Books: Stories of the Prophets

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"I am the Lord, thy God, from the land of Egypt;
Thou knowest no God but Me,
And besides Me there is no Savior."

Hosea could not conceive the idea that God would desert Israel
forever. He recognized, however, that the doom of the sinful nation
was sealed. And so he read the drama of Israel in his own life.
Assyria would destroy Samaria. Israel would leave the fatherland as
Gomer left her home. In exile Israel would learn through suffering and
hardships as Gomer had done. Israel would redeem itself and,
eventually, would return to God. God, loving Israel always, would wait
to receive His repentant people, as he himself had received Gomer.

And so Hosea drew a beautiful picture of that future day in these
words:

"And I will betroth thee unto me forever.
Yea, I will betroth thee unto me with righteousness,
And with justice and with loving-kindness and in mercy;
Yea, I will betroth thee unto me with faithfulness,
And thou shalt know God."

* * * * *

The compiler of the fragments of Hosea's speeches in the book bearing
the prophet's name--the most fragmentary book in the Bible, and from
which this story has been built up--concludes his labors with
this admonition:

"Whoso is wise, let him understand these things;
Whoso is prudent, let him realize them;
For straight are the ways of the Lord.
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble upon them."

THE STATESMAN PROPHET

CHAPTER I.

_The Vision in the Temple._

Even his closest friends could not explain what had come over young
Isaiah, since the physicians announced that King Uzziah was nearing
his end.

Amoz, Isaiah's father, was of a noble family, very near the throne in
Jerusalem, and a dear personal friend of the king. Isaiah, too, was a
prime favorite of Uzziah's, not by virtue of his father's friendship
for the king, but because of his own fine qualities and excellent
disposition.

Often Isaiah had been invited, with the Crown Prince, Jotham, to be
present at the Great Councils of State--a very distinguished honor for
so young a man. But no one thought, for an instant, that this change
in manner and behavior, so noticeable to everyone, had come upon
Isaiah because of his grief over the aged king's fatal illness.

Isaiah was being trained to enter upon a political career. His
politics was the only serious thing in life for him. The country was
so peaceful and prosperous, however, that even politics was a matter
of little consequence to most of the royalty in Jerusalem. They lived
the joyous life, paid little attention to the Temple and its priests,
and often laughed at the whole religious ritual. But when great State
functions occurred at the Palace or foreign ambassadors appeared at
Court, all royalty celebrated with feasting--and Isaiah was among
those present and in high favor.

He always came to these occasions in rare good humor and with cheerful
enthusiasm. He was a young man of many accomplishments. His knowledge
of affairs was wide and extensive. His cleverness and wit had made him
famed far and wide. His occasional poems, written for sport and
festivals, showed a genuine talent, almost a genius, for the poetic
art. He was considered by all the very life and spirit of the younger
Court set. A great future as a statesman and man of letters was
predicted for him by everybody.

Now, however, since King Uzziah became so critically ill that his life
was despaired of, this unexplainable change took place in Isaiah. He
seemed to have quarreled with Prince Jotham, who had been reigning as
king since Uzziah was smitten beyond hope of recovery, though both
laughed at the rumor and denied it.

What proved the greatest surprise to all, was the fact that Isaiah
often went to the Temple and talked earnestly with the priests. At
times he would linger about the place long after the evening
sacrifices had been offered and the priests had gone home. His jolly
friends would make sport of him; but his more sober-minded companions
became quite alarmed when, instead of displaying his usual good humor,
he spoke with bitter sarcasm. His contagious laugh began to ring
forced and hollow. He was morose and always ill at ease, as if he were
laboring under a great strain that burdened his heart and mind.

King Uzziah's death was a lingering one. For many weeks reports from
the sick chamber were to the effect that he was passing away, but he
clung to life. Jerusalem had doffed its gala attire and the whole of
Judah was prepared to go into mourning for its king. For a month or
more the nobility and the Court had not indulged in any social
functions, state or private. The Capital and the country were awaiting
the royal funeral.

