization is crumbling. As a result, public and private honor is wanting, every one is trying to cheat his neighbor, and consequently the courts are filled with lawsuits. The impending overthrow of the national religion (Hosea 10:5-8). Far from saving them in the time of their nation’s danger, the calf set up by Jeroboam I at that house of impiety, Bethel, shall be a source of keenest anxiety to the people of the district of Samaria, and to the degraded priests of this steer-god, lest the prestige which it has enjoyed be lost Well do they tremble. To Assyria’s warlike monarch shall it be sent, that the gold, .with which it is laden, may swell the heavy tribute, while Israel’s puppet king shall float helplessly, like driftwood, on the flood which is about to overflow the land. The same wars of invasion shall destroy the idolatrous shrines which have been the centers of Israel’s apostasy, and their altars shall lie utterly desolate. Then shall the people long for death to deliver them from their shame and woe.
Whatsoever a nation soweth that shall it also reap (Hosea 10:9-15). Beginning with the disgraceful atrocity at Gibeah, Israel’s history has been characterized by a long series of crimes. Worst of all, there has been no moral or religious progress. Jehovah can do nothing with such a people except punish, and the instrument which he shall use will be the armies of the nations. Hitherto he has allowed the burdens of life to rest easily upon the Israelites. Their existence has been one round of festivals. True development, however, comes only through labor. Now these two kingdoms shall experience the harder side of life. In this time of discipline, O fellow Hebrews, is to be found your supreme opportunity. If you faithfully discharge your duties, then shall you enjoy the warmth of Jehovah’s love, instead of being smitten by his judgments. By efforts and persistence develop your religious sensibilities, which have been allowed so long to remain latent. There is yet time to win Jehovah’s favor, and to save yourselves from your impending fate. Alas there is great need of a change, for hitherto your energies have been directed in quite different channels, and you are reaping the fruits in the calamities which are falling upon you. You must have learned to your sorrow the folly of trusting to crooked diplomacy and military equipment to save you. Soon you shall experience the shock of war, and your fortified cities shall crumble into ruins, as did Beth-arbee, before the army of the conqueror. Thus, O Israelites, in accordance with the eternal laws of God, your nation, with its hypocritical and artificial religion, its corrupt priests and prophets, its idolatrous practices, its gross immorality, its hollow insincerity, and its puppet kings, shall go down to ruin, and its political organization shall disappear like a mist of the morning.
4. Jehovah’s Love and Hopes for Israel (Hosea 11:1-11) The story of Jehovah’s tender care toward ungrateful Israel during the earlier history (Hosea 11:1-4). Hear Jehovah’s protestation of his love and care for Israel. In the earliest period of this nation’s existence, when it was untrained and in bondage, my heart began to go out toward it in tender love, and I called it from the thraldom of Egypt to freedom and to sonship. Alas! the more clearly I made my will known by my prophets to these ingrates, the more they failed to do it. Nevertheless I did not lose patience, but, as a father teaches his child to walk, so I tenderly guided them in the path of duty and true development When they were weary and discouraged, I comforted them, although they were too obtuse to realize that it was I who healed their bruises when they fell. As they took up the sterner duties of life I guided them, not with the whip and lash, as does a cruel driver his yoke of toiling oxen, but with words of encouragement and genuine affection, relieving them as far as possible from the painful strain, and supplying with never-tiring care their every need. The punishment which Israel’s conduct has made necessary in sad contrast to Jehovah’s purpose (Hosea 11:5-7). But all my efforts have apparently been in vain, for they show no signs of contrition and obedience. Hence discipline is the only alternative. Absorption into the great Assyrian empire shall be their fate. Instead of responding to the calls of my prophets, their whole tendency is away from me and from doing my will. Therefore nothing remains but to let them experience the terrors and the woes of war. The compassionate longings of the infinite heart of love (Hosea 11:8-10). And yet, O people of my choice, how can I leave you to your fate, richly merited though it is? Must I destroy your cities, as I did those of the plain beside the Salt sea? My heart revolts at the thought Compassion for you fain would deter me from doing what common justice prompts. Divine mercy and patience as far exceeds the human as infinity exceeds nothingness. Instead, therefore, of coming to consume you entirely, I will continue, even though I must burn out these impure elements, to manifest myself to you as the one ever near and ready to forgive and to save.
Promises of a future restoration (Hosea 11:10-11). In the distant future, when exile has done its work of discipline, then shall Jehovah send forth a loud summons, calling together his scattered people, and they with eagerness shall come hurrying back from the distant lands where they have found a refuge. Then will Jehovah restore them to their land and home.
