k. These most of all are the sins which have called down the
divine judgments; these are the transgressions which make it
impossible for Jehovah to turn away the punishment of Israel and of
Judah. He is, above all things, a righteous god, who loves judgment
and mercy, and a people which so manifestly fails to practice justice
and mercy cannot continue to be his people; he must destroy them.

The prophets therefore declare that Jehovah has decided on the
rejection of his people. This shows that they have advanced to a new
conception of what Jehovah is. To them he is something more than the
mere national deity indissolubly linked to the fortunes of his
people, pledged to advance them in the world, and doomed when they
fall to fall himself along with them. He is first of all a moral
ruler; the maintenance and promotion of righteousness is far more to
him than the prosperity of any single people, even of Israel. He
loves Israel it is true; Israel is his son, whom he loves, the wife
of his youth, the people of his covenant. But that makes it the more
and not the less necessary that Israel should not be allowed to go on
in iniquity. Jehovah can be no partisan of a people that does not
walk according to his laws. Thus the prophets have arrived at a new
conception of Jehovah's character, which necessarily unfits him,
though they do not yet see this, for the _role_ of a national god.
They have identified him with the ideal of righteousness and mercy,
and in so doing they have made the great step, at least in principle,
from national to universal religion, from the religion that is bound
up with the history of one particular people, and cannot pass beyond
them, to the religion which is capable of being understood by all
men, and fit to be preached to all men of whatever race.

Appearance of Universalism.--To the deeper view which they have
gained of the character of Jehovah the prophets add a wider and
higher view of his relation to the world, and to the various nations
in it. They frankly state that Jehovah has relations to other nations
than Israel. He might if he had chosen have taken some other race to
be his people; they were all at his disposal and he regarded none of
them as hostile. He is not dependent on Israel, and the inference is
clear, that if he could have done without Israel at first, he could
do without Israel still, were he driven to that. Israel is not
indispensable to the continuance of the true religion. Jeho