Spiritual Policy: The Emergence Of Prophetism, Hosea and the Assyrians
THE ASSYRIAN INVASION AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL (885-721)
The Prophet Hosea, the love of YAHWEH symbolized
(745-720)
Hosea was a native of the northern kingdom. He lived through the last years of Jeroboam II (who died in 743) and the period of anarchy which followed. It is likely he witnessed the national disaster which befell Yisrael, namely, the fall and destruction of Samaria (721). He was probably a contemporary of Amos.
The burden of Hosea's prophecy -the love of YAHWEH is symbolized by the tragic experience of his own marriage (Hos. 1-3). On YAHWEH's orders Hosea took for his wife a prostitute named Gomer (probably a servant of the tabernacle of Baal) who was very dear to him, but after giving him several children this woman left him to go after lovers. After great trials which crushed her Gomer returned one day to Hosea. Before resuming life together the latter demanded a period of trial in his own house; he then took her back, welcoming her with every sign of the affection which is given to the purest of brides.
There is more to these domestic details than the sorrows of Hosea's life. They are to be seen as a parable whose meaning is very moving. Making all proper allowances, we must see Hosea here as taking the place of YAHWEH WHO had chosen Yisrael from among all the peoples of the earth. HE surrounded her with HIS tender care; HE 'married' the 'chosen people' for whom HE had important plans, leaving them at the same time, of course, their free will. Despite some temporary lapses the Twelve Tribes seem to have accepted the lofty mission entrusted to them.
Then Came The Time Of Betrayal
Like an unfaithful wife Yisrael disappointed YAHWEH's hopes. She left the home to prostitute herself to the Baals (that is the usual expression employed by the biblical writers), she abandoned YAHWEH and returned to her old idols, she showed herself unworthy of the love of YAHWEH. In this way she aroused YAHWEH's anger and HE made ready to punish her severely -so Hosea tells us -by the invasion of the Assyrian armies, and the laying waste of the northern kingdom.
The guilty one must show her repentance. For, despite her sins YAHWEH continues nonetheless to love the faithless one. And if Yisrael, filled with remorse like Gomer, returns to YAHWEH, HE will welcome her with great love and mercy.
Hosea's message, in a few words, was this: 'YAHWEH requires love from HIS creature, a love which is to be shown by the bringing into action of all the powers of the soul' (Gelin).
What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of YAHWEH, not holocausts. (Hos. 6:6)
Thus on the eve of the great national disaster Yisrael had heard: a forceful reminder of the idea of monotheism from EliYah and Elisha; the imperative Law of social justice, proclaimed by Amos; the revelation of YAHWEH of love and forgiveness, as portrayed by Hosea.
But this spiritual revival was still at its beginning. There were further, and more moving developments to come.
International Policy: The Assyrian Threat
We have seen that economically a very fine material civilization had developed in Yahudah.
At the spiritual level the result was more questionable; it looked as if in a short time worship of Baal would prevail over Yahwism. Fortunately, certain forthright prophets, real spiritual champions, entered the lists, though it must be acknowledged that only too frequently they were voices crying in the wilderness.
We must now glance at the international scene, though what we shall see gives little cause for encouragement. The situation was as follows.
On the one side there was a group of four small states: Yisrael and Yahudah, which we know already; Phoenicia, with its great ports of Tyre and Sidon; and the youthful Aramaean kingdom which had just been established in the neighborhood of Damascus under intelligent sovereigns with disquieting territorial ambitions.
Facing this network of small nations stood Assyria, a martial empire established on the banks of the Tigris. She planned to extend her power throughout the Middle East, that is, the territory stretching from lower Mesopotamia to Egypt. The valley of the Nile, of course, was included in the list of annexations. The geographical situation involved, obviously, the invasion and subjection of Damascus, Syria and the two Yahwist kingdoms of Samaria and Yerusalem.
What was Yisrael's and Yahudah's reaction in the face of this formidable Assyrian threat?
In the first place, the Yahwist sovereigns seem to have taken the necessary counter measures. Ahab, king of Samaria, who continued the wise policy of his father Omri, formed a coalition with Yisrael, Yahudah and Damascus as members. Thus when the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858-824) made an expedition to the Orontes the allies presented a common front against him. At Kharkar a battle took place between the opposing forces. Shalmaneser proudly boasted in his chronicles that he won a resounding victory, though this was probably a little exaggerated. In any case, the self-styled victor seemed disinclined to continue the struggle, though it is true that, recalled to Mesopotamia by the rebellion of recently subjected peoples, he was obliged to give up his military expedition into the Mediterranean region, but was ready on the first favourable opportunity to continue his plan of campaign.
