JEREMIAH: the Weeping

Now we find ourselves stumbling into the Babylonian time period of prophetic history. It seems like every teacher means something different by their labels for historical time periods, so I should make clear what I mean by these loose designations. You will often find the prophet Zephaniah put in a Babylonian time period, which I would completely agree with. The “Pre-Assyrian” and “Babylonian” time periods of my diagram are pretty squishy and run together. When I speak of Babylonian prophets, I’m speaking of a period of history after Babylon has completed their siege and destroyed Jerusalem.

If you like historical fiction, I would recommend reading The Disciple Scroll by Allan Rabbinowitz. Allan has served as a guide for one of the trips I made to Israel; he has an great grasp of this period of Israel’s history and personal love of the prophet Jeremiah. I found his novel to be a great joy and benefit to helping me understand the life of this prophet.

The contents of the book of Jeremiah span quite a great breadth of history. Jeremiah’s ministry begins before Babylon has begun their siege of Jerusalem. While the writing is on the wall, many people of Israel are continuing to assure themselves that God will spare them just as He did the last time with Hezekiah and the Assyrians. However, this time, they will be lacking the righteous leadership and heartfelt repentance. Jeremiah confronts them about this.

Jeremiah continues to proclaim God’s discipline as the Babylonians set up camp outside of Jerusalem and begin the long process of laying siege to God’s city. Jeremiah’s message is simple: You have failed to repent; God’s discipline is here. The best move for all of you would be to lay down your weapons and head into captivity. There will be much less bloodshed that way.

Jeremiah’s message is so “pro-Babylon” that when they finally lay siege to the city, they leave Jeremiah behind, believing that he is actually an asset to their cause.

Jeremiah will continue his prophetic ministry long after the Babylonians have emerged victorious and Judah attempts to put the pieces back together. Some of them believe that turning to Egypt will save them, but Jeremiah warns against this telling them that their efforts to saddle up with Egypt will be futile. Some of the words of Jeremiah ring with profound poetry even to this day. Here are some words from chapter 2:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

“This is what the Lord says:

“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
    through a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
    and disaster overtook them,’”
declares the Lord.

Jeremiah seems to be a great admirer, especially towards the beginning of the book, of the image of the people of God as a bride. Because of this, Jeremiah is very quick to speak out against Israel’s idolatry. The message against idolatry will be easy to see throughout the book. However, Jeremiah is one of the prophets who appears to seamlessly blend the two narratives we looked at earlier. Jeremiah will move in and out of the conversations about idolatry and injustice as if they were the same conversation. I think there is much to see in Jeremiah’s perspective.

Consider chapter 7 as an example (the whole thing really, but here is the beginning):

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:

“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.’”

Somehow, the mistreatment of the alien, the orphan, and the widow is connected to the worship of foreign gods. I think there may be great wisdom in this. When we buy into the false gods that the culture offers us, we will always find ourselves being pulled off course, away from the partnership that God invites us into: this partnership that we have seen time and time again that calls us to trust that we have enough — to trust the story — and look out for the needs of other people. What other gods invite us into such a plan?

Does Baal? Certainly not; he is interested in your own profit and well-being.

Does Asherah? Nope.

How about the god of Consumerism?

Greed? Security? Comfort? Leisure?

Which of these gods invites us to join God’s great redemption project?

Maybe the prophet Jeremiah holds truth that’s still needing to be considered today by many of us. Maybe Jeremiah continues to invite us to cast down our idols and return once again to the path of God:

This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

Maybe we’re already in exile and we just haven’t realized it. Read Jeremiah 17, if you dare.

While it’s easy to find words of hope scattered throughout the prophet, Jeremiah does not end with a wonderful poetic piece about restoration. Instead, he foretells the coming destruction of Empire. The way of empire (be it Babylon or anyone else) is not sustainable in the world that God created. Things built on the principles of death and darkness will not stand. God invites His people to walk in the ancient paths and come back to the good way:

“Come out of her, my people!
    Run for your lives!
    Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.
Do not lose heart or be afraid
    when rumors are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
    rumors of violence in the land
    and of ruler against ruler.
For the time will surely come
    when I will punish the idols of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced
    and her slain will all lie fallen within her.
Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
    will shout for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north
    destroyers will attack her,”
declares the Lord.