5. Israel’s Base Return for Jehovah’s Loving Care (Hosea 11:12 to Hosea 12:14)
Israel has sought help from every other source than the true one suggested by the example of their ancestor Jacob (Hosea 11:12toHosea 12:6). Such is Jehovah’s feeling and purpose toward Israel, but the people requited his mercy and love with deception and desertion.[10] They have preferred to play with fire by purchasing costly alliance, first with Assyria, and then with Assyria’s enemy, Egypt In so doing they have not only involved themselves in political entanglements, but have also committed sins against Jehovah which will not go long unavenged. Their folly and wickedness is all the greater because they have had before them the familiar example of their honored ancestor Jacob, who, beginning at his birth, ever struggled to secure Jehovah’s blessing. He succeeded, as you know, in gaining it in rich measure. O Israelites, if you will only act in accord with the simple dictates of love and of justice, and earnestly seek to win Jehovah’s favor, you likewise may yet enjoy his spiritual blessings.
[10] Since the references to Judah in the chapter add nothing new to the prophecy, and interrupt the sequence of thought, they have been omitted in the paraphrase. The mercenary aims and corrupt religion have rendered this nation impervious to all moral culture (Hosea 12:7-14). But no, the one ideal of the Israelites has been material gain, and the pursuit of it has degraded them to a level with these cheating Canaanites. They consider that they have attained their ideal, and in their blind folly think that they have suffered no spiritual loss. Mistaken fools! Do they not realize that their life has been a complete failure, and that in their moral development they are exactly where they were centuries ago, when they were wandering desert tribes? Therefore Jehovah must cause them to go back to that simple nomadic life, and begin their education over again. This failure is not because he has neglected to send to them faithful prophets, who by forcible illustrations, as well as by spoken words, have striven long and earnestly to instruct them. But it was all in vain, for coupled with their mercenary ideals was their idolatrous religion, blinding them to all truth, and making them objects worthy of divine wrath.[11] The bitter consequences of their guilt shall be theirs to endure.
6. The Final Review of Israel’s Mistakes and their Inevitable Consequences (Hosea 13:1-16) The Idolatry which prevails in Israel the real source of its decay (Hosea 13:1-6). In the earlier days, Ephraim, the great tribe of the north, was the acknowledged leader of the Hebrew race, but when its religion degenerated into Baalism, its death began. The best energies of the northern kingdom are still being devoted to the construction of idols and the senseless worship of the calves which have been set up at the popular shrines. A nation which is thus decayed at the core cannot survive in these troublesome times. When the Assyrian whirlwind strikes, it shall be scattered like chaff to the four winds. And yet, how different it all might have been! Egypt and the wilderness wanderings presented greater dangers than the present; and still, under Jehovah’s guidance, they passed through them all in safety. It was the wealth and luxury of Canaan which led them to forget the God in whom they had found an able helper. The supreme opportunity lost because of the nation’s folly (Hosea 13:7-16). Thus, in their time of stress, he who alone can deliver is their fierce antagonist How powerless are the weak kings whom they set up for Jehovah forthwith to cast down! The present moment might have been one of triumph instead of judgment But as it is, can Jehovah think for an instant of delivering? Instead, he must stifle all feelings of pity and give over the culpable nation to severest punishment Drought, conquest, and pitiless war, shall speedily do their cruel work. Before them the strong, the helpless, and the innocent, shall all meet a common death.
7. The True Prayer of Repentance and its Answer (Hosea 14:1-9)
What Israel’s attitude toward Jehovah should be (Hosea 14:1-3). Fallen, sin-stained people, come back, I beseech you, to Jehovah, your only true God. Come, bringing not in your hands sacrifices and burnt offerings, but on your lips true words of contrition. Let your prayer be, “Cleanse us thoroughly from our sins. Accept as our best offering the confessions and faithful vows which we now make. At last we have learned that Assyrian alliances will not save us, nor Egyptian cavalry. No longer will we pay divine homage to the idols which our hands have made. To thy mercy, O thou Father of mercies, we commend ourselves.” The gracious response which Jehovah would make to such a petition (Hosea 14:4-6). Hear the ready response which Jehovah would give to such a prayer: “Although Israel is suffering grievously from the effects of long years of sin, I will restore and bestow my love unreservedly upon this repentant people, for it is necessary no longer for me to think of judgment. Under my benign influence their growth, so long arrested by their course of crime, shall proceed rapidly, until they shall stand before the world a powerful and attractive nation. The joys of repentance and reconciliation (Hosea 14:7-8). “Then will those who live under its banners enjoy prosperity and a glorious development. Then will Israel recognize the folly of worshiping idols, and I in turn will freely forgive and care for the repentant nation. At last Israel will realize and confess that its true growth and prosperity come from me, who am the eternal source of all life and growth.” The Epilogue (Hosea 14:9). [Whoever is quick to perceive and appropriate truth will find in these obscure prophecies rich and eternal messages, illustrating above all the great fact that Jehovah’s demands are altogether just, and that, for those who conform to them, life is easy; but, for those who refuse to comply, it is beset with insuperable difficulties.]