The way of imagination

  “The word that the  Lord  spoke concerning Babylon…by the prophet Jeremiah …out of the north a nation has come up against her; it shall make her land a desolation, and no one shall live in it; both humans and animals shall flee away.  In those days and in that time, says the  Lord , the people of Israel shall come, they and the people of Judah together; they shall come weeping as they seek the  Lord  their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the  Lord  by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.” (Jer. 50.1-5)      We have seen how Yahweh’s justice was based on his covenant with his people and had two sides – it could take the form both of judgment of Israel if she was unfaithful to the covenant as well as judgment of Israel’s enemies (=Israel’s salvation) once these enemies had “served their purpose” of being the agent of Yahweh’s judgment of his people and when their arrogance and imperial evil

  “ Listen! Fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon are coming to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for his temple.   Summon archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do to her—for she has arrogantly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel… I am against you, O arrogant one,     says the Lord God of hosts, for your day has come,     the time when I will punish you. The arrogant one shall stumble and fall,     with no one to raise him up, and I will kindle a fire in his cities,     and it will devour everything around him.” (Jer. 50.28-32)      Justice is perhaps the most pervasive theme in the Hebrew Scriptures (OT).   Yahweh is “the Judge of all the earth” (cf. Gn. 18.25).   The paradigmatic example of divine justice, as a response to rampant human evil, is Noah’s flood (Gn. 6—9).   However, the Creator’s justice is always tempered with

  “Thus says the Lord: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Those who stay in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but those who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have their lives as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord; it shall be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” (Jer. 21.8-10)      One aspect of Jeremiah’s message had been to challenge and denounce the presumption of the people of God, who believed that since they were the people of Yahweh and since his temple was in Jerusalem, the city was impervious to attack and defeat (cf. Jer. 7.1-15).   Jeremiah had reminded the inhabitants of Zion that Yahweh’s presence/protection was not a foregone conclusion, but was rather dependent on his people’s faithful honouring of the covenant.   Yahweh cannot be manipulated and remains the s