Words to consider. May we search our own lives to find the dark corners where these messages might still apply. One way or another, our idols of greed and selfishness will come down. Heaven will rejoice over the fall of darkness. Will we rejoice as well?

2 ISAIAH: the Woes

The last voice in the Assyrian time period is the voice of 2 Isaiah. (If you missed our post talking about the different voices of Isaiah, click here.) I hinted at this in the 1 Isaiah post, but it would serve us well to say it again: the dating of Isaiah and debate surrounding authorship is incredibly intense. In my experience, it is impossible to choose an option that I feel confident about. There are parts in 2 Isaiah and 3 Isaiah that refer to history which should take place in 1 Isaiah. There are references in 1 Isaiah that simply shouldn’t be there until well into 3 Isaiah. Is this all the work of a redactor? Is it simply the fortune-telling, future-determining prophecy I was taught about (a stand I am unwilling to take — it’s too illogical)? Was the entire work of Isaiah written much later, as if it was written during these different times (a good option to consider, backed up by respectable scholarship)?

All in all, I like to take these three voices and put them in these spots because of how it fits with the narrative. I just like to be up front about that as I make such a subjective move in my material. I invite you to join the wrestling match, but for now, let’s hear 2 Isaiah as an Assyrian prophet.

The message of 2 Isaiah is really straightforward. It is the prophetic message of WOE. In short, woe is intense sorrow and distress. The voice of 2 Isaiah pronounces times of sorrow and tribulation on, well, just about everybody he can think of. The bottom line of 2 Isaiah is that God isn’t happy with the way the world is operating. Everybody is out for their own good. Everyone is taking advantage of their neighbor. Nobody seems to be interested in the project of redemption.

And God will put a stop to it.

Because He loves this world too much to let selfish, greedy, powerful creatures like mankind hurt other mankind. God loves all His kids — just like I do. And there are moments when I raise my voice and pronounce woes (discipline) on my children. I declare that each of them will now be sitting in timeout so that we can restore order in the house. It reaches a point where it just doesn’t matter anymore who is more right or wrong. Everybody is seeking their own; everyone has gone astray.

And I’m putting an end to it.

“Get in time out! All of you!”

So 2 Isaiah brings woes to Babylon and Assyria, to Philistia, and Moab. God pronounces judgment on Damascus, Cush, and Egypt. He makes sure that Edom and Arabia get some attention before turning His attention toward His own people. Tyre gets what’s coming to it. In fact, in chapter 24, the “whole earth” is going to be cleansed of this chaos.

And then… a little glimmer of hope.

But the woes aren’t over: Ephraim; Jerusalem; an obstinate people who rely on Egypt for their security and trust in the story of Empire and chariots; the women of Jerusalem who oppress the poor; the Gentiles.

All of these find God’s discipline in the words of 2 Isaiah.

And I suppose now would be as good a time as any to mention how our class will sum up the period of the prophets (we are not done with the period of the prophets — only halfway through). We often refer to this period as a time of “warnings, woes, and hope”. God sends His prophets to issue warning of coming discipline if things don’t change. We know that these aren’t empty warnings, as Judah is able to repent and enjoy God’s protection and security. In short, the warning is not an empty gesture. Then, when God’s people refuse to heed the warning, they find themselves coming under woes. Finally, as the people of God experience His discipline, they are entrusted with messages of promise and restoration — and a chance to be part of a new tomorrow; they are given hope.

If you were to go back and look at that graph of the prophets, you could say (in an oversimplified sense) that the Pre-Assyrian and Assyrian time periods are God’s messengers of warning. The Assyrian and Babylonian time period will serve as God’s message of woe. And the Exilic time period will bring God’s message of hope.

