The Tragedy With a Purpose.

King Shallum soon discovered that a stolen throne is no sweeter than any other stolen thing. A palace is no more protection against conscience than a hovel; and Shallum passed miserable days of fear and nights of sleeplessness, because of his murder of Zechariah.

Smitten by his conscience and tortured in mind, Shallum was not able to collect a large force of followers to protect him or his ill-gotten throne. When, therefore, a plot was set on foot to dethrone him, Shallum was helpless.

Menahem, the son of Gadi, one of Jeroboam II's generals, organized an expedition against the usurper in Tirzah, the city that was the capital of Israel for fifty years after the Kingdom of Solomon was divided. Within a month after Shallum had proclaimed himself King of Israel, Menahem marched from Tirzah to Samaria, attacked Shallum, defeated him, and, in turn, mounted the throne of Jeroboam.

Instead of ruling peaceably in Samaria, however, Menahem started a reign of terror, until nobody in the country seemed safe in his home or in his possessions.

Trouble came for the new king thick and fast.

Tiglath-Pileser III, who had been ruling in Assyria since 745, and against whom Amos had warned the weakened Kingdom of Israel, had accomplished many conquests north of Israel, in Phoenicia and in the frontier lands of Damascus.

In the year 738, Tiglath-Pileser was knocking at the gates of Damascus and threatening Samaria. In order to keep the Assyrian conqueror off, and save their countries the spoliation and ruin that followed in the wake of the Assyrian armies, Menahem, together with Rezin, King of Damascus, the Kings of Tyre, Hamath, and other small states, agreed to pay him tribute.

Menahem's share was the enormous sum of one thousand talents of silver. To raise this amount, he levied a tax of fifty silver shekels each on "all the mighty men of wealth," both priests and merchants, in the kingdom.

Now, the lawlessness started by Shallum and the anarchy continued by
Menahem had had their effect. The great sum of money needed for
Tiglath-Pileser was raised by "all the mighty men of wealth;" but it
was ground out of the poor by cheating, robbery and even murder.

The conditions against which the Prophet Amos cried out were now apparent to all observers. The final overthrow of the kingdom, which Amos declared to be but a matter of time, was now evident to all patriotic lovers of their country.

These conditions were clear as the light of day, especially to Hosea. Being a priest himself, he knew how the very priests at the sanctuaries had entered upon secret understandings with rebel associates of Menahem and the wealthy merchants to raise the Assyrian tribute at the expense of the people. Being a lover of his fatherland, he knew that these sins and crimes against God and men must react upon the nation as a whole and rush it on to destruction.

Hosea, like Amos, therefore, felt himself called upon by God 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. God loved the whole people of Israel devotedly as Hosea loved Gomer, but Israel does not always understand what God 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 God, as from the beginning, Israel would never have strayed away from His law and commandments. What is to be done? Israel lacks knowledge of God and His will! Israel is being taught falsehoods by priests and prophets! Israel does not understand God'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 God'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 God, ye children of Israel,
For God hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,
For there is no truth, nor loving-kindness,
Nor knowledge of God 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 God,
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 God. 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 God 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 God;
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 God, 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 gods,
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 God 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 Assyria. 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 Assyria 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 God.
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 pronouncement, 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 God 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 God 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 God love His people; how much the more so will God have compassion and forgive, if Israel will repent and return to Him?

And that very night it seemed that God 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!