“Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge”
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that if he could only lead Israel to forget God, and to “walk after other
gods, and serve them, and worship them,” they would “surely perish.”
Deuteronomy 8:19
.
The enemy of God’s church upon the earth had not, however, taken
fully into account the compassionate nature of Him who “will by
no means clear the guilty,” yet whose glory it is to be “merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
Exodus 34:6, 7
. Despite the efforts of Satan to thwart God’s purpose
for Israel, nevertheless even in some of the darkest hours of their
history, when it seemed as if the forces of evil were about to gain the
victory, the Lord graciously revealed Himself. He spread before Israel
the things that were for the welfare of the nation. “I have written to
him the great things of My law,” He declared through Hosea, “but they
were counted as a strange thing.” “I taught Ephraim also to go, taking
them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.”
Hosea 8:12
;
11:3
. Tenderly had the Lord dealt with them, instructing them by His
prophets line upon line, precept upon precept.
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Had Israel heeded the messages of the prophets, they would have
been spared the humiliation that followed. It was because they had per-
sisted in turning aside from His law that God was compelled to let them
go into captivity. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,”
was His message to them through Hosea. “Because thou hast rejected
knowledge, I will also reject thee: ... seeing thou hast forgotten the
law of thy God.”
Hosea 4:6
.
In every age, transgression of God’s law has been followed by the
same result. In the days of Noah, when every principle of rightdoing
was violated, and iniquity became so deep and widespread that God
could no longer bear with it, the decree went forth, “I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth.”
Genesis 6:7
.
In Abraham’s day the people of Sodom openly defied God and His
law; and there followed the same wickedness, the same corruption, the
same unbridled indulgence, that had marked the antediluvian world.
The inhabitants of Sodom passed the limits of divine forbearance, and
there was kindled against them the fire of God’s vengeance.
The time preceding the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel was
one of similar disobedience and of similar wickedness. God’s law
was counted as a thing of nought, and this opened the floodgates of