Jeremiah, continued from week 1

Transcription

1 Jeremiah, continued from week 1 So Jeremiah s first key theme, and the principal way Jeremiah expressed both judgment and hope, is that of covenant, particularly the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. This emphasis, plus the close similarity between Jeremiah s vocabulary and Hebrew prose style on the one hand, and the language of the book of Deuteronomy on the other, are why scholars believe Deuteronomy is actually the work not of Moses but of disciples of Jeremiah. a. The second key theme in Jeremiah was communicated by the story of his personal life, first through his personal laments, which are unparalleled in any other prophet, and second through a biography of his life told in the third person. i. Jeremiah s six personal laments (11:18ff, 15:10ff, 17:14ff, 18:18ff, 20:7ff, 20:14ff) are in form like many psalms: a personal profession directly to God. In these prayers we are overhearing the despair Jeremiah feels about his prophetic ministry. Publicly, nothing stops him, but privately we see it s not easy for him. To illustrate this, listen to these two passages. The first is the beginning of Jeremiah s call, a public prophetic oracle: 4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." This sounds like Psalm 139 and may have inspired it. But in one of his laments Jeremiah says (20:14-18): 14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! 15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, "A child is born to you--a son!". 18 Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? The theological message of these laments is similar to that of many psalms: Jeremiah s laments define faith as a closeness to God in which challenge and questioning in response to the hard circumstances of life are an expression of faith. ii. The entire last quarter of the book of Jeremiah simply describes what happened to him toward the end of his prophetic ministry. They describe the circumstances of his life that inspired the laments we just heard about. In his lifetime, Jeremiah tried to convince the powers that be to accept their fate and not oppose the Neobabylonians. Instead they treated him like dangerous rabble 1

2 rouser and tried to shut him up. The straightforward descriptions of Jeremiah s suffering at the hands of those in political power are not prefaced and there is no editorializing. It s as if it was expected that the story of Jeremiah s end as a prophet speak for themselves, and they do. iii. From a canonical perspective, consider this: Jeremiah s message was mainly not for the people he lived among historically. He was ignored and reviled by them, but his message became the heart of the exilic community s response to its loss. The presence of the Jeremiah right after Isaiah is, again, no accident. Where Isaiah keeps the hope of Zion alive, Jeremiah preaches the need to give that up and turn instead to the hope that truly abides, which is closeness to God in prayer and in life through covenant faithfulness. Where Isaiah s suffering servant is anonymous and not linked to particular circumstances, Jeremiah is a named suffering servant the reason for whose suffering we understand. It seems that the God worshipped by this community of faith fulfills his purpose of salvation through the suffering and failure of his most courageous servants. Losing itself is redeemed by the realization that it may actually be the birth of something new. Imagine what this meant to the community of faith in exile down through the centuries that followed. Imagine what it meant to Jesus and his followers. iv. Jeremiah is perhaps the most important prophet in the Hebrew Bible when you consider the canonical and historical perspectives together. Jeremiah s personal loss mirrored Israel s collective loss of the covenant promise of a land of their own. Jeremiah was the prophet in Jerusalem at the time of that loss. His nearly impossible task was to convince people who were experiencing the horror of war that their God still loved them as they were going through that. He certainly failed to convince the political leadership of his time of the truth of his message. But the chief attribute of canonical meaning is timelessness: what matters is what Jeremiah meant to subsequent generations of the community of faith, and the answer is that his message was fundamental to their self-understanding. Because of Jeremiah in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel in Babylon whom we ll talk about next, the community of faith heard an offer from God: to be their God whether they had a country or not, whether they won battles or not, whether they deserved it or not. Even 2