The question we find ourselves wrestling with today is whether the voice of the prophets rings just as loud and as clear as it did for the people of Israel and Judah over 2,000 years ago. Voices like 2 Isaiah serve as invitations for us to realize just how seriously God takes this mission of justice and redemption. God was looking for partners and He had found one. That partner gave it all up to try to build their own empires. And God wanted to fulfill the covenant He had made with all of creation.

And so He invites us back. He invites us to t’shuvah. His invitation never ends. His insistence that creation is worth fighting for never wanes.

He will go to great lengths to convince us to join Him.

But the choice is ultimately yours.

And it will come down — on every level — to trust.

ZEPHANIAH: "T'shuvah"

At this point, God turns His attention, yet again, to the people of Judah. They heeded the call of the prophets once. Hezekiah led some reforms that actually enabled the people of Judah to enjoy the forgiveness and provision/protection of God. As the people of Judah humbled themselves and tore down every idol, God heard the cry of their king and rescued them from the hand of the Assyrians.

But their obedience was short-lived. Not long after Hezekiah’s illness, foolish decisions with the Babylonian envoys, and eventual death, Manasseh comes to the throne and wastes no time in turning the people of Judah from the story that God has been telling. The narrative heads south in a hurry and the word of Zephaniah is quick to follow.

His message: T’shuvah.

t’shuvah is a word that is most often translated “repent.” The word carries with it the connotation of making a U-turn — turning away from your current path and coming back to God. It is true that in our Western culture, we often think of repentance as being all tied up in confession; while the two ideas often go together, repentance is a much deeper reality than mere confession or apology. We often think of repentance as acknowledging our sin before God and saying we’re sorry. However, the idea of repentance is much more involved. It requires a change in behavior, not just in our thinking. This difference has been talked about often amongst the discussion of discipleship.

However, t’shuvah goes even further than we think. T’shuvah doesn’t just invite us to change our path and make a U-turn. T’shuvah actually invites us to REturn, and this is an important distinction. In fact, a quick survey of the word t’shuvah in the Tanakh will quickly show that it is not uncommon for the word to be translated “return” quite often in the prophets.

God is calling the people to come back home. God wants them to return to the great narrative He’s telling in the world and decide that they want to return as partners in His great project. This is really important, because it calls us to remember the deepest truths of where we started this whole study back in Genesis. God made a GOOD world and invited us to believe it. We were a part of this good world and the idea of t’shuvah invites us to remember that. We are being invited to come back to the thing that is truest about us. This stands in such contrast to the idea of a preacher standing on the sidewalk and calling people to “REPENT!” for how horrible they are, rather than the beckoning invitation of God to come back home.

The call of repentance is a reminder of the most profound truth of what God thinks about you.

God believes you have what it takes. God believes you were made and designed for something better. God knows the plans that He has for you and this isn’t it. You’ve gotten off track and went astray. And God invites you to return. Return to the truest true about how God made you and how God sees you.

Hear the plea of the LORD through the prophet Zephaniah (chapter 3):

Woe to the city of oppressors,
    rebellious and defiled!
She obeys no one,
    she accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord,
    she does not draw near to her God.
Her officials within her
    are roaring lions;
her rulers are evening wolves,
    who leave nothing for the morning.
Her prophets are unprincipled;
    they are treacherous people.
Her priests profane the sanctuary
    and do violence to the law.
The Lord within her is righteous;
    he does no wrong.
Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
    and every new day he does not fail,
    yet the unrighteous know no shame.

At least somebody seems to be worried about mishpat — but His own people will not join Him!

“I have destroyed nations;
    their strongholds are demolished.
I have left their streets deserted,
    with no one passing through.
Their cities are laid waste;
    they are deserted and empty.
Of Jerusalem I thought,
    ‘Surely you will fear me
    and accept correction!’
Then her place of refuge would not be destroyed,
    nor all my punishments come upon her.
But they were still eager
    to act corruptly in all they did.
Therefore wait for me,”
    declares the Lord,
    “for the day I will stand up to testify.
I have decided to assemble the nations,
    to gather the kingdoms
and to pour out my wrath on them—
    all my fierce anger.
The whole world will be consumed
    by the fire of my jealous anger.

