Israel’s Treachery
Before Yahweh his people (now as well as then?) stand wrong-footed on all counts. To the charge that ‘things today are a lot worse than they used to be’ the prophet reminds them in no uncertain terms that they had been pretty bad from the beginning (vv 3-4). The struggle between the twins, Jacob and Esau, in the womb (Genesis 25: 22) is symptomatic of a people who from the beginning have tried to gain supremacy over one another, and subsequently the one who came out on top not only enjoyed illusions of grandeur (Gen 28:10ff) but was also not averse even to a similar conflict with ‘a man’ at Peniel (Gen 32:22ff).
To those who try to take comfort in the idea that ‘things have always been like this’ (vv 7-8) the prophet agrees but goes on to add ‘yes . . . and look what happened’ (v 9).
And to those who are thinking ‘well, you would expect a prophet to behave like that’ he is careful to point out that the one who stands behind the prophets and speaks through them is none other than Yahweh himself (v 10). The prophets have been at the heart of Israel’s faith and existence from the beginning (v 13) and both Gilead and Gilgal testify to what happens when the prophets are not heard. The Gilead reference (v 11) may be to the time when fifty of them were engaged in revolutionary activity (2 Kings 15: 25ff) or to the later occasion (v 29) when they were carried off into Assyria, and Gilgal (v 11) was an ancient sanctuary whose dubious sacrificial practices had brought about a decline in favour of Jerusalem.
Two points not to be missed. First, the real offence is not so much wickedness as arrogance (hybris) which not only fails to notice the damage which their behaviour is causing but actually glories in it to the point of calling it success (v 8); it is not difficult to recognise this in others or in society as a whole though easy to miss in ourselves. Second, however evil the deed, with Yahweh, there is always the possibility of forgiveness, provided there is repentance. If only somebody, somewhere could admit the damage they had done it would at least hold out the possibility of redeeming the rest.