[488] It is at this point, if at any, that i. 10, 11, ii. 1 (Eng., but ii. 1-3 Heb.) ought to come in. It will be observed, however, that even here they are superfluous: _And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor counted; and it shall be in the place where it was said to them, No People of Mine are ye! it shall be said to them, Sons of the Living God! And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land: for great is the day of Jezreel. Say unto your brothers, My People, and to your sisters_ (LXX. _sister_), _She-is-Pitied_. On the whole passage see above, p. 213. [489] Or _that is loved of her husband though an adulteress_. [490] So LXX. The homer was eight bushels. The lethech is a measure not elsewhere mentioned. [491] On these see above, Introduction, Chap. III., p. 38. [492] On the text see above, p. 214. [493] xi. 9. [494] As the stories all written down before this had made familiar to Israel. CHAPTER XV _THE THICK NIGHT OF ISRAEL_ HOSEA iv.-xiv. It was indeed "thick night" into which this Arthur of Israel stepped from his shattered home. The mists drive across Hosea's long agony with his people, and what we see, we see blurred and broken. There is stumbling and clashing; crowds in drift; confused rallies; gangs of assassins breaking across the highways; doors opening upon lurid interiors full of drunken riot. Voices, which other voices mock, cry for a dawn that never comes. God Himself is Laughter, Lightning, a Lion, a Gnawing Worm. Only one clear note breaks over the confusion--the trumpet summoning to war. Take courage, O great heart! Not thus shall it always be! There wait thee, before the end, of open Visions at least two--one of Memory and one of Hope, one of Childhood and one of Spring. Past this night, past the swamp and jungle of these fetid years, thou shalt see thy land in her beauty, and God shall look on the face of His Bride. * * * * *