But even Zephaniah is not without hope. He ends his prophetic message with these words:

Sing, Daughter Zion;
    shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
On that day
    they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

“I will remove from you
    all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,
    which is a burden and reproach for you.
At that time I will deal
    with all who oppressed you.
I will rescue the lame;
    I will gather the exiles.
I will give them praise and honor
    in every land where they have suffered shame.
At that time I will gather you;
    at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
    among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
    before your very eyes,”
says the Lord.

This isn’t about endless punishment. It’s about restoration. It’s about coming back home. It’s about remembering where you come from. And God will go to some great extremes to remind you of your Egypts. But once you’ve been reminded of what this whole narrative is about, God can’t wait to bestow upon you the gift of the second, third, and fourth chances.

He’s wanting to care for the oppressed. He’s wanting to hear the cry of the alien, the orphan, and the widow. It’s why He’s placed you at the crossroads of the earth, to be His priests and show the world what He’s like. Woe to us when we become the anti-story, giving the world an inaccurate picture of our God. Do we find ourselves in these places — bowing down to the idols of Empire and Self?

We’re invited to hear the words of Zephaniah.

“T’shuvah.”

Return. Come back home. Join the narrative.

NAHUM: "Diyn"

Jonah is held in juxtaposition with another prophet that gets categorized in the Assyrian time period. The prophet Nahum is the other side of the tension, the other side of God’s nature in the cosmic equation of evil. As I have stated before, I adamantly believe that this tension between God’s love and God’s justice is not a matter of equal and opposing forces. God’s love far outweighs His desire to bring vengeance and wrath. I believe the Tanakh is incredibly clear on this point and it is our Western mindset that struggles with this way of thinking. For us, we either want one or the other or complete balance. Yet the message of Nahum stands as a testimony to the way life really is.

We have talked about mishpat, the idea of Eastern, patriarchal “justice.” We have repeatedly made the point that biblical justice is the idea of putting things in their proper place. Mishpat has very little to do with retribution. Mishpat is the rampant idea that runs throughout the Tanakh — much more than any other expression of justice.

And yet, there is another Hebrew expression of justice. Even though it’s used far less often, the word diyn is also used to communicate judgment. While even this word doesn’t carry the idea of retribution, it does have an air of finality. Diyn is a necessary part of mishpat. There are times and places where, in order to restore humanity, in order to pursue mishpat to its natural end, a judgment has to be pronounced and a decision must be made. There comes a time when discussion is over and we need to get on with restoring the world.

This is the message of Nahum. The problem with the book of Jonah is that, while the book explains God’s apparent inaction and unbelievable patience, it still doesn’t deal with the problem of evil that continues to exist. So, while God’s incredible patience is the very thing that gives us so much hope, and while His patience is the very catalyst for mishpat in most situations, our souls still look at injustice and cry out for deliverance.

And God is patient and patient and patient and forgiving and patient and mournful and patient and pleading and grieving and patient…

… and then God acts.

This is the book of Nahum. As the people of Israel look at the brutality of Assyrian warfare and the terrible rule of empire, they cry out for justice. As one more daughter gets raped and one more child is impaled on a pole and one more elderly couple is burned in their home, the people cry out for God’s rescue. And while God sees the incredible potential of each and every Assyrian and patiently waits for them to come to repentance, there comes a time where God announces their coming destruction.

And God sends His message through the prophet Nahum: “Enough is enough.”

And this message to Ninevah will be God’s message of hope to His people, who have now become the oppressed. God, through the voice of Nahum, will poetically announce that He has heard the cry of His people and will bring mishpat. Nahum is here as a proclaimer of God’s diyn.