Uzziah had been a great king and a good ruler. He had done much for
the whole country, and especially for the Capital. The mourning in
Jerusalem and all through Judah was, therefore, genuine and sincere,
when the king died. The pomp and ceremony that characterized the
funeral procession were not mere royal show, but expressions of honor
and deep regret of a loyal people for its beloved sovereign.

The young Isaiah was accorded an honored place in the long list of
notables who followed the body of the king to its last resting place.
He walked beside Jotham, his bosom friend; but did not accompany the
new king on the return to the palace. In the slight confusion that
followed after Uzziah had been "buried with his fathers," Isaiah
slipped quietly away and took the road to the Temple Mount.

Taking his way through the Water Gate, on the west side of the Temple,
he entered the Inner Court. Then he mounted the twelve steps leading
to the vestibule of the Temple proper. Two priests, who had just come
out of the chamber where the implements for sacrificing were kept,
bowed low to him and passed out into the Inner Court. Isaiah was
evidently so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice them, for
he did not return their salute, but walked forward to the entrance of
the Hekal, or Temple proper.

There he stood for a moment in silence; then he leaned wearily against
one of the entrance pillars. Behind him the Priests' Hall and the
Inner Court were deserted. Before him, in the Hekal, was the Altar of
Incense, on which coals from the recent sacrifices were still alive.
To the right of the Altar was the Menorah, the seven-light
candlestick, and to the left the table of showbread. Behind these hung
the golden curtains that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of
the Temple.

A thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from the live coals on the
Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the ceiling of the Hekal. As
Isaiah watched the rising smoke, it became thicker and thicker, and
filled the whole Temple. His eyes gazed from the Altar to the
glittering gold curtains behind it. The reflection from the coals, and
the playing of the blue and purple smoke on the golden sheets, caused
them to sheen and shimmer until they faded entirely away into the blue
and purple maze that filled the Hekal.

Isaiah was gazing right into the Holy of Holies, where no human eyes,
except those of the High Priest, once a year, ever looked, and behold!
he saw a most remarkable vision.

There, instead of the wooden Ark of the Covenant, he beheld a great
and lofty throne on which was God, Himself. Instead of the two
Cherubim of wood and gold, that surmounted the Ark, he beheld
Seraphim, the fiery Angels, standing attendant before Him. Each of the
Seraphim had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he
covered his feet and with two he flew. And one cried unto another and
said:

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory."

Isaiah felt the very foundations of the threshold shake under him,
at the sound of the calling. Covering his face with both hands, he
cried out:

"Woe is me!
I am undone.
For I am a man of unclean lips.
And I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips;
Yet mine eyes have seen the King, the God of hosts."

Uncovering his face, he stretched out his hands towards the throne in
mute appeal. Thereupon one of the Seraphim flew to the Altar and, with
a pair of tongs, took from it a live coal. From the Altar the Seraph
flew directly to Isaiah and, touching his mouth with the live coal,
said:

"See, this has touched thy lips,
Therefore thine iniquity is gone
And thy sin forgiven."

Then Isaiah heard the voice of God Himself, saying:

"Whom shall I send,
And who will go for us?"

Falling to his knees, and again stretching out his hands towards the
throne, Isaiah answered:

"Here am I!
Send me!"

Kneeling there, motionless, hardly breathing, his lips apart, his face
expressing the fear and anguish that were in his heart, Isaiah heard
the reply:

"Go and say to this people:
Hear and hear again, but understand not;
See and see again, but perceive not.
Make fat the heart of this people,
And their ears dull, and besmear their eyes,
Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears
And their heart should understand and they be healed."

The force of this message struck Isaiah to the heart. He understood
its meaning very well. It was terrible! It carried with it the sound
of doom and the end of his nation. The very thought of it terrified
him. Holding his head with both hands his back bent forward as under a
heavy weight, until his face touched his knees upon the floor, he
cried in heartbreaking tones:

"Lord! How long?"

And God answered him:

"Until the cities are in ruin without an inhabitant,
And the houses without a human occupant,
And the land become utterly desolate,
And God hath sent the men far away,
And in the midst of the land the deserted territory be great.
And should there be a tenth in it,
It must in turn be fuel for flame,
Like the terebinth and the oak,
Of which, after falling, but a stump remains."

