OUR
GOD IS THE GOD OF HISTORY...
Introduction
God
is the power and wisdom manifested in the human history and the world created.
Thus God is revealed in the salvation history significantly by the prophets and
through the prophets. This wisdom and the power is understood and comprehended
by the human beings in the given situation. Thus God has plan for human beings
even before we were born. The purpose behind this plan and power is that we
find his plan and obey his will. Perhaps this is what we call discovering the
divine vocation. God’s love and message for us humans is that he never abandons
us despite human predicament. This is called in Latin Mysterium Iniquitas meaning the mystery of evil. In this context
freedom is God’s choicest blessing to us by which we have the capacity to
transcend that evil by God’s grace, help and mercy. Thus God’s presence is
pervading everywhere in the form of wisdom, power and love. Thus one of the
patriarchal promises of Yahweh is still continuing up to date.
Here
we need to remember that despite God’s forewarnings through the prophets and by
the scriptures yet human weakness and rebellion against God is not changed.
Although the prophets prophesied the truth and the message of God but the human
seed did not heed to them. Thus the sin of first Adam still bears false fruit
in us. But God did not want his creation to dissuade from him therefore he sent
his only son to restore the relationship that was disconnected by the sin of
human beings. Humanity although was unfaithful to Yahweh like Gomer to Hosea
the prophet yet God did not lose his patience with us. God’s love therefore
compels us to love him and serve him no matter sickness or death strike us. His
conditional love will never dissert us for, he accepts us despite our fall
provided we turn our hearts to him in contrition and sincerity. Thus our pardon
precedes confession. Because God’s justice and judgement is always to bring
us/Isreal back to himself. In this context God does not ask accounts of our
fall instead his love and mercy will embrace us and turn our hearts unto him
alone. Our soul longs only for him and for him alone. God’s unconditional love
has certainly has an impact on us. Thus his love compels us and instils in us
the growth in us from within.
Wisdom
Manifested
God is wisdom
manifested and power acted in every moving object of this world. However here
in greek Sophia, Latin Sapinta and Hebrew Hakme means wisdom. Prophets also
address God has wisdom and the power. Here let us delve over this theme having
a reference from Ole Testament and the prophets understanding of God/Yahweh.
Old Testament gives us references
to prophets or men of God who addressed a word from Yahweh to the people of
their day, often to men of importance like kings. Despite Baal’s prophets who
served a false religion (1 Kings 18:19). But Yahweh’s prophets were quite
specifically the spokesmen of Yahweh to his people.[1]
These prophets have functioned as intercessors, teaching and they considered it
as a divine vocation as they mainly addressed people in terms of salvation and
judgement while challenging the authority and admonishing and instruction the
people of God.[2]
It was against the background of a
long prophetic tradition that Jeremiah[3]
was called to preach. Like his predecessors he had a profound sense of divine
vocation, of being called even before his birth. He felt the divine hand upon
his life knew that the divine word had been placed in his mouth. When he spoke
he could say, “This is what Yahweh has said,” or he even spoke in Yahweh’s name
using the first person “I”. He was deeply aware of the demands of the covenant
and the dangers that lay in the breach of covenant law. For him there was no
God but Yahweh. Any kind of syncretism was intolerable and fraught with great
peril, the peril of divine judgement. He rejected every glib attitude, every
wanton disregard of the divine law, every false and immoral trust in a cult or
a temple (7: 1-15; 25: 1-29). He took up much of symbolism of Hosea.[4]
The prophets were not merely
religious teachers or philosophers in the abstract, but saw themselves as the
messengers of God commissioned to convey to the people of their own day the
world that God had given them. They had a specific message to a specific people
at a specific point in history. It was a message which would interpret the
events through which their people were passing, or would pass, in the light of
the demands and promises which God had given to their people. Clearly the
dimension of a prophet’s ministry cannot be understood unless the historical
background of his times is known.
The book of Jeremiah makes contact
with historical events at many points. In many cases precise dates and
otherwise known events are referred to. It was Jeremiah’s responsibility to
proclaim a message about nations and kingdoms, “to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (1:10). It was an age of crises.
At the collapse of Assyria Egypt, and then Babylon, the kingdom of the Medes
stood waiting to pick the spoils of war.
Divine
Judgement upon Judah and Jerusalem
In chapter one Jeremiah was called
and commissioned to preach to rebellious Judah. 2 opens with Jeremiah’s preaching
in Jerusalem in response to the divine call. The whole chapter is a powerful
indictment of the nation’s rebellion, delivered with some passion. Holy men of
god spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.[5]
Therefore, the vivid expression cry in the ears of Jerusalem is not unknown
elsewhere in Jeremiah and in the OT. It was Yahweh’s intention that his word
should be heard, for there had developed a sad contrast between what had
obtained long ago, in the days of Israel’s first....
