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138
Royalty and Ruin
other gods, and serve them and worship them,” they would “surely
perish.”
Deuteronomy 8:19
.
However, the enemy of God’s church on the earth had not taken
into account the Lord’s compassionate nature. It is His glory to be
“merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness
[110]
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity.”
Exodus
34:6, 7
. Even in the darkest hours of their history, God graciously
spread before Israel the things that would benefit the nation. “I
taught Ephraim to walk,” He declared through Hosea, “taking them
by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them.”
Hosea 11:3
.
Tenderly the Lord had dealt with them, instructing them by His
prophets. If Israel had obeyed the messages of the prophets, they
would have been spared humiliation. But because they persisted in
turning aside from His law, God was compelled to let them go into
captivity. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” was His
message. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject
you ...; because you have forgotten the law of your God.”
Hosea 4:6
.
In every age, the same result has followed transgression of
God’s law. In the days of Noah, when iniquity became so deep
and widespread that God could no longer tolerate 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; they passed the limits of God’s patient
mercy, and the fire of God’s vengeance was kindled against them.
The time preceding the captivity of Israel’s ten tribes was one
of similar wickedness. Hosea declared: “The Lord brings a charge
against the inhabitants of the land. ‘There is ... swearing and lying,
killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint,
with bloodshed upon bloodshed.’”
Hosea 4:1, 2
.
Israel to Be “Wanderers Among the Nations”
The ten tribes, long unrepentant, received no promise of com-
plete restoration to their former power in Palestine. Until the end of
time they were to be “wanderers among the nations.” But a prophecy
through Hosea offered them the privilege of having a part in the final
restoration of God’s people at the close of earth’s history. “Many
days,” the prophet declared, the ten tribes were to abide “without