Hosea, like Amos, therefore, felt himself called upon by G.o.d to warn his people, and, if possible, to save his country. He could no longer stand aside and see rulers, priests and "all the mighty men of wealth"
despoiling his well-beloved fatherland. He must speak words of reproach and warning. He must open the eyes of his people to the calamity that was ahead of them.
One night Hosea was at home brooding over his own family troubles and thinking of the future of his country. He had just seen the children to bed and his mind was dwelling on Gomer, their mother, from whom he had not heard a single word since she went away. As he came downstairs he heard shouting and screaming and hurrying footsteps. Going into the street, he learned that another of those attacks on peaceful people had been made by a company of Menahem"s followers for the purpose of robbery.
This did not surprise Hosea in the least. What did chagrin and pain him was the discovery that the attacking party was under the direction of several priests whom, he knew personally.
All that night this phrase kept running through his mind--"Like people, like priest." And, strange to say, the thought of Gomer, his wife, whom he loved devotedly, whom he never ceased loving, kept on intruding itself into his thoughts about his country.
By morning, however, the whole situation had cleared up for him.
Israel, its rulers and priests were like Gomer. G.o.d loved the whole people of Israel devotedly as Hosea loved Gomer, but Israel does not always understand what G.o.d desires of His people any more than Gomer understood what Hosea desired of her. If Gomer had continued loving her husband, as from the beginning, she would never have left him; if Israel had continued loving G.o.d, as from the beginning, Israel would never have strayed away from His law and commandments. What is to be done? Israel lacks knowledge of G.o.d and His will! Israel is being taught falsehoods by priests and prophets! Israel does not understand G.o.d"s loving-kindness toward His people! Israel must be warned! Israel must be taught!
Hosea had determined what to do. His unhappiness at the departure of his wife was somewhat lightened now, because he read G.o.d"s mission to him in the tragedy of his home. He felt himself ordained to be a preacher to Israel--and he went to work.
From that day on he traveled the wide land over, preaching to the people against the corrupt priesthood and against the usurpers of the throne of Samaria.
"Hear the word of G.o.d, ye children of Israel, For G.o.d hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor loving-kindness, Nor knowledge of G.o.d in the land; There is naught but perjury and lying, Murder and stealing, Violence and bloodshed.
Therefore doth the land mourn, And all its inhabitants languish.
"Yet, let none bring charges, And let none reprove, Since my people are but as their priestlings.
My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because thou has rejected knowledge I will also reject thee, That thou shalt be no priest to me.
Since thou hast forgotten the instruction of thy G.o.d, I will also forget thy children.
I will change their glory into shame, And it shall be, like people, like priest.
The people that doth not understand shall be overthrown!"
Hosea naturally, met opposition everywhere on the part of the priesthood and the hirelings of the king. Undaunted, he rebuked Menahem and the usurping rulers in Samaria, as well as the priests and the unrighteous people.
"Hear this, O ye priests!
And hearken, O house of Israel, And give heed, O house of the king, Since for you is the judgment.
They themselves have made kings, without my consent; They have made princes, but without my knowledge.
For they commit falsehood; The thief entereth in and the troop of robbers ravageth without.
And they consider not in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness."
Then, his heart aching with pain, and remembering the sorrow of his life, which led him to prophesy, he concludes:
"What shall I do unto you, O Ephraim!
What shall I do unto you, O Israel-- Since your love is like a morning cloud, Yea, like the dew which goes early away."
But the people as a whole, having been taught by the unworthy prients, still believed that, in offering sacrifices, all their sins and crimes were forgiven them by G.o.d. Amos had objected strenuously to this common belief. Hosea went a step further and decried the act of sacrificing as an act of idolatry.
Referring bitterly to Bethel as Bethaven (the House of Violence) Hosea replied:
"Come not ye into Gilgal, Neither go ye up to Beth-aven, Nor swear, "As G.o.d liveth."
In Bethel I have seen a horrible thing; All their wickedness is in Gilgal; For there I hated them.
Because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more.
They shall go with their flocks And with their herds to seek G.o.d; But they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them."
Every place where Hosea denounced the sacrifices, the people who heard him, but could not or would not understand, called him a fool and said that he was mad. "Yes," replied Hosea:
"The prophet is a fool, The man that hath the spirit is mad Because of the abundance of thine iniquity.
They shall cry unto me, "My G.o.d, we Israel know Thee."
(But) Israel hath cast off that which is good; Israel hath forgotten his Maker.
And now they go on sinning, They make for themselves molten G.o.ds, From their silver, idols according to their own model, Smith"s work, all of it!
To such they speak!
Men who sacrifice, kiss calves!
They sow the wind and shall reap the whirlwind!"
After that Hosea followed up his rebuke and denunciation with most pathetic entreaties:
"Sow to yourselves righteousness, So shall ye reap loving-kindness.
Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, That the fruit of righteousness may come upon you.
But ye have plowed wickedness, Ye have reaped disaster, Ye have eaten the fruit of lies.
It is love I delight in, and not sacrifice, Knowledge of G.o.d and not burnt-offering."
When the time came for Menahem to send the tribute to Tiglath-Pileser, Hosea discovered that even here the king and his advisers were double-dealing with a.s.syria. The sending of the money to the great emperor was only a blind on the part of Menahem.
Secretly he was in communication with the King of Egypt, sending precious gifts to him. Menahem wanted to create an alliance between Israel and Egypt against Tiglath-Pileser.
Hosea saw the folly of it all. He knew that neither the tribute to a.s.syria nor the proposed alliance with Egypt could help the corrupt, degraded people. He compares Menahem"s double-dealing to the action of a silly dove, and concludes:
"Samaria shall bear her guilt, For she has rebelled against her G.o.d.
Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
Come, on with thy plagues, O Death!
On with thy pestilence, O Sheol!
Repentance is forever hid from mine eyes."
This terrible p.r.o.nouncement, almost a curse, brought Hosea back to his home all wrought up. Never had he spoken so harshly. Never had he felt so deeply the doom of Israel.
He found his children in the playroom, playing an old game called "Mother." After watching them for a moment in silence and in thought, his heart was almost crushed by a question his little girl put to him:
"When is our real mother coming home?"
For answer he drew Lo-ruhamah close to his heart--and wept. Hosea did not know; only G.o.d knew.
All the love he bore for Gomer came back in an overwhelming flood. She had strayed from him, but his love had never lessened. Would that he could find her! With all her faults he would forgive her, if she would repent and return. And yet, that morning, he had been so harsh. He preached that Israel must bear its guilt and that G.o.d had forever hid repentance from before Him.
If he, a man, could love so deeply and could be willing to forgive, how much the more so does G.o.d love His people; how much the more so will G.o.d have compa.s.sion and forgive, if Israel will repent and return to Him?
And that very night it seemed that G.o.d had ordained an ordeal for Hosea to test him and inspire him in his further work as a prophet.
A message was brought to Hosea that his wife, Gomer, was to be sold as a slave at public auction, in the slave market of Samaria, on the morrow!
CHAPTER III.
_The Repentant Returns._