The mind of Yahweh went back in
memory to the days of Israel’s youth when she first entered into a covenant with
him. He intended that Israel too remember (zakar). Her great religious
festivals, Passover, the feasts of the Tabernacles and First fruits, etc., were
designed to keep alive the memory. Many of her cult celebrations were centered
around the recollection of the mighty acts of Yahweh on her behalf and of the
covenant into which she had entered and the salvation she enjoyed. In the
present context Yahweh recalled the loyalty (unfailing devotion, hesed) of Israel in her honeymoon period
in the desert following upon her acceptance of his covenant. The Hebrew word hesed has a rich connotation in the OT
and is used in reference both to God and to man. It describes the manner of
response to a covenantal relationship which goes beyond mere legal
requirements. It is a particularly powerful term in reference to the hesed of Yahweh which can overlap
Israel’s gross neglect of the covenant, love them despite everything, and plan
for their restoration to fellowship with himself. (kononia). His hesed
surpasses immeasurably any quality of hesed
shown by a man to Yahweh, or one man to another, although at high points to
which hesed will reach.
The wicked neighbours would include
all those who at some time spoiled the land that Yahweh had given to his
people. Among these were the Egyptians, Assyrians, Edomites, Moabites,
Amorites, Arameans and Babylonians.[6]
The
Linen Waistcloth: A Symbolic Act (13: 1-11)
The rejection of Yahweh’s sovereignty whether by
Israel or by any other nation could only end in disaster. Not even the Israel
the beloved, could escape that possibility.
The
Parable of the Wine Jars (13: 12-14)
And you will repeat this saying to the: “This is the
word of Yahweh the God of Israel. Every wine jar is to be filled with wine.”
They will reply to you, Don’t we know quite well that every wine jar should be
filled with wine!”[7]
Laments in a time of drought and national defeat
(14:1-15:9) and the Divine response in a time of drought. “your words were
found, and I ate them.” (15: 16) Founding of the book of the Law in the temple
2 kin 22: 8, 13; 23: 3).
Importance:
The judgement of God for Judah’s
and Israel’s apostasy, the depiction of the people suing the image of an
unfaithful over and bride, the unwillingness of the people to be corrected, the
endemic presence of lying in every aspect of the people’s lives, and the terrible devastation of the military
defeat that lies ahead. The prophet calls the people to repent and to amend
their ways, a dimension of his his preaching that falls away. The sin of the
people exists not only in their worship but also in their social life and their
relationships with one another.
1:4-10: The call begins with the revelation, or
reception of the divine word. We see divine initiative (Moses for example
encounters the burning bush without being consumed and is told that he is on
holy ground as the Lord speaks to Him, calling him to leadership of the people
(ex 3:1-6)
The angel of the Lord comes to Gideon while he is in
the field beation wheat (Judges 6:11-12)
Isaiah has an overwhelming vision of the Lord
enthroned on high in the midst of the heavenly assembly (Is: 6:1-5)
The appearance of the Lord to Ezekiel, calling him
to bear the prophetic word, is so powerful and complex that it takes whole
chapter. For Jeremiah, the visionary dimension of the call comes at the end and
does not involve a revelation of the deity’s presence. “The word of the Lord
come to me” repeats and thus echoes the superscription.
The language
about Yahweh had to shift often in order to accommodate continuity of faith in
a God who remained faithful. We can thus peak of Yahweh as kinsman, overlord,
spouse, king, warrior, international ruler, farmer, father and mother.
There are
some images which bear up through many changes. One might point to Yahweh as
warrior. This is not a very popular image of the ancient Israelites much of
their hope for the future was grounded in their experience of God as warrior,
who continues to lead the battle against the forces of uncreation, chaos and
injustice. Being a God who fights for his people against others, Yahweh at
times declares war on Israel who has spurred the covenant obligations. But god
will also lead Israel in to the battle of the eschatological times.
[1] The etymology of the noun nabi,
prophet and the verb hitnabbe, “to prophesy,” is not certain. Many have argued
for a connection with Akk. Nabu. To call, announce,” and think of the noun as
active, “caller, announcer,” or passive, “one who is called,”.
[2] For example we have Nathan who
rebuked David (2 Sam 12: 1-14), (Elijah challenged Ahab time and again and
Elisha and his associates were implicated in the Juhu revolution (2 Kings 9-10)
and Ahijah was outraged by Solomon’s tyrannical practices and religious laxity
and announced to Jeroboam the destruction of his kingdom. (1 K. 11:26-40).
[3] The date of Jeremiah’s birth and
hence the date at which his ministry began is disputed, but most scholars
accept 627 B.C. as the date when he commenced his ministry.
[4] He (Hosea) depicted the
relationship between Yahweh and Israel as a marriage relationship (2:2; 3:6-14)
and called Yahweh’s sons (3: 19; 22; 4: 22)). Like Hosea he traced this
relationship back to the Exodus and the deliverance from Egypt (2:6); and he limited
the period of unclouded fellowship between Israel and Yahweh to the days of
Moses and the desert period (7:22).
[5] 2 pet 1: 21.
[6]
Page 360.
[7]
366.
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