3 more clearly than Isaiah, who still spoke in terms of a restored Zion, Jeremiah laid the theological groundwork for Judaism to become the first truly global religion. Jesus could tell the woman at the well that true worship need not occur in this place or that place because Jeremiah had liberated worship from place six centuries before, and given it a new basis: closeness through prayer and mutual trust strong enough to survive any worldly circumstances. So let s make a stop here and see if you have any questions about Jeremiah. Ezekiel. 1. Ezekiel is the third of the major prophets. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel s prophetic ministry occurred during and after the NeoBabylonian conquest of Jerusalem. Evidently that time was so important in Israel s history that God needed two great prophets working at the same time. However, Ezekiel s ministry occurred in Babylon rather than Jerusalem, since Ezekiel was deported to Tel Aviv in Babylon along with King Jehoiachin in 597. So canonically speaking, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are like stereo, both speaking to the same historical context and with many fundamental theological similarities, but also very important differences in focus and emphasis. 2. It s very important to note that Ezekiel isn t just a prophet: he is also referred to, or refers to himself, as a priest (1:3). One of Ezekiel s major themes is restoration of proper worship in the cult. Isaiah and Jeremiah both spoke out repeatedly and very strongly against hypocritical worship, by which they meant worshiping while not caring for the poor; but Ezekiel was the first prophet to deal with the community worship consequences of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. a. Since the time of David and Solomon, there had been a movement to centralize worship in Jerusalem and stop worship at hill shrines around the country. This centralization, and the theological justifications for it, created a huge problem for the exiles, one they had no precedents for dealing with. What would a priest s job be if Jerusalem were no more? What would worship be like? Ezekiel is deeply concerned about this problem, and his answer is that the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple there are part of God s plan for those in exile. This focus is almost completely lacking in Jeremiah, though it is certainly present in Isaiah. 3

4 b. Remember also that freedom of worship, while something we take for granted, often served as a kind of pledge of allegiance or loyalty test in many countries throughout history. Religion was another way political leaders had of controlling the populations they were trying to govern. So the Judahites in Babylon also had to deal with the problem that they were being encouraged to worship foreign gods, and that failure to do so could be regarded as political dissent. Again, Jeremiah s ministry occurred entirely in Jerusalem; he never had to deal with this directly. Ezekiel did. c. For the first ten years of his ministry, Ezekiel has two audiences: Judahite exiles in Babylon, whose hopes for a speedy return from exile he repeatedly dashes, and those who remained in Judah, who still believe they are safe there. During this time Ezekiel travels back and forth between Babylon and Judah in visions [8:1-3, 11:1] but it s not clear to what extent his messages actually made it back to the community in Jerusalem. There is no mention of Ezekiel in Jeremiah. d. The decisive event in Ezekiel s prophetic career occurs when Jerusalem is destroyed in 587. Before this, his prophecies had been uniformly gloom and doom; after this his prophecies begin to become more hopeful and focus on future restoration.. 3. Structure a. 1-24: oracles about Judahites in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (in Babylon) b : oracles about foreign nations c : oracles of hope and future restoration. d : vision of the restored Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital. This structure is closely tied to the development of his major themes. 4. Major themes a. Call: Ezekiel s call is conveniently located right at the beginning of the book. As is common in prophetic calls, it consists of an epiphany, and a commission. i. Ezekiel s epiphany is corresponds to Isaiah s vision in the temple, described in Isaiah chapter 6. However, where Isaiah s description was designed to evoke a sense of the transcendent holy it was pretty high church -- Ezekiel s vision seems deliberately designed to confound any attempt at making any visual image of what he is seeing at all. Ezekiel is in a little bit of a bind. On the one hand, he has a vivid encounter with the holy one, an epiphany, as many prophets do beginning with Moses. On the other, he is bound by the second commandment to make no images. So how is he supposed to convey the account of his prophetic call, to establish 4

