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Last night had been for them all a nightmare and a drunken stupor.
The
song continued:
I stood in old Jerusalem,
Beside the Temple there.
The judge made a quiet inquiry. It was a member of a famous opera
company, awaiting trial for forgery, singing in his cell. The men began to
show emotion. One or two dropped on their knees. One boy, after a desperate
effort at self -control, broke down sobbing. At length one man protested:
'Judge', he said, 'have we got to submit to this? We're here to take our
punishment, but this --'. He, too, began to sob. It was impossible to
proceed with the business of the court; yet the judge gave no order to stop
the song. The song moved to its climax:
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Sing for the night is o'er,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna for evermore!
In an ecstasy of melody the song died. The judge looked into the faces
of the men. Not one was untouched. With a kind word of advice he dismissed
them all. No man was fined or sentenced that day.
'And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, but only
they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life' (Rev. 21:27).
(Compiled by and published in The Midnight Cry, Nov. 1956.
216, Cranbrook
Road, Ilford, Essex).
Hosea
The Restoration of Israel in symbol and in promise
The prophecy of Hosea follows those of Jonah and Amos so far as
chronological order is concerned, but stands at the head of the twelve minor
prophets in the Hebrew canon. The name Hosea is the Hebrew word for
'salvation' and appears in chapter 1, in the promise:
'But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will Save them by
the Lord their God, and will not Save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by
battle, by horses, nor by horsemen' (Hosea 1:7).
This promise might well be taken as the key promise of the prophecy.
The word reappears in the closing section of the prophecy:
'Thou shalt know no god but Me; for there is no Saviour beside Me'
(Hosea 13:4).
'I will be thy King: where is any other that may Save thee in all thy
cities?' (Hosea 13:10).
'Asshur shall not Save Us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will
we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in Thee
the fatherless findeth mercy' (Hosea 14:3).