And I have the same problem with Nahum that I had with Joshua. And yet, I’m left here being reminded of how glad I am that I don’t have God’s job. I would never even begin to know when to show patience and when to bring diyn. I would make a lousy god.

King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;
    your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
    with no one to gather them.
Nothing can heal you;
    your wound is fatal.
All who hear the news about you
    clap their hands at your fall,
for who has not felt
    your endless cruelty?

And so we have to hold Jonah in one hand and Nahum in the other. We have to hear that God hears the cry of the hurting and promises us that He’s in the business of mishpat.  And He invites us to trust in His goodness and perspective. He invites us to trust in His wisdom and His timing.

He invites us to trust the story.

JONAH: Potential

After the Pre-Assyrian time period, things begin to shift. The Assyrians come in and destroy much of the civilized world, including the northern kingdom of Israel. As they are making their move on the southern kingdom of Judah, Hezekiah makes an incredible stand of trust and God sends the Assyrians back to their homes in the north. Apparently, Judah — for a moment in history — heeds the warnings of the prophets. Hezekiah repents of their disobedience and leads reforms from one end of Judah to the other. (Do you remember the story of Beth Shemesh?) I feel like this is an important point to make, because we always seem to hear the voices of the prophets as an exercise in futility. They don’t listen and God destroys them, right?

Wrong. Apparently, upon the repentance of Judah, God stays the judgment that is predicted in Micah and helps save the Jews from the Assyrians. Of course, it won’t last forever, and Judah will continue to receive warnings from God in this historical time period, as well, but it’s important to see the repentance of Judah and the patience of God.

The northern kingdom of Israel has been destroyed and taken captive by their enemies to the north; Judah is still dealing with what it means to walk the path faithfully. And the first Assyrian-time-period prophet we need to deal with is Jonah.

Jonah is one of those stories that we’ve heard a million times. For anyone who grows up in the church, Jonah is reviewed about every other month in Sunday School. And this is part of the problem with the story of Jonah — we miss the big questions. Here are a few observations about the book of Jonah:

Jonah is the worst prophet in biblical history. One of the first things to stick out to the original reader is the disobedience of God’s prophet; Jonah is the only prophet to run from the call of God! He does a poor job of repenting in chapter 2, has to be reminded of God’s call in chapter 3, and then delivers one of the most uncompelling prophetic messages known to man: “In forty days, the city of Nineveh will be destroyed.” Who is this guy?

The whole book is backwards. The prophet is disobedient. God is not in “paradise” (the meaning of Tarshish), but in Nineveh (the capital city of Assyria). The pagans in the boat worship God while the prophet is uncaring and wants to die. The Ninevites repent at Jonah’s simple message, including the king. God sends judgment on His prophet (more than once) and not on the enemy. This story is wacky.

The ending is completely frustrating, making the reader wonder if we lost a piece of the scroll. The last paragraph of Jonah leaves the reader hanging in complete disbelief that this would be the message for God’s people as they sit in captivity in Assyria.

Well, do you remember the days back in Genesis? Whenever we read a story that lacked particular details and was laden with problems, what did we begin looking for?

Chiasms.

Jonah is no different. See the theme map below to notice the chiasm:

“…the great city”
    Jonah wants to die
        Jonah repents
            3 days in the fish
                THE GREAT CITY
            3-day walk in Nineveh
        Nineveh repents
    Jonah wants to die
“…the great city”

So what’s the deal with this “great city”? Nineveh is most certainly not a great city. We know more about Assyrian warfare than we know about a lot of ancient warfare and what we know about the Assyrians is that they are brutal. They tortured captives, raped women, murdered babies. This is not a great city. One person wrote me the other day to point out how many times the word gadowl (translated “great”) appears in the book; everything appears to be “great” — the city, the storm, the fish. However, the one thing you EXPECT to be great — God’s anger/wrath, the east wind (representing judgment) — is strangely not. I think it is a wonderful observation.

Why does God not stand up and strike down the Assyrians?