Yisrael and Yahudah realized that only a close alliance against the common enemy would save them from disaster.
Unfortunately the allies did not follow this policy for long; it was one indeed that was hardly in conformity with the ideas of the petty kings of the ancient East. As soon as the Assyrian commanders were detained by expeditions to far-off countries the small nations of Canaan quickly took advantage of this respite to attack and tear each other to pieces and to kill without mercy. Over half a century of uninterrupted warfare ensued (850-784) resulting in a general weakening of their military power while the Assyrians during this same period were perfecting their formidable war machine.
Yisrael, Yahudah and Damascus were thus preparing their own collective ruin. There is no need to recount here the whole course of the fractricidal wars in which the Assyrians lent a hand with lightning-like raids which led in the end to the plundering of Canaan, the sacking of its cities and the imposition of heavy war indemnities.
The foreign policy pursued by Yisrael and Yahudah was certainly a strange one. Their mistakes were very shortly to cost them dear.
Assyrian Invasion And End Of The Kingdom Of Yisrael (734-721)
Just at this time there appeared the threat of a formidable enemy, Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria, whose imperialistic ambitions included the conquest of the whole of the Fertile Crescent.
The accession of Tiglath-Pileser in 745 marks a definite turning point in Assyrian history and, consequently, in the destiny of the people of YAHWEH.
He was a shrewd politician, a clever administrator and was soon seen to be an unrivalled war leader as well. He began by establishing a standing army composed of highly trained men. He reformed the fighting methods used hitherto by an appreciable reduction in the squadrons of chariots (which were unable to maneuver on all terrains), by increasing his forces of cavalry, by establishing strong units of pike-bearers and archers, and by providing bodies of specialist troops with formidable siege equipment.
In addition, he gave up the tactics of his predecessors, who were accustomed to return to their home bases after the systematic looting of the regions which had been temporarily invaded and in which there was no question of settling. His plan, which was quite new, consisted in the complete elimination of the opposing forces.
He was determined to spread terror everywhere so as to strike fear into the hearts of those kingdoms which dared to offer the least resistance. For this purpose, wherever an attempt was made to halt his advance by force of arms, he ravaged the countryside, burning farms, farmers and crops. After the capture of a city the Assyrian soldiers raped the women and tortured the men, impaling them on huge stakes; the defeated leaders were flayed alive and their skins stretched out on what walls were still standing. The bas-reliefs of the royal palace in Mesopotamia depict the victorious monarch feasting merrily in company with his officers; in front of the table stands a pyramid of severed heads.
The Assyrian troops no longer quitted the conquered territories after their raids as had been their practice hitherto. The kingdoms were annexed and became Assyrian provinces; they underwent occupation, for garrisons were established in them. What might remain of the native population was deported to remote countries -some three hundred or six hundred miles from their native land. Their place was taken by groups of foreigners of different language and religion who also were undergoing forced exile.
Tiglath-Pileser began by freeing Assyria from the pressure exerted by Babylon. Then he crushed the Syrian armies. In 730 he occupied Damascus for the first time. Later, he turned again on Babylon, deposed the king of this great city and himself assumed the crown under the local name of Pulu. At his death it could be said that he had set the Assyrian Babylonian dynasty well on the way to domination of the Middle East.
This was the formidable personage who was soon to make his appearance in that part of history with which we are concerned.
It was at this very time that Rezin, king of Damascus and Pekah, king of Yisrael, urged by Egypt foolishly decided to take the field against Tiglath-Pileser. They thought that their coalition would be strengthened if Ahaz, king of Yahudah, joined them in their campaign against the Assyrians. But Ahaz (736-716) refused outright to be dragged into an adventure of this kind. Furious at this rebuff, Pekah and Rezin decided to march on Yerusalem and lay siege to it (733). Thus the Yahwist sovereign of Samaria was besieging the Set Apart City while the Assyrians were at the gates of Canaan; a greater blunder hardly seemed possible.
Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727) king of Assyria in his ceremonial chariot. After Layard, Nineveh and Baby/on
After the battle the Assyrian scribes calculate how many of the enemy were killed in accordance with the number of heads. After Layard, Nineveh and its remains
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