For a long time after the voice had ceased speaking, Isaiah remained
in the position in which he had listened to the last reply.

When, finally, in fear and trembling, he slowly raised his head, the
vision had gone! Behind him the Priests' Hall and the Inner Court were
deserted. Before him a thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from
the live coals on the Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the
ceiling of the Hekal.

Isaiah passed his hands over his eyes. For a moment he let his cool
palm rest against his burning forehead. Then he slowly found his way
out of the Temple and passed out into the silent night.

CHAPTER II.

_The Parable of the Vineyard._

The fact was that Isaiah did not grieve particularly over King
Uzziah's illness and approaching death. What troubled him was the
attitude taken by his dear friend, the Crown Prince, Jotham, toward
the political future of the Kingdom of Judah, since his sick father
had placed the reins of government in his hands.

The differences of opinion between Isaiah and Jotham, as to what was
best for the nation were so great as to be almost hopeless. So that,
even before Uzziah died the two stopped discussing problems of State,
although they continued their warm friendship.

As long as King Uzziah lived, it was plain nothing serious could
happen to the country. To the south, Uzziah was feared by the
Philistines and Arabians, whom he had subdued, and his name was
honored even at the Court of Egypt. To the north Jeroboam II was
prosperous and at peace; Syria was weak and Assyria had not yet made
its power felt. Within the extended borders of his own country, Uzziah
had established peace and had built up commercial enterprise and
prosperity.

To the average citizen of Judah, therefore, the country was all right,
the king was all right, and the future had not the slightest cloud
before it. To Isaiah, the keen-sighted and well-posted young
statesman, however, neither the country nor the king was fit to deal
with a great national crisis--and the future had one in store.

When Uzziah became sick and abdicated, quietly, in favor of Jotham,
then a young man of twenty-five, Isaiah began to call Jotham's
attention to the internal social conditions of the country; but Jotham
had such a high respect for his father's ruling power that he would
not alter a single law nor make a single reform.

When Isaiah attempted to drum into Jotham's head the causes of the
reign of anarchy in Samaria and the lessons to be drawn therefrom for
Judah, Jotham, desiring to show his power as a ruler while his father
was yet alive, busied himself fighting with the Ammonites and
extending the boundaries of his kingdom.

When, finally, in the year 788 B. C. E., the news came to Jerusalem
that King Menahem, of Israel, had sent a heavy tribute to the Assyrian
Tiglath-Pileser, Isaiah's worries over the future of his own country
became very acute.

It was in this year Uzziah died; and it was on the day of the king's
funeral that Isaiah saw the remarkable vision in the Temple.

Up to that hour Isaiah was conscious only of the fact that something
must be done in Judah to save it from the evils of injustice and
unrighteousness that were being practiced by the rich and powerful
upon the poor and weak. From that hour on he knew that God had called
him to be His prophet, that God had selected him to bring the truth
home to the Judeans and, if possible, to save the nation from the doom
that awaited the sister-nation, Israel.

What Isaiah saw and heard in the Temple at the close of that memorable
day, gave him the germ of an idea as to what God demanded of him to
do. Time, thought and experience ripened that idea into a plan. The
course of events offered him the opportunity to put the plan into
action.

Isaiah could not count on Jotham to institute and carry out reforms in
the religious beliefs and practices of the people, in their commercial
wrongdoings, in the corrupt law courts and in the general oppression
of the lower classes. He had to begin work on his own initiative; and
he began it with the people themselves, in the City of Jerusalem.

He came to the Temple Mount one day, when many pilgrims were gathered
there. He listened attentively, with the rest, to travelers from
Arabia, who were relating wonderful tales of adventure. From stories
of adventure in foreign lands the pilgrims drifted into stories of
happenings in their own country. Some related rumors of what was going
on in Samaria; others spoke of the possibility of Judah's being forced
to fight Assyria some day. Some laughed at such a suggestion; others
were in grave doubt whether such an emergency would find the nation
prepared. Some spoke of the evils that were sapping the strength of
the people; others complained that the king, instead of attending to
his business of State, was busying himself with his wealth of herds
and vineyards.

