ophes of
the hoary past,--flood, earthquakes, and the rain of fire and brimstone
that destroys cities--as judgments of the divine anger on sinful
generations. Wickedness in general causes His displeasure, but His wrath
is provoked especially by violations of the social order, by desecrations
of His sanctuary, or attacks on His covenant, and His anger is kindled for
the poor and helpless, when they are oppressed and deprived of their
rights.(278)

4. Thus the divine holiness was felt more and more as a moral force, and
that which appeared in pre-prophetic times to be an elemental power of the
celestial ire became a refining flame, purging men of dross as in a
crucible. "I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger," says the
prophet, "for I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee, and
I will not come in fury."(279) So sings the Psalmist, "His anger is but
for a moment; His favor for a life-time."(280) In the same spirit the
rabbis interpreted the verse of the Decalogue, "The sin of the fathers is
visited upon the children and children's children only if they continue to
act as their fathers did, and are themselves haters of God."(281)

The fact is that Israel in Canaan had become addicted to all the vices of
idolatry, and if they were to be trained to moral purity and to loyalty to
the God of the Covenant, they must be taught fear and awe before the flame
of the divine wrath. Only after that could the prophet address himself to
the conscience of the individual, saying:

"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;
He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands
from holding of bribes,
That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his
eyes from looking upon evil;
He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the
munitions of rocks;
His bread shall be given, his water shall be sure.
Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold a
land stretching afar."(282)

Here we behold the fiery element of the divine holiness partly depicted as
a reality and partly spiritualized. The last of the prophets compares the
divine wrath to a melting furnace, which on the Day of Judgment is to
consume evildoers as stubble, while to those who fear the Lord He s