GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (54) sharing God's burden II
“I
thought how I would set you among my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call to me, “My Father,”
and would not turn from following me.
Instead, as a faithless
wife leaves her husband,
so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
says
the Lord…
Return, O faithless children,
I will heal your faithlessness.” (Jer. 3.19-22)
Divine emotions. Last time,
we saw that the Bible describes God in terms of the human anatomy (i.e., anthropomorphism). However, Scripture’s “human” depiction of God
doesn’t stop at the physical – the God of the Bible is also described as experiencing
emotions. Yahweh’s emotions arise from his
covenant relationship with Israel, which in the opening chapters of the book of
Jeremiah, is described in terms of two familial metaphors – that of a husband/his
wife and that of a father/his children. To
put it mildly, in the book of Jeremiah, Yahweh is upset – his feelings of
betrayal are on full display in chapters 2—3.
Yahweh is described as both a spurned husband and a despised
father. The people of God have not been
faithful to their covenant relationship with Yahweh – they have rebelled and
served other gods, the worship of whom has caused them to betray the very
reason for the covenant’s existence – that Israel would be a nation of justice
(God’s true humanity) among the unjust and inhuman peoples of the world (cf.
Ex. 19.5-6). As someone has said, “We
become what we worship”. If we worship
the Creator, we reflect his image ever more clearly and thus become more and
more fully human; on the other hand, if we worship gods of our own making (aspects
of our own nature), we become something less than human…
Yahweh’s tragic romance.
In the opening chapters of Jeremiah[1],
the story of Israel is constantly alluded to.
Indeed, it is a love story, full of pathos. The period of wandering in the wilderness following
the exodus from Egypt is described as a kind of “honeymoon” enjoyed by Yahweh
and Israel (cf. Jer. 2.1-2, 31-32). It is
as though Yahweh leading his people toward the Promised Land of Canaan is the equivalent
of a bridegroom leading his bride to the home that they will share as man/wife. And yet, once Israel arrives in the Land,
everything goes wrong (cf. Jer. 2.4-13).
Yahweh’s bride abandons him and “whores” after the gods of the
Canaanites, especially the Baals (i.e. “lords”). As we saw last time, the origins of Israel’s
penchant for idolatry are not to be found in Canaan, but rather at the very foot
of Mt. Sinai (cf. Ex. 32)! Indeed, the
wandering of the people of God in the wilderness for 40 years was a divine judgment
on Israel – it had the express purpose of allowing time for the entire generation
of adults who had left Egypt to die before their children reached the Promised
Land (cf. Numbers 32.13; Dt. 1.35; 2.14; Ps. 95.11). Even Moses himself – the saviour of Israel,
who played the role of prophet and judge for the people of God throughout all
those painful years – was forbidden entry to Canaan because of an earlier episode
of disobedience to Yahweh’s command (which was provoked by the people’s
constant complaining; cf. Num. 27.12-14).
At the end of their wanderings, as the Israelites are camped on the banks
of the Jordan River, God tells Moses to climb a mountain which overlooks Canaan,
and there allows him to see the Land of Promise from afar. This time, Moses did not come down from the
mountain-top (cf. Dt. 34.1-12).[2]
Bearing the glory. There
is indeed something haunting about the image of the 120-year-old Moses (cf. Dt.
34.7) at the summit of Mt. Nebo, perhaps leaning on his staff, gazing towards
the horizon, drinking in the vista and contemplating the objective of his life’s
work – so close he could almost taste the grapes and the figs, the milk and the
honey[3]. “Never since has there arisen a prophet in
Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Dt. 34.10; cf.
Ex. 33.11). Moses had mediated the
covenant to Israel; indeed, he had shared Yahweh’s burden as he “carried”
the people from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Land promised to Abraham
(cf. Ex. 19.4; Numbers 11.10-15). In the
Bible, to be chosen/called by God for a special task means that one is deemed
worthy of struggling under the weight of the purposes of the Creator to redeem
his people, and through them, his world.
The God of the Bible is a God who suffers in order to save his creation
from evil. Those wo/men called to share
in God’s work of salvation can expect to have the full weight of the divine
glory laid across their shoulders (cf. Ex. 33.18-23; 40.34-35; cf. Mk. 10.35-40).
[1] Jeremiah’s lifetime spanned the mid-7th century – mid-6th
century B.C., almost precisely at the midway point between the time of Moses/the
Exodus (early 13th century B.C.) and the crucifixion of Jesus (c. AD
30).
[2] This text has haunted many a public figure. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon on
this passage on the eve of his assassination on April 4, 1968.
[3] Cf. 1 Kings 4.25, etc. “Sitting
under your vine and your fig tree” was a common image of peace, prosperity and
security in ancient Israel. Cf. also Ex.
3.8, 17, etc. where Canaan is described as a “land of milk and honey”.
Comments
Post a Comment