GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (3) “Prophets & Power-brokers”
Texts: 2 Kings 22-25; 2 Chronicles 35-36; Deuteronomy 17.14-20; Jeremiah 1.1-3, 36.1-26
What was the nature of the relationship
between prophets and those in positions of power? In a word – bad. A prophet was by definition powerless –
prophets had no official status in ancient Israelite society. Prophets functioned, for the most part,
outside of the hierarchical social structure.
Indeed, Moses was the exception that proves the rule. Moses, under Yahweh’s guidance, “created” his
role as “leader” of Israel. Moses wore
many hats, as we would say – legislator, judge, administrator, etc. God called people from all walks of life to
be prophets; as I said previously, there was no agreed-upon “career-path” to
becoming a prophet – receiving a prophetic vocation was always a personally
(and, as we shall see, nationally) disruptive event. There was one aspect of Moses’ activity, however,
that was to become a staple of the prophetic vocation – that of confronting
kings. The bold move of marching into Pharaoh’s
palace and demanding he let the Hebrew slaves go would become a template for
much prophetic activity in the centuries that followed. Once Israel established a monarchy of its own
early in the 11th century B.C., prophets would often (attempt to)
act as the king’s conscience. Famous
showdowns between prophets and kings include that between Samuel/Saul,
Nathan/David and Elijah/Ahab.
Why this prophetic focus on getting the
king to do the right thing? Well, as far
as the Hebrew Scriptures are concerned, as goes the king, so goes the nation. The king represented the people of God in a
very real sense – the fates of king and nation were inexorably intertwined. Israel’s second king, David, prepared the
plans for the Jerusalem Temple (situated next to the royal palace), and his son
Solomon built it. Being the
builder/guardian/restorer of the Temple went a long way to ensuring a monarch’s
legitimacy. Indeed, God promised David an
eternal dynasty – there would always be a descendant of David on the throne of
Jerusalem (cf. 2 Samuel 7, where the dynastic promise is delivered through the
prophet Nathan). Jeremiah, for his part,
lived to see events which appeared to give the lie to the divine promise. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem when the last “son
of David” was deposed and exiled by the Babylonians, who slaughtered King Zedekiah’s
sons in front of their father, thereby ending the Davidic royal line (cf. 2
Kings 25, Jer. 39, 52). Not only did the
Babylonians destroy the Davidic dynasty, they also razed the Temple to the
ground – in the year 587, both the political and theological underpinnings of the
people of God were demolished, and Jeremiah was in the eye of the storm. As the Judeans were marched eastward to Babylon,
the descendants of Abraham found themselves slaves once again…[1]
But let’s not get too far ahead of
ourselves. The king of Israel (ideally)
had a key role to play concerning the maintenance of the people’s covenant
relationship with Yahweh. Like Moses
before them, Israelite kings were a kind of “supreme court” and were
responsible for rendering legal decisions (cf. Exodus 18.13; 1 Samuel 8.5; 1
Kings 3.3-28). Though Solomon was the
most famous adjudicator of legal disputes, he failed to maintain a faithful
stance towards the covenant, especially towards the end of his life. Indeed, the “law” of royal jurisprudence (cf.
Dt. 17.14-20) was honoured more often than not in the breach rather than the
observance. King Josiah of Judah –
during whose reign Jeremiah began prophesying – launched an extensive reform
following the “discovery” of the “book of the law (of Moses)” in the Temple
(cf. 2 Kings 22-23). The fact that
Josiah became aware of the covenant document only after a priest stumbled
across it while rummaging in the Temple speaks volumes as to the (lack of) concern
of Israel’s leadership at the time to follow the decrees of Yahweh.
“I have sent to you all my servants the prophets,
sending them persistently, saying, “Turn now every one of you from your evil
way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and
then you shall live in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you
did not incline your ear or obey me… Therefore, thus
says the Lord…the God of Israel: I am going to bring on Judah and on all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have pronounced against
them; because I have spoken to them and they have not listened...” (Jer. 35.15-17)
[1] Following the death of Solomon,
Israel had been divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms [“Israel” &
“Judah”]. The kingdom of Israel [composed
of 10 tribes] was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. The capital of Israel was the city of
Samaria, hence the “Samaritans” = the result of the mixing of Israelites with
other peoples that the Assyrians had sent to colonize the conquered
territory. The Samaritans were still a cohesive
people-group at the time of Jesus, seven centuries later.
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