double-dealing with Assyria. The sending of the money to the great
emperor was only a blind on the part of Menahem.

Secretly he was in communication with the King of Egypt, sending
precious gifts to him. Menahem wanted to create an alliance between
Israel and Egypt against Tiglath-Pileser.

Hosea saw the folly of it all. He knew that neither the tribute to
Assyria nor the proposed alliance with Egypt could help the corrupt,
degraded people. He compares Menahem's double-dealing to the action of
a silly dove, and concludes:

"Samaria shall bear her guilt,
For she has rebelled against her God.
Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
Come, on with thy plagues, O Death!
On with thy pestilence, O Sheol!
Repentance is forever hid from mine eyes."

This terrible pronouncement, almost a curse, brought Hosea back to his
home all wrought up. Never had he spoken so harshly. Never had he felt
so deeply the doom of Israel.

He found his children in the playroom, playing an old game called
"Mother." After watching them for a moment in silence and in thought,
his heart was almost crushed by a question his little girl put to him:

"When is our real mother coming home?"