Here Isaiah, who had been silently listening to the discussions, offered
to recite a poem, an original composition. The suggestion was received
with loud applause and Isaiah began:

"Let me sing a song of my friend,
My friend's song about his vineyard."

At this introduction everybody settled down comfortably to listen,
and Isaiah continued:

"My friend hath a vineyard
On a fertile hill;
He digged it and gathered out the atones,
And planted it with choicest vine;
A tower he built in the midst of it
And hewed out a wine press.
He looked to find grapes that were good,
And it yielded only wild grapes."

Isaiah's listeners were disappointed. The story not only lacked
excitement, it even lacked interest. They shifted in their places
uneasily, but Isaiah caught their attention again by continuing:

"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem,
And ye people of Judah.
Judge, I pray you, betwixt me
And betwixt my vineyard.
What more could be done to my vineyard
Than that which I have done?
When I looked to find grapes that were good
Why yielded it wild grapes?

"And now, pray, I will tell you
What I will do to my vineyard:
I will take away the hedge thereof,
That it shall be devoured;
I will break down the wall thereof,
That it shall be trodden down;
Yea, I will make a waste thereof,
That it shall not be pruned or weeded.
Then it shall put forth thorns and thickets of brambles;
The clouds I will command that they rain not thereon."

Everybody understood now that Isaiah was speaking a parable and that
its application was to them and to their country. But who was the
"friend" who possessed this vineyard? Isaiah did not hold the
questioners in long suspense:

"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His cherished plant;
And he looked for justice, but, behold! bloodshed;
For righteousness, but, behold! a cry of distress."

Then Isaiah launched forth into a powerful denunciation of the social
evils of which Judah and the leading Judeans were guilty--a sixfold
woe that was rushing the Nation on to destruction.

"Woe unto them that join house to house,
Who add field to field,
Until there is no space left,
And they dwell alone in the midst of the land.

"Woe unto them that rise at dawn
To pursue strong drink,
Who tarry late into the night
Until wine inflames them;
But they regard not the work of the lord
And see not what His hands have made

"Woe unto them that draw guilt upon themselves
With cords of folly,
And sin as with a cart rope!

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
That put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

"Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own conceit!

"Woe unto them that are heroic in drinking wine,
And valiant in mixing strong drink!
Who, for a bribe, justify the wicked
And strip the innocent man of his innocence!

"Therefore, as the fire devours stubble,
And as hay shrivels in a flame,
So their root shall be as rottenness
And their blossom go up as dust;
Because they have rejected the teaching of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of Israel's Holy One."

So intensely absorbed in his speech was Isaiah, and so deeply
interested was the vast assembly whom he was addressing, that no one
took note of a splendidly arrayed group of men who had come up and
stood with the rest, listening.

When Isaiah had finished speaking, and the people had caught their
breath again, some one shouted:

"Behold! The king!"

Isaiah looked over the heads of the crowd toward the newcomers, and
there he beheld Jotham and a retinue of nobles, laughing heartily, no
doubt, at his masterful effort.

Fearlessly, and without a moment's hesitation, the prophet did what he
had threatened Jotham he would do--he denounced his friend, the king,
before his people:

"The Lord standeth forth to present his case,
And He standeth up to judge His people.
The Lord entereth into judgment
With the elders of His people and their princes.
'Ye, yourselves, have devoured the vineyard.
The spoils of the needy are in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people
And by grinding the face of the needy?'
Saith the Lord, God of hosts."

Laughing still more heartily at this madness of his old friend, Jotham
easily made his way to where the prophet stood. He placed his arm
around Isaiah's shoulder and invited him to go with him and his
companions to the palace.

Isaiah did as he was bidden. All the way Jotham and his friends made
fun of the feverish enthusiasm with which the denunciations were
delivered, but Isaiah did not feel hurt. His heart was quite at peace.
At last he had launched forth upon the work to which God had so
unexpectedly and so marvelously called him!

When Jotham and his friends arrived at the palace, a joint embassy
from Rezin, the king of Syria, and from Pekah, the king of Israel, was
awaiting them. To the amazement of them all, the ambassadors placed
before Jotham a demand that Judah join forces with Syria and Israel,
forthwith, and fight Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, who was
then threatening to invade Damascus and Samaria!

CHAPTER III.

