"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He hath withdrawn Himself from them."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.