5 his bona fides if you will, and at the same time not to convey an image of God? Ezekiel s call in chapter 1 is a success in that he does indeed convey a sense of God s power and transcendent presence while at the same time making it almost impossible to visualize what the heck he s talking about. Since we re coming up on creation Sundays, I will note that the power source of the chariot in which God is riding is hashmal, a word that occurs only here in the Hebrew bible and which became the modern Hebrew word for electricity. ii. What is happening in this vision is fairly simple, despite the visual complexity: despite the destruction of the temple, not only has God survived just fine but his glory, by which Ezekiel meant God s glorious manifested presence in our world, is perfectly intact as well. God has hopped onto his electric-powered ride and is coming from Jerusalem to Babylon to talk with Ezekiel. He comes from the north because that s the way the fertile crescent goes: you head north from Israel to Damascus, east to the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, then follow them south again until you get to Babylon. That way there s water all the way. If you note that God wasn t likely to get thirsty, true, but if you re coming from the West to Babylon this is just the way the freeways run. iii. Ezekiel s commission is very lengthy for a prophetic call, taking up most of chapters 2-3, but it s very clear. The deliberate confusion of chapter 1 is gone. 2 1 He said to me, Son of man, [a] stand up on your feet and I will speak to you. 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 He said: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, This is what the Sovereign LORD says. 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen for they are a rebellious people they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 5

6 1. This might have inspired the opening line of the movie Kung Fu Panda: Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose Kung Fu skills were the stuff of legend. What word would you substitute for legend in the case of Ezekiel s call? 2. Note the reference to the spirit entering Ezekiel in verse 2. In words echoing those in Jeremiah s call, Ezekiel is supposed communicate God s message without fear, but unlike Jeremiah there is no promise that God will shield him or be close to him. iv. Next God gives Ezekiel the message he is to proclaim. It is a scroll with woe written on it, which Ezekiel has to eat, so he has not only God s spirit but also God s word. Surprisingly, although the message is bitter the scroll tastes sweet. This if you will is the first prophecy of Ezekiel: things that are initially hard to hear can end up being the most spiritually nourishing and even joy-bringing once they are accepted. v. The final part of the commission suggests that Ezekiel will also wish he could say more: 3: Part of being a prophet is subjecting both what you do say and what you refrain from saying to God s lordship. 5. Theophanies: the presence of God is with the exiles in Babylon. That this is a major theme is emphasized by the big deal Ezekiel makes out of it in chapter 1, but it s repeated also in chapters The significance of God s presence with the exiles is manifold: a. It obviously shows the Israelites haven t been abandoned by their God. b. It shows that the centralization of worship in Jerusalem that had been promoted by the Judahite priesthood was a one way street: it was a limitation on people s worship, not any kind of restriction of God s activity. c. Perhaps most importantly, it brought home that people had to find a new basis for relating to God in exile. Without the temple and Jerusalem as a focus, and without the sponsorship and protection of the king, what would religion be like? 6. Definition of the crimes of Judah d. Ezekiel the problem with Judah was false worship: 8:7ff 8 7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, Son of man, now dig into the wall. So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there. 6

7 9 And he said to me, Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here. 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. 12 He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land. 13 Again, he said, You will see them doing things that are even more detestable. e. So the very leaders of Jerusalem are worshipping idols surrounded by images. Where Jeremiah focused on the second tablet of the ten commandments, Ezekiel focuses on the first tablet. f. Ezekiel opposed the understanding that the kings were to blame for the fall of Samaria and Jerusalem: 18:1-13. Everyone is responsible for their own actions, and will be punished for their own actions. g. In chapter 24:15-27, there is a turning point when Ezekiel s own wife dies. As was the case to a far greater extent with Jeremiah, Ezekiel s own life becomes a sign for Israel, as Ezekiel turns a corner in his prophecies. Up to this time, for the first ten years of his ministry, Ezekiel s message had focused on judgment. When his wife dies, dumbness sets in; when word comes that Jerusalem has fallen, 33:21-23, Ezekiel s dumbness ends and hope begins. h. After Ezekiel hears of the fall of Jerusalem, in the rest of the book Ezekiel s message becomes more hopeful. i. In chapters 33-39, the main theme is restoration: 34:11ff. 11 For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 7

