This was indeed a time of great peril for the chosen nation. Only a few short years, and the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel were to be scattered among the nations of heathendom. And in the kingdom of Judah also the outlook was dark. The forces for good were rapidly diminishing, the forces for evil multiplying. The prophet Micah, viewing the situation, was constrained to exclaim: "The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men." "The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." Micah 7:2, 4. "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant," declared Isaiah, "we should have been as Sodom, and . . . Gomorrah." Isaiah 1:9.

Dette var en yderst farefuld tid for det udvalgte folk. Det israelitiske riges ti stammer ville om få år blive spredt blandt hedningerne. Fremtiden tegnede sig også mørk for Judas rige. Det godes kræfter var på hastigt tilbagetog, mens det ondes kræfter var i tiltagen. Da profeten Mika så, hvordan det stod til, kunne han ikke andet end udbryde: "De fromme er svundet af landet, ikke et menneske er sanddru." Den bedste er som en tornebusk, den ærlige værre end en tjørnehæk." Mika 7,2. 4,Havde ikke Hærskarers Herre levnet os en rest," sagde Esajas, "da var vi som Sodoma, ligned Gomorra " Es. 1,9.