“The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left. — Isaiah 24:5-6
Amos 4:6-13 (Judgments, meant to be atonements or penance, were refused)
“ I … withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord. “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord. “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord…”
There is too little space here to compile so many texts and chapters showing the relationship of Judgement as intended atonement or penance.
Suffice it to say that when the LORD sends judgements on the earth because of sin He is trying to wake us up spiritually (Amos 4). Judgement and atonement come from the same linguistic root, kippur.. Alas, many prefer to chatter endlessly about the effect without ever contemplating the cause, which is rebellion against our Maker.
Hosea 4.
God Accuses His People (and, by implication, us all)
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel;
for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or kindness,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds and murder follows murder.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
and also the beasts of the field,
and the birds of the air;
and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, O priest.[a]
5 You shall stumble by day,
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways,
and requite them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the harlot, but not multiply;
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish harlotry.
The Idolatry of Israel
11 Wine and more wine
take away the understanding.
12 My people inquire of a thing of wood,
and their staff gives them oracles.
For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the harlot.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,
and make offerings upon the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the harlot,
and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with harlots,
and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.
15 Though you play the harlot, O Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.
Enter not into Gilgal,
nor go up to Beth-a′ven,
and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 E′phraim is joined to idols,
let him alone.
18 A band[b] of drunkards, they give themselves to harlotry;
they love shame more than their glory.[c]
19 A wind has wrapped them[d] in its wings,
and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.[e]
Footnotes
- Hosea 4:4 Cn: Heb uncertain
- Hosea 4:18 Cn: Heb uncertain
- Hosea 4:18 Cn Compare Gk: Heb of this line uncertain
- Hosea 4:19 Heb her
- Hosea 4:19 Gk Syr: Heb sacrifices
Hosea (/hoʊˈziːə/ hoh-ZEE-ə or /hoʊˈzeɪə/ hoh-ZAY-ə; Hebrew: הוֹשֵׁעַ, romanized: Hōšēaʿ, lit. ‘Salvation’), also known as Osee[1] (Ancient Greek: Ὡσηέ, romanized: Hōsēé), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BC prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the first of the Twelve Minor Prophets, whose collective writings were aggregated and organized into a single book in the Jewish Tanakh by the Second Temple period (forming the last book of the Nevi’im) but which are distinguished as individual books in Christianity. — Wikipedia
Catholic Critique 