Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law. Israel cries to me, ‘My God, we—Israel—know you!’ Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. They made kings, but not through me; they set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. (Hosea 8: 1-4)

When I was a little boy my cousins, friends, and I would play house. We would play army. We would play law court. We would create our own realities.

When I was in junior high school the play became considerably more elaborate. Along with a group of eight to twelve other boys, I was a citizen of the Kingdom of Rome.

My role in the Kingdom of Rome was to act as the religious leader: the Cardinal Bishop of New Wittenberg. In this role I wore a (cardboard) miter, flowing robes, and carried a tall walking stick surmounted with a cross.

At the beginning of every hike to our kingdom (unrestored mining land near town) I would intone "Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi."

The religious impulse was not exactly false, but it was almost entirely self-absorbed. We built a chapel for the fun of it. We sang strange songs for the mystery of it. We practiced unusual rituals to reinforce our own hopes and desires.

Play is a great gift. I perceive that playfulness is a big part of God's intent for us. God's full reality is so far beyond us that playful exploration is a much more promising path than a false certainty in knowing the will of God.

But our playfulness should be focused outside ourselves. We play to become what we are not. We play to prepare ourselves for a life beyond our current experience.

Too often I still play at reinforcing my self-definition. Much better for me to play at imagining God's intent.

Above is an engraving from a Phoenician bronze bowl showing a ritual dance around divine representations of sun and moon (courtey of The Dance).

They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; they gash themselves for grain and wine; they rebel against me. It was I who trained and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against me. They turn to that which does not profit; they have become like a defective bow; their officials shall fall by the sword because of the rage of their tongue. So much for their babbling in the land of Egypt. (Hosea 7: 14-16)

We feel pain. We blame another. We feel alone. We blame another. We wail over our sufferings and blame others.

I do not reach out to others. I do not seek the help of others. I do not turn to God, but pursue empty goals. And I may even rage at God.

When we are stubborn in this way - and wall ourselves off from God and others - there is no chance of help. Anger with others must make way for self-correction.

Stringing the bow of this era depended on bending back a very strong and reflexive curve. Unless done with care, the bow can suddenly recoil and might break the arm or take out an eye of the archer. The harm is, however, the result of a natural reflex caused by the error of the archer.

Ephraim has become like a dove, silly and without sense; they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria. As they go, I will cast my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will discipline them according to the report made to their assembly. Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. (Hosea 7: 11-13)

I would redeem them, but...

In attempting to maintain its independence Israel would shift its alliances.

If Assyria menaced, it would seek the help of Egypt.

When Egypt threatened, Israel would ally itself with Assyria.

As a nation or individual we often perceive the need to be "pragmatic." Too often this is a euphemism for unprincipled.

To be truly pragmatic is to be firmly realistic. Realism requires an accurate understanding of how the world works and even why it works the way it does.

The realist does not lie to him or herself. The realist seeks the truth and attempts to act consistently with that truth.

The first words of this chapter, "When I would heal Israel..." suggests that God's truth might even be a catalyst for Israel's falsehoods and iniquities.

The religious person is especially vulnerable to self-righteousness. Religiousity combined with even a dollop of power can lead to a misplaced sense of divine favor.

"I would redeem them but they speak lies against me." The preposition translated as against can also mean about, upon, because, concerning...

When we twist fundamental reality there is no hope of redemption.

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Foreigners devour his strength, but he does not know it; grey hairs are sprinkled upon him, but he does not know it. Israel’s pride testifies against him; yet they do not return to the Lord their God, or seek him, for all this. (Hosea 7: 8-10)

The ethical and spiritual errors are bad enough. But the real problem is when we don't even realize our condition.

The Northern Kingdom is spiritually syncretic. But it considers itself faithful.

Ephraim feels itself rich and secure. But the prosperity is uneven and unfinished.

Israel sees its alliances with others as a source of strength. But this will contribute to its downfall.

But he does not know it. But he does not know it. But I do not know it.

Pride can be impervious. In a fog of pride we can easily lose our way and not even know we are lost.

Humility is the way to God. This is our only sure way.

Above is a bas-relief from Nineveh showing Assyrian soliders with Israelite prisoners.

On the day of our king the officials became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers. For they are kindled like an oven, their heart burns within them; all night their anger smoulders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen; none of them calls upon me. (Hosea 7: 5-7)

My own regrets are more the result of restraint than passion. A cool heart rather than a burning heart is my challenge.

But the sin is largely the same. Burning ardor claims another or many others as possession. Cool correctness seeks to claim the self. Each are equally effective at excluding God.

Many a burning heart mistakes the object of desire. My cool heart mistrusts the source of desire. Both can cause a smoky, smelly smouldering.

We are to call upon God. Our ultimate object is to lose ourselves - and claim ourselves - in the passionate embrace of God.

I desire to accept my origins and fully live my life as a child of God.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people, when I would heal Israel, the corruption of Ephraim is revealed, and the wicked deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely, the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside. But they do not consider that I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them, they are before my face. By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the officials by their treachery. They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven, whose baker does not need to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. (Hosea 7: 1-4)

The seventh chapter is a divine indictment of Israel. They are corrupt... treacherous... wicked. They are as a heated oven that does not cool.

I have been re-reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Much of the novel whirls about the real character of Neal Cassady. Many considered the reformatory graduate corrupt. Certainly his girlfriends, wives, and eventually even Kerouac considered him treacherous. But Cassady was a white hot flame of ardent seeking, perpetual asking, and enthusiastic engagement with the world. He lit up the night - and not a few lives - with inspiration.

Cassady's passion seems entirely right. But the objects of his passion keep shifting, drifting, and suddenly evaporating. I am sure God wanted to restore the fortunes of Neal Cassady.

But at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. As robbers lie in wait for someone, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the road to Shechem, they commit a monstrous crime. In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there, Israel is defiled. For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. (Hosea 6: 7-11)

When Abraham first arrived in Canaan he pitched his tent at Shechem beneath a great oak tree.

When Jacob returned to Canaan he erected an altar to God at Shechem.

Joseph was buried here.

Here Jacob collected the idols worshiped in his household and buried them under an oak tree, perhaps the same tree where Abraham had worshiped.

At Shechem Joshua gathered the tribes beneath a great oak tree and drew up the statutes of the Mosaic religion.

After the death of Solomon it was at Shechem that all the tribes gathered and from this meeting the Northern Kingdom was formed.

Shechem almost certainly remained a cult center for Canannite worship. The murder on the road to Shechem may be spiritual rather than literal.

The priests of God also served as priests of the ancient fertility cult. To worship a false understanding of reality is a monstrous crime.

Above is a Canannite fertility goddess.