“When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendors of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
In the 1960’s Heschel famously marched shoulder to shoulder with the Rev. Dr. King to protest racism and demand justice rooted in religious passion, inspired by the previous prophets. Our ongoing journey to read all 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible, daily chapter by chapter @belowthebiblebelt929, once again meets the visions and questions of today, and this day, 100 days of horror since Oct. 7.
Hosea, back in Samaria in the 8th Century BCE laments the loss of love between the people and its deeper purpose, the erosion of the faith, and the moral decay that he knows will lead to their destruction and exile. And he also imagines reconciliation.
In his poetic way he imagines the difficult dialogue between YHWH and the nation - not as husband and wife in this case, but as estranged lovers or friends.
The theme of water in various forms echoes in this exchange, as well as the not easy to translate Hebrew term for ‘love’ or ‘grace’ - Hesed.
He begins by quoting the people’s commitment to repent and to return to a relationship with God, depicted here as the gift of rain:
וְנֵדְעָ֣ה נִרְדְּפָ֗ה לָדַ֙עַת֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֔ה כְּשַׁ֖חַר נָכ֣וֹן מֹֽצָא֑וֹ וְיָב֤וֹא כַגֶּ֙שֶׁם֙ לָ֔נוּ כְּמַלְק֖וֹשׁ י֥וֹרֶה אָֽרֶץ׃
Let us pursue devotion to YHWH,
And we shall become devout.
As sure as daybreak is God’s appearance,
Which will come to us like rain,
Like the last seasonal rain that refreshes the earth.
Hosea 6:3
But the people’s zeal won’t last, Hosea complains, realistic, as he rails against both Northern and Southern Kingdoms’ short lived passion for spiritual commitment, evaporating as quickly as dew:
מָ֤ה אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־לְּךָ֙ אֶפְרַ֔יִם מָ֥ה אֶעֱשֶׂה־לְּךָ֖ יְהוּדָ֑ה וְחַסְדְּכֶם֙ כַּעֲנַן־בֹּ֔קֶר וְכַטַּ֖ל מַשְׁכִּ֥ים הֹלֵֽךְ׃
What can I do for you, Ephraim,
What can I do for you, Judah,
When your love is like morning clouds,
Like dew so early gone?
Hosea 6:4
The people want the kind of divine love that comes as rain, but their own loving is as delicate and brief as dew.
The English words ‘When your love” offer a translation of the word ‘Hesed’ -- echoing the water symbolism - rain drops and dew drops, planting this word as the accusation against the people’s lost art of loving what’s really important.
In the social-religious reality of his time, Hosea notices the short attention span and auto-pilot religiosity, echoing Heschel’s protest for “when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion.”
And here Hosea uses that word Hesed again to begin the trope that will be used by many prophets -- what use are sacrifices or religious life itself if there is no love?
This is not what the Divine Source wants:
כִּ֛י חֶ֥סֶד חָפַ֖צְתִּי וְלֹא־זָ֑בַח וְדַ֥עַת אֱלֹהִ֖ים מֵעֹלֽוֹת׃
“For I desire love, not sacrifice;
Devotion to God, rather than burnt offerings.”
Hosea 6:6
The sacrificial system included mandatory and voluntary gifts, sustaining the system and providing the priests with ongoing occupation and livelihood, but what’s the point of any of it if corruption is the love-less law of the land? To know God, Hosea claims, is to lean into bigger love - not just the old religious laws and tribal limits.
What will get the people to look up from what they know is sacred and re-examine love?
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, whose legacy is honored on this weekend, often turned to love as the antidote to the societal ills of poverty and racism. One of his famous prophetic proclamation states:
"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."
King, like Heschel, and Hosea, remind us today what it means to stick to Hesed - even when the world prefers its profits over prophets, letting go of love to fuel up hate. On this 100th day of ongoing trauma and terror, we lift up love and pray for Hesed, support each other’s sorrow, commit to repair, and thank our prophets for tough love and sacred truths.
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