_A Coward on the Throne._

King Jotham was wise enough to follow the advice of the Prophet Isaiah
in his reply to the embassy from Rezin and Pekah. At the Council of
State, called to consider the message from the kings of Syria and
Israel, Isaiah counselled an unhesitating and decisive refusal of
their demand. While, therefore, the ambassadors were received and
entertained royally in Jerusalem, they returned to their respective
sovereigns, their mission unaccomplished.

The answer that Jotham sent back to Damascus and Samaria was plain,
simple and to the point. Judah, he said, had no interest in the
political policies and intrigues of Syria and Israel and would not
join a coalition against Assyria.

Both Rezin and Pekah stormed against Jotham and his advisors, but to
no avail. Judah was strong, independent and at peace, and Jotham would
not involve his country in a quarrel with which he had nothing to do.

Conditions in Israel were different, however. The majority of the
people chafed under the indignity of being tributary to Assyria. They
hated King Menahem who, in his fear, sent the tribute to Tiglath-Pileser
and became his voluntary subject. Menahem was hated by the rich merchants
and large landowners as well as by the people generally, because on
them the burden of the tribute fell the heaviest. The powerful Samarians,
therefore, formed themselves into a party to oppose the king.

King Rezin, of Syria, who was watching his opportunity to rebel against
Assyria, kept alive this hostile spirit against Menahem in Samaria and
Israel. Rezin was working toward a coalition of all the countries along
the Mediterranean sea that were tributary to Tiglath-Pileser, so that in
their combined strength they might rise and throw off the Assyrian yoke.

The leaders of the opposition to the king,--the national patriots--in
Samaria, hoped that Pekaiah, Menahem's son and successor, would prove
himself a truer son of his country than his father. They looked to him
to refuse the payment of the Assyrian tribute and to re-establish the
independence of the Kingdom of Israel; but they were disappointed.
Pekaiah followed in the political footsteps of his father and the
hopes of the Samarian patriots waned when he succeeded his father on
the throne.

Rezin, however, was not to be denied in the plan he had laid out for
himself and for the other Assyrian tributaries. Pekaiah reigned in
Samaria less than two years, when, in 735, through the assistance of
Rezin and the connivance of the patriotic party in Samaria, he was
assassinated by one of his generals, Pekah, the son of Remaliah.

Pekah was thus raised to the throne of Israel with the avowed purpose of
uniting with Rezin in the proposed rebellion against Tiglath-Pileser.
Israel wanted, and needed, the help of Judah in the desperate conflict
that awaited them. The smaller countries north of Israel and Syria,
crushed under the burden of their Assyrian tribute, gladly joined the
Syro-Israelitish coalition; but the embassy to Jerusalem returned
empty-handed. Rezin and Pekah, however, were not dismayed by the refusal
of Judah to join them. They bided their time for a better opportunity.

This opportunity came the very next year when Jotham died, suddenly,
and his son, Ahaz, a young man of twenty, came to the throne of Judah.

Without any notice whatever, Rezin and Pekah united their armed forces
and marched upon Jerusalem. This sudden invasion of Judah had been
carefully planned beforehand. It was so arranged that, when the
Syro-Israelitish forces attacked Jerusalem, a certain man, the son of
Tabeal, who was willing to play the traitor, was to assassinate Ahaz,
proclaim himself king, admit the enemy into the city and throw all the
power and wealth of Judah into the scale with Syria and Israel in the
war against Tiglath-Pileser.

Ahaz was entirely unprepared for such a move on the part of Pekah and
Rezin. The news that the two armies were on the march caused
consternation, not alone in the palace of the king, but in Jerusalem
and in the entire country.

The northern part of Judah, as far as Jerusalem, was unprotected and
at the mercy of the enemy. Neither Uzziah nor Jotham looked for a foe
from that direction. In fact, the Syro-Israelitish forces met no
opposition whatever until they came within sight of Jerusalem.

The very first thing that Ahaz and his generals did, when they had
recovered from their consternation, was to prepare the capital for a
siege. The fortifications were examined and strengthened. The water
supply to the south of the city, without which Jerusalem could not
have withstood a siege for three months, was especially looked after.

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