8 Here he s using the same literary style of repetition to convey that future hope is of restoration: it s not going to happen just anywhere, it s going to happen in Israel. ii. Consistent with Ezekiel s earlier condemnation of Israel, the reason for God s restoration isn t from a belief that Israel has changed yet but from an awareness that the fall of Jerusalem reflects badly on Israel s God to the foreign nations. Likewise, Israel s restoration will make God s holiness clear to the nations: 36:22-28: 22 Therefore say to the Israelites, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. 23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. i. The prophecy of the valley of dry bones in 37:1-14 is perhaps the most famous section of Ezekiel, but the purpose of it in context is to assert that there is never no hope where God is concerned. As long as Jerusalem and the temple still stood, the exiles had hope that they might return, but when news of Jerusalem s fall and the temple s destruction reached them, Ezekiel was confronted with mass disillusionment and despair. This oracle is addressed to people who felt as if their hope had died with their city. Ezekiel s message is that not even death is too hopeless a situation for God to save them from. j. In the conclusion to his book, chapters 40-48, Ezekiel pulls these themes of restoration and hope together with a vision of a restored Jerusalem. The vision starts with the temple, then moves onto the city walls and cultic regulations, and there s a definite emphasis on religious rather than 8

9 political or military themes. It s an idealized vision, for example in place of the springs that rose or were channeled inside the city walls to provide for water during a siege, a river will flow from God s throne. k. The last stage in Ezekiel s vision of restoration consists of the reallocation of the land, not just to Judah and Benjamin, but to all twelve tribes. Like Jeremiah and other earlier prophets who foretold hope after the fall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel s ultimate hope and message includes the ten lost tribes of the north as well as the south kingdom. The concluding note is to rename the restored city: 48:35, The Lord is there. The name Zion never occurs in Ezekiel, in strong contrast to the emphasis Isaiah gave it. l. Interestingly, what inspired later prophets the most about Ezekiel were his bizarre visions. The deliberately confusing style of his visions of God in chapters 1-10, loaded with vivid images that are nevertheless almost impossible to picture, was adopted by later prophets such as Zechariah and Daniel as well as intertestamental and new testament authors as a hallmark of visions of the end time. In addition to their strangeness, which conveys newness and fundamental difference from current reality, they re also completely dislocated from Ezekiel s time. They from Ezekiel by they describe things outside of time or in the indefinite future. Very handy if you want to speak authentically and authoritatively about the end of time. So Ezekiel s style in this respect almost made a bigger impression than his message. m. The other distinctive emphasis of Ezekiel was his emphasis on right worship, by which he meant proper cultic observance, or a return to Leviticus. This contrasts sharply with the emphasis of the earlier prophets, but becomes a major focus of both the later prophets, of Ezra and Nehemiah, and of the traditions that produced the Chronicles. This is mainly just a function of Ezekiel s new position in time: the earlier prophets took the presence of the temple and a functioning priesthood for granted, while Ezekiel took the destruction of the temple and its cultic activities for granted. n. But, along with that of Jeremiah s, Ezekiel s message certainly had the most profound effect on the nature of the community of faith. The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple intuitively could easily be taken either to mean that Israel s God wasn t really in charge of things, or worse, that he was in charge but had utterly rejected his people. Together, Ezekiel and Jeremiah worked to convince the exiles and the generations that followed them that neither of these intuitive choices were true: the exile was punishment, but not rejection. God was still with 9

10 the exiles, still their God, and wanted the exiles to be God s people despite the loss of the promised land. 2. Conclusion: major prophets a. Look at the three great prophets together. From a canonical perspective their differences create a range of authoritative meaning in the community. Ezekiel prophesied a return to the right forms of worship, with a rebuilt temple and God s presence there, while Isaiah preached that fasting was to loose the bonds of wickedness, and let the poor go free. Ezekiel emphasized the transcendence of God, Jeremiah his immanence, and Isaiah emphasized both. b. All three true in different ways, and in different ways all three unmoored from their own particular times and circumstances and passed on to us with a transcending emphasis on what matters regardless of time and circumstance. Questions and discussion 10