(3) External Politics. — Keliance on foreign help IS also ' unfaithfulness ' to J" (8»). The love of J" elevates the subject of it into a personality. C(UTe- sponding to His mind there must be another mind, with a sense of benefit and capacity for affection. .\nd when Israel leans on foreign powers, this re- veals not only distrust of J", but alienation of mind from Him, and dissatisfaction with the whole range of affections and duties which the relation to i" imimses.
To the prophet the issue of all this is certain : J" will drive Israel out of His house (9'*). Hosea
* For walkinpr 'al^er the cnminandniont ' (5") the TSS read •aftiT vanity ' ; tnil the rrailinir i> IVclitc arul indetinite.
has no clear idea of the instrument or means ol Israel's destruction. It is 'the sword' (7" 11'^), the ' enemy ' (8' 0" •') ; or it is natural, internal de- cay (7*- " 91"), the moth and rottenness (5'-), Israel shall be made to go through the wilderness (2''') ; but they shall also eat unclean things in Assyria (!i» b") ; and again, Kgvpt shall gather them, Jloph shall bury them (9" 7ii"»ia 9' 11') ; and again, they shall be wanderers among the nations {'fi' 10'"). The iiue.stion sometimes put, whether it wa,s the prospect of national overthrow that impressed upon the prophets the national sin, or the sin that led them to foreca.st the overthrow, receives a ready answer so far as Mosea is concerned. He I>erceives thiit aposta.sy from J" contains destruc- tion in it (7" 13'-' ?), that moral law operates as iufallilily as natural law: 'they have sown the wind and reap the whirlwind' (8"), 'ye have plowed wicki'diu'ss, ye have reaped ini(iuity ' (10'^; cf. on the other hand 10'-) ; unchastity tends not to in- crease but to childlessness (9"'"- 4'') ; Kgypt and Assyria whose help they seek shall swallow them up.
iv". SoMi: Gi:nki;.m, Idio.VS. — (l) dod and Ite- liyiiin. — J" is God : ' there is no knowle<lge of God ' has for parallel ' they do not know J" '(.5*, cf. 2-'). His naturi! a.s revealed in Israel's histiu-y is Love. It was in love that He redeemed them from Kgypt : ' when Israel was a chilil I loved liiin ' (11'); and He has an emotional deliu'ht in the object of His love (9'"). His love has followed Israel all through their history (IP-' 7") ; even His chastisements are not without love — ' I will speak to her heart ' (2" ",) ; and their restoration and everla.'iting peace will be due to His love (H* i'""'- cf. II""-)- •'" '* spiritual, and religion is piety (G-"-'') : it is a state of the mind, not external service. It is partly this feeling of the in- wardness of religion th.at leads to the prophet's per- sonitication of the community. He thinks of the community as a personal mind, an individual .soul. in its relation to God and in His relation to it, with all the mutual, mystical interchange of thoughts and affections towards each other of the two minds. And it was in the wilderness at the Kxodus that this true religious relation was perft'ctly realized, when Israel po.ssessed nothing, through no nu-dium, but mind to mind. And it is in the wilderness that it shall be perfectly realized again, when Israel, destitute of all sacramental tokens of J'"s favour, land, corn, and wine, sh.all feel that she possesses Himself, and shall respond as in the days of her youth (21'). Such a surjirisingly inward conception of religion implies two things: first, that tiic commonplaces of Israel's faith must have been long familiar, such as J"'s redemption of His people. His constant goodness, the frceness of His choice of them, and the moral nature of His whole relation to them (cf. reference to covenant 8' and fatherhood 11'), together perhaps with the con- sciousness on Israel's part that it had declined to a lower stage of religious life than it once occupied (2"). And secondli/, that the pro])het transcends the .stage of religion reached in O T times, and anticipates a more perfect future. In his day the religious imit or subject was the coiimiunity, but his personification of the community as an indi- vidual soul implies that his conception of religion re(iuires a true personal subject — that only the inclividual mind can be truly in religious com- munion with God.
(2) 'JTie People. — The history of the patriarchal age and of the Exodus might almo.st be constructed out of Hosea's allusions. This history is his Bible, where he finds the texts of his homilies. Israel is to him a moral per.son, and it is not so much her actions as her mind towards J" that he has regard to. He has. however, the idea that a course of conduct leads to a .state of mind in which amend- ment is hopeless ; as, on the other hand, the stale
HOSEA
HOSHEA
4l'5
"f mind reveals iuself in all manner of insensate actions — ' Ephraini is joined to idols: let him alone ' (4") ; ' my people iusk counsel at their stocks, for a spirit of whoredom causetli them to err' (41'^ "r^--'). They have better moments when the thought of a return to ,1" fascinates them (<>'"'■); but it is a iKUSsiii^' emotion liki^ the morning cloud, a dramatic ideal which tliey have not depth and earnestness to realize (7'<-"'). J" is at His wits' end with them (0*). On account of his con- ception of Israel as a moral person. Hosea draws no distinction between classes anions the peo)ile. It is Israel Mis spouse whom .1" drives out of His house, and it is she whom He auaiu betrothes to Himself for ever (•_>''■' 14). Hosea contines his eschalolojty to the destiny of Israel; the nations find no place in his jiicture of the end. It was the Assyrian empire thai brou','lil the idea of the world, tlie nations, before the prophets' minds, and Hosea had iirobal>ly jjassed away before Assyria closely touched on I.srael. His prophecy ends with llie iirediction of the restoration, the holy beauty and eternal endurance of God's people : 'they shall bloom like the lily, and cast forth their roots like Lebanon' (14^).