"The prophet is a person, not a microphone."

There will be no happy end for this prophet, Hosea son of Be’eri, or at least none that we know of. He would live and love his people with an anger that can only come from love, for several decades, watching his homeland devolve and decay into destruction. He will lament, warn, protest, blame, and offer options for remorse and renewal, and repair. But did anybody listen? 

Why did his words linger? Who among our ancient scholars thought them worth enduring the test of time? We won’t know that either. But they did. Hosea’s words still echo and they matter because what he models is how to love your people so much you are willing to tell them tough truth, and go between tough truth and tough love, consolation and condemnation, birds eye view and here and now -- because that’s real and that’s what it takes to be honest and humble. What we must remember is that prophets like Hosea don’t get write Op-Eds because they feel like it. They are messengers from what they believe to be the highest authority, the divine voice from beyond or within, that dictates to them what to say to a people who often lose their moral compass in the din of daily lives and the clutches of cruelly that come with politics and plunder and terror and war. 

In his book The Prophets, Heschel wrote: 

"The prophet is a person, not a microphone. He is endowed with a mission, with the power of a word not his own that accounts for his greatness -- but also with temperament, concert, character, and individuality.".. “Prophecy may be described as exegesis of existence from a divine perspective." 

And so Hosea, witness to the last days of the proud Kingdom of Israel gives us both perspectives - the horror and the hope. His words echo today’s war and despair in uncanny ways. 

First he tells the people - your misconduct will lead to loss you cant even imagine. And it will leave God no choice but to deal the cards again. And then - 

וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי֙ כׇּל־מְשׂוֹשָׂ֔הּ חַגָּ֖הּ חׇדְשָׁ֣הּ וְשַׁבַּתָּ֑הּ וְכֹ֖ל מוֹעֲדָֽהּ׃

“And I will end all her rejoicing:

Her festivals, new moons, and sabbaths—

All her festive seasons.”

There will be no more holidays or sabbaths, every holy day will be infected with some sort of grief. Your calendar will be not as it was. 

It isn’t. 

But then Hosea also paints a picture of a future in which the people turn back to the good, to what God represents - to justice and care, to compassion and commitment to each other. And then, when that happens - there wll be a better, safer day - for everything and everyone, the ecosystem as a whole: 

וְכָרַתִּ֨י לָהֶ֤ם בְּרִית֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא עִם־חַיַּ֤ת הַשָּׂדֶה֙ וְעִם־ע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָ֑ה וְקֶ֨שֶׁת וְחֶ֤רֶב וּמִלְחָמָה֙ אֶשְׁבּ֣וֹר מִן־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְהִשְׁכַּבְתִּ֖ים לָבֶֽטַח׃

On that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I will also banish bow, sword, and war from the land. Thus I will let them lie down in safety.

So that’s our prophecy today, from 8th century BCE to the 21st Century CE -- horror and hope, tough truth and tough love, despair - and repair. 

Next week we’ll say goodbye to Hosea and go to meet other people who were not microphones but men with missions, voices carrying messages that must endure the test of time so that we can wake each other up for peace, for healing and for hope - again and again and again.  

From NYC, mid snow. With hope. 

Shabbat Shalom.