A NEW KIND OF WORSHIP
Amos seemed to think of sacrifices and burnt-offerings as mere
formalities which distracted men's attention from the thing of real
importance, namely, just and righteous dealing between man and his
neighbor.
There was another prophet who lived a little later than Amos. Perhaps
as a youth he heard Amos speak. This was Hosea, who probably came from
Gilead east of the Jordan. This man saw even deeper into the truth of
religion than Amos, and his messages wonderfully completed and rounded
out the great true words which the older prophet had so bravely
spoken.
THE GOOD AND THE EVIL IN THE OLD SACRIFICES
The old religion of sacrifices was by no means wholly evil. When a
family in those days sat down to a happy feast and gave some of
everything in gratitude to Jehovah, God really was there, not in the
sacred rock, but in their love for one another and for him. When they
poured out libations and burned fat on the altar, God was indeed glad,
not because of the smell of the smoke or because he enjoyed drinking
the blood, but because his children were grateful.
=Wrong ideas of God.=--On the other hand, these sacrifices, when
misunderstood, tended to give people a wrong idea of God as one who
was greedy for food and gifts. There was the greater danger of this
wrong idea because of the character of the priests who were supposed
to represent Jehovah. Many of them were very greedy indeed. The story
of Eli's sons in 1 Samuel 2. 12-17 is an illustration. The priests
were supposed to receive for their own personal support a part of all
the gifts which were brought to the shrine. But the sons of Eli made
it the rule that whatever came out of the meat kettle on a
three-pronged fork stuck in by the priest should belong to him. Very
often, it is plain, the priest got everything. And naturally the
people came to think of Jehovah as like his priests--as a Being who
cared only for gifts.
=A worship based on greed.=--The worship of such a god, or of a god
who was thought of as being of such a character, would, of course, be
very far from the love and adoration which we Christians are taught to
offer to our Father, and was really far from the kind of worship
advocated by devout Hebrews. It would be a sort of bargain-hunting
worship: the people to bring gifts of the fat of lambs and libations
of blood and wine, and the god to give them in return good crops of
wheat and oil, and figs and grapes, and an abundance of silver and
gold. If Jehovah would give these things, then worship Jehovah. If
other gods and Baals would give more than Jehovah, worship them.
In short these sacrifices, as Hosea saw, were a kind of worship, and
no worship is a mere formality, but is a vast influence for good or
for ill. Because of these wrong ideas the sacrifices had come to be
more and more an influence for evil. And you cannot have a righteous
and happy human family in which men are just and kind to each other,
without a true worship, growing out of a true idea of God.
HOSEA'S EXPERIENCE AND MESSAGE
This young man from the lovely, grassy plains and valleys east of the
Jordan had had an experience which taught him much. He was by nature
a man with a loving heart. He loved his native land with a burning
patriotism. By and by there came to him, as to most young men, the
experience of a passionate love for a beautiful girl. All the deep
wells of tenderness in Hosea's loving heart were hers, and she became
his wife. For a time they were happy; then little by little it became
clear that this woman, Gomer, did not really love him as he loved her.
She only wanted his money. And when she could get nothing more from
him, or could get more elsewhere, she left him. She was like the woman
in Kipling's poem, "The Vampire," "she did not care." It hurt Hosea.
For a time the light of the whole world seemed darkened for him.
=Reading a meaning in sorrow.=--Then like a flash the thought came to
him; Jehovah is just like me in this regard. He wants love, not gifts,
from his people, a love which on their part does not fawn for other
gifts from him in return, like the cupboard love of kittens purring
for cream. He loves his people Israel just as I love Gomer. That is
why he asks us not to worship these other gods, the Baals; not because
he is jealous but because he is good. He wants us to learn a different
kind of worship altogether--a worship which is not prompted by greed
but by love.
With his whole soul aflame, Hosea poured these new ideas into the ears
of his countrymen.
="I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
more than burnt-offerings."=
These great words were quoted by Jesus himself in one of his
controversies with the Pharisees; they are one of the supreme
utterances of human literature.
STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON
This new insight of Hosea helped him to interpret hopefully the
troubles which at that time were coming thick and fast upon his
people. The forebodings of Amos were coming true. The kings of Assyria
were ambitious. They had set their hearts upon a great Assyrian empire
extending from Babylonia to Egypt. For more than two centuries each
new king at Nineveh sent his conquering armies farther west and south.
Already in Hosea's day they had more than once invaded northern Israel
and had taken away tribute. And the leaders of the nation did not have
the brains or the character to avoid a conflict with this merciless
and resistless foe.
=Jehovah loving even in punishment.=--Amos had declared that Jehovah
would surely punish his people because of injustices and wrongs which
they were inflicting on one another. Hosea agreed, but was able to go
further, and say that in these very punishments which were now coming
Jehovah was still showing not his anger but his love. He was punishing
in the hope that his children might learn their lesson and return to
him in love.
=Fall of the northern kingdom.=--The nation, as a nation, seemed to
pay no attention to Hosea's pleadings. They went right on living their
selfish and greedy and lustful lives. And in B.C. 721, as a result of
provoking the Assyrian king Shalmanezer to a fresh attack, the land
was again invaded and the city of Samaria was captured and sacked.
Thousands of the northern Hebrews were carried away as exiles to other
lands and never returned. The northern kingdom was a failure. The
religious ideals and dreams of Abraham and Moses had not yet been
fulfilled. The common people had had little opportunity for happiness
or growth in knowledge and goodness. But the southern kingdom still
existed. And many a disciple of Hosea, some of them carrying scraps
and rolls of papyrus on which his sayings were copied, fled to
Jerusalem, and there sowed the seed of his great message of a God not
only of justice but of love.
STUDY TOPICS
1. Read Genesis 4. 1-15. In this story of Cain and Abel is there any
hint as to how even an animal sacrifice might be true worship?
2. Look up Hosea in the Bible dictionary, or in the chapter on Hosea
in Cornill, The Prophets of Israel. Find out more about the times in
which he lived and about his personal history.
3. Read what you can in the book of Hosea. This is rather hard
reading, but chapter 11 is not very difficult, and gives a good idea
of Hosea's style.
4. Which kind of prayer counts more for the happiness of all, prayers
for personal advantage, or prayers of love and gratitude to our
Father?