GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (53) sharing God's burden

 

“Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob…

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
    that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?
They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
    …in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    …where no one lives?”
I brought you into a plentiful land
    to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.” (Jer. 2.4-7)

     Image of humankind.  The God of the Bible is a God who is very “human” – not only is God often described in human terms, as walking in the Garden of Eden in order to search for Adam and Eve (cf. Gn. 3.8-9), as having arms (cf. Ex. 6.6), eyes, ears (Ex. 3.7) and feet (Ps. 132.7), etc., but God also communicates constantly with his human creatures.  Of course, this “human” description of God should not surprise us – the Bible was, after all, written by human beings operating within the limits of human language.  However, it’s important to highlight this aspect of Scripture, for which we don’t have to wait to read the New Testament before we discover it; no, this “human” aspect of God is present throughout the entire sweep of the Bible, reaching its culmination in the incarnation of the Word of God (cf. Jn. 1.14), the event we celebrate at Christmas, the moment when Yahweh, the great I AM of the covenant, the God of Israel became…God-with-us (cf. Mt. 1.22-23).

     Image of God.  Of course, there is another element of this divine “humanness” that cannot be overlooked.  As the culmination of the week of creation in the Bible’s opening chapter, God creates male and female “in the image of God” (Gn. 1.26-31).  Though it is left undefined[1], there is “something” about human beings which “portrays” the Creator.  Of course, the flip side of this notion of humans having been created in the image of God is humans using anthropomorphic[2] language to speak about God.[3]  Other ancient cultures thought of the gods as being basically “big people”, sharing not only the human anatomy but also all (between them) the virtues/vices of human nature.[4]  Of course, the ancient Israelites were forbidden from fabricating any “images” (idols) of Yahweh (cf. Ex. 20.4-6); however, as we know, this second commandment was honoured more often in the breach than in the observance (cf. Ex. 32.1-29).  Indeed, it was just such idolatry – conflating Yahweh with humanoid statues of gods from the surrounding nations[5] – against which prophets like Jeremiah railed (cf. Jer. 2.7-13, 20-25).

     God’s wedding.  Along with the proscribed use of idols, there was something else which distinguished Israelite belief from that of their pagan neighbours – the God of Israel made rather strict moral demands on his people.  Yahweh was not simply concerned with the cycles of nature or the success of the harvests (as many pagan divinities were purported to be)[6]; rather, Yahweh was concerned with justice – with how his people treated each other, their slaves, their livestock, the members of other nations, in short, with how the people of God conducted their affairs.  Yahweh was not a god to be appeased or one to be depended upon only in time of need; rather, the God of Israel was the God of the everyday rhythms of life.  Yahweh, the God of justice, vulnerably entered into a covenant relationship with his people Israel, binding himself to her (cf. Jer. 2.1-3)[7] and staking his reputation on his dealings with Israel (cf. Ex. 32.7-14)[8].  As with any marriage, it was rarely smooth sailing for Israel and Yahweh, and the God of Israel had a strategy for managing issues with the covenant relationship – Yahweh would call certain human beings to be his spokespeople, people like Moses and Jeremiah…

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[1] Which has provoked countless thinkers down the ages to offer a definition of the “image of God” in humankind.

[2] I.e., “human-shaping”, depicting God as having a human body.

[3] As someone once quipped: “God made man in his image, and then man returned the favour”.  This is indeed a constant danger…

[4] E.g. the gods of ancient Greece/Rome.

[5] E.g. Baal, which may have been associated with the golden calf from Ex. 32.

[6] Baal was the rain-god; cf. 1 Kings 17—18 for a rather humorous “duel” between Yahweh and Baal over the issue of rain.

[7] The covenant-relationship is often described in terms of a marriage between Yahweh and Israel (cf. Hosea, Jeremiah, etc.).  Idolatry is thus described as adultery.  Yahweh is a “jealous” spouse who will not share his wife with other gods (cf. Ex. 20.4-5)!

[8] In this passage, Moses intercedes on behalf of the Israelites who have been worshipping the golden calf while he was on Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments.  Moses reminds Yahweh that his reputation will be destroyed if he annihilates his people, as Yahweh had threatened to do.  Moses “plays the part” of God (or perhaps, is God’s assistant) during Israel’s wilderness wanderings – he leads, accompanies, judges and guides the (more often than not, ungrateful) people.  In a very real way, Moses “gave his life” for the people of God.  This is the prophetic vocation…