In the category of idolatry, Hosea (4!2) clearly includes also divining by means of small staves (the so-called rhabdomancy), as Isaiah (8!) includes necromancy and in general every form of divina- tion and magic (2°, ef. also 2 K 234). The popular belief might imagine these things to be reconcil- able with the worship of Jahweh. But, even apart from syncretism in the matter of the baals, there are not wanting allusions to idolatry in the proper sense: so, ¢.g., Is 1, and very frequently in Jere- miah (116 2°. 18. 20f 7718), After the middle of the 7th cent. B.c. the denunciations are directed espe- cially against the worship of the host of heaven (Zeph 1°, Jer 7/7 8? 19%; very characteristic are the words of the people in Jer 441"* ; cf. also 2K 2344), and against the sacrifice of children (Jer 7° 19°, 2 K 23”). In this last case it is not indeed certain whether the ab (‘king ’),* to whom these sacrifices were offered, is not meant to stand for a special form of Jahweh (cf. above, p. 646). A similar doubt arises, as we have already (p. 643%) explained, regarding the Divine images (Is 2”, etc.), where in many instances it may be images of Jahweh that are in view.
Amongst the denunciations of idolatry it was formerly the custom to include numerous sayings which are meant in reality for the perverted, unthinking worship of Jahweh, with its strong admixture of Canaanite ritual practices. The sacri- ficial meals were frequently the occasion of excess (cf. esp. Is 287") and immorality, Thus already Amos (28) complains: ‘Beside every altar they stretch themselves on pledged garments, and drink penalty-wine + in the temple of their God.’ Ac- cording to Am 4, seeming zeal for the cultus at Bethel and Gilgal is coupled with disgrace- ful acts. To Hosea (4) the sacrificial worship upon the high places, in the company of the kédéshéth, is no better than idolatry, and the offerings of the people are therefore valueless in the sight of Jahweh (5°), They may have erected numerous altars [to Jahweh], but these have be- come to them only an occasion of sin (8! 10}, although the last passage might refer also to altars and mazzeboth of Baal). On Isaiah’s polemic against the multiplied but wholly useless opera operata, see above, p. 685°f. The people draw near, indeed, to Jahweh with their mouth, and honour Him with their lips, but their heart is far from
* Cf. B. D. Eerdmans, Melekdienst en vereering van hemel-
lichamen in Israéls assyr. Periode, Leiden, 1892. t t.e. wine which they have exacted in lieu of a money fine.
RELIGION OF ISRAEL
Him, and their fear of God nothing but a command- ment of men which they have learned by rote (Is 29%, Jer 127). Similar are the complaints of Micah and Jeremiah. But the strongest evidence of the radically perverted character of the cultus is found in the circumstance that such a shocking abuse as that of the presence of kédéshim and hédéshith (see above, p. 662) in connexion with the cult of Jahweh (for this must be our inference from Dt 2318! and 2 K 237) was able to maintain its hold down to the reform of the cultus by Josiah.
(6) Both the above aberrations, idolatry and the perverted worship of Jahweh, spring from a com- mon source; a complete failure to recognize the true character of Jahweh. Only this can explain the people’s gross ingratitude to Him who has been their Benefactor and Guardian from the earliest times (Is 1° 5'-), and their false confidence in Jah- weh as the national God, who, for the sake of His own credit, cannot finally abandon His people and temple to the heathen, but must at last overlook all their rebellions and sin (Jer7! et al.). Very often this misplaced confidence is ascribed to the seductive words of false prophets, who still preach safety even when all the terrors of judgment pre- sent themselves vividly to the eyes of the true prophets of Jahweh (Mic 3° 1», Jer 5! 9! 74 1414 Q316-18 279. 14. QIN. QOBE. 21-23. 31),
This false trust in Jahweh is far, however, from preventing distrust of His power and aid—a dis- trust which shows itself in an eager striving after self-help and in the attaching of value to self- chosen carnal expedients. This is one of the principal sources of complaint on the part of the prophets, whether the subject of their censure be the people’s trust in resources of their own (battle- chariots and warriors, gold and treasures: Hos 10%, Is 27 2988 3016 Mic 59); or alliances, now with Assyria, now with Egypt or with the neigh- bouring peoples as a defence against Assyria (Hos 518 711 gf. 19°01) 1440), all referring to the Northern kingdom ; Is 28! 29% 301 311, of Judah’s alliance with Egypt).
The want of real belief and confidence in God, which reveals itself in such conduct, reaches a climax in open renunciation of Jahweh and frivo- lous mockery of His prophets and of the Divine oracles announced by them (Am 2”, Hos 97, Is 14 519 ] [18M. 196 1510. 15 1818-23 QO7M. gol. OgoF. B09. Mic 26.1, Jer 6). Is 22! in particular reminds us strongly of the ‘sin against the Holy Ghost’ (Mt 12°11.) which can never be forgiven.