The way of imagination

  “O Lord, you have enticed me,     and I was enticed; you have overpowered me,     and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long;     everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I must cry out;     …“Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me     a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention him     or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire     shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in,     and I cannot.” (Jer. 20.7-9)      We have seen that the God of Israel chooses certain creatures who “bear his image” to share his emotions – especially his pain – and to bend their backs under the burden that he carries, the burden of being the covenant God of a wayward, stiff-necked, obstinate, rebellious people (cf. Is. 65.2-5).   By becoming the divine husband of Israel, Yahweh had made himself vulnerable to rejection on the part of his chosen spouse (cf. Jer.

  “Then the Lord said to me: Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!    And when they say… “Where shall we go?” you shall say to them: …Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence,     and those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine,     and those destined for captivity, to captivity.” (Jer. 15.1-2)      As he undertook the 40-year journey that would ultimately lead him to Mt. Nebo, Moses and the rescued slaves – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – approached Mt. Sinai.   Even before having received the 10 Commandments, Moses was functioning as the sole judge and arbiter for the people.   His father-in-law, Jethro, saw the toll that this was taking on Moses and advised him to “share the load” with others who were capable of settling disputes among the people (Ex. 18.13-23).   Already, at the outset of his desert pilgrimage, Moses is realizi

  “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 Jerem

  “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,