How many soever my instructions
(torothai) may be, they are counted those of a stranger."
This text has had the unmerited misfortune of having been forced
to do service as a proof that Hosea knew of copious writings
similar in contents to our Pentateuch. All that can be drawn
from the contrast "instead of following my instructions they offer
sacrifice" (for that is the meaning of the passage) is that the prophet
had never once dreamed of the possibility of cultus being made
the subject of Jehovah's directions. In Isaiah's discourses
the well-known passage of the first chapter belongs to this connection:
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?
saith the Lord. I am weary with the burnt-offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks
and of lambs and of he-goats. When ye come to look upon my face,
who hath required this at your hands?--to trample my courts!"
This expression has long been a source of trouble, and certainly
the prophet could not possibly have uttered it if the sacrificial
worship had, according to any tradition whatever, passed for being
specifically Mosaic.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150