One of the most interesting parts of the book of Jonah is the vine that God makes grow over Jonah at the end of the book. It’s interesting because Jonah has already made a shelter to give himself shade, yet God makes a vine grow to give him “more” shade? God then destroys the vine and the east wind comes and Jonah’s head is burned. The vine might remind Israel of their call to bless the nations (the midrash goes to great lengths to teach this point, numbering the leaves of the vine to 153… [more on this later]) and provide shade for the Gentiles.

Why does God not stand up and strike down the Assyrians?

Because the Gentiles have great potential. For more on fleshing this conclusion out, I invite you to find Rabbi David Fohrman’s teaching on Jonah (which has deeply influenced my own) or listen to a teaching I once gave here. The depth of literary tools in the book of Jonah and the history of its use are astounding.

In short, the book of Jonah is about the potential of people — particularly our enemies. The book of Jonah is a striking tale that invites us to consider what our role in the world is. It’s a call to remind us of our story and what God expects when he plants a vine (or a vineyard). As the people of Israel listened to the story of Jonah, they would have resonated with his anger, his frustration, and his retort to God. Yet, God’s message to His people remains steadfast.

“Should I not care about this great city?”

There’s so much potential that lies in His creation. He invites us to trust Him in that and help Him put the world back together, whether we find ourselves in Tarshish or Nineveh.

1 ISAIAH: the Vineyard

We need to hear one more Pre-Assyrian voice before we move ahead to the next historical time period. We have heard two prophetic voices who spoke into the northern kingdom of Israel. We have also heard our first Pre-Assyrian voice that is speaking into the southern kingdom of Judah.

Now, before we make it too far, we’re going to need to deal with the questions that have arisen out of my title for this post. I’m sure some of you are wondering where I got the crazy idea that there is more than one prophecy of Isaiah. The last time you checked, there was only one — and it’s a big one. (You may even be thinking that we don’t need any more.)

In fact, most scholars are in agreement that we have multiple authors at work in the book of Isaiah; they also believe that the work/content of Isaiah covers a very wide breadth of history. However, this is the point where the agreement ceases. There will be a thousand opinions on the finer details of questions: How many authors are at work in Isaiah? How is the book divided up? Is it divided up cleanly or has it been pieced together by the work of a redactor like a patchwork quilt? I’m certainly not the expert and it would be futile for me to try to explain the debate in a blog post, but I will give you my opinion.

The ancient language of Isaiah seems to make it clear that we have different writings from different times; that being said, I think it’s obvious even to the English reader that we have some major shifts in the book of Isaiah. Part of the problem is that we get so lost in the gear-shifting and woes of the middle of the book that our eyes begin to glaze over and we lose our grasp of the “larger picture” of the prophetic movement of the book. If you were to keep your attention focused on the literature of Isaiah, I believe you would feel an obvious shift between the content of Isaiah 1-12 (or so) and Isaiah 13-39.

Needless to say, I am going to suggest that we will hear three distinct voices in Isaiah which I will refer to as 1 Isaiah, 2 Isaiah, and 3 Isaiah. This first voice is to be heard in the first twelve chapters of Isaiah, during the reign Uzziah — a Pre-Assyrian voice to Judah.

The content of 1 Isaiah is pretty straight forward and to the point, which will make wrapping up this post a little cleaner. There are some things we’ve consistently talked about with each prophet.

Each prophet contains the message of hope. In many of the “minor prophets,” the package/message is so small that the message of hope is tucked into the prophet’s ending, almost as a postscript to the larger message. However, in these larger prophets (like Isaiah), we are going to find these messages of hope sprinkled throughout the larger message. You can find these messages of hope in places like Isaiah 2:1–5, chapter 4, and chapter 7, to name a few. These messages can often feel sporadic and lacking context; to be honest, I’m still studying and wrestling with how one is supposed to “hear” these pronouncements of doom and hope so close to each other. There are many theories, yet my point remains — the hope is clearly there.

Each early prophet has a sense of warning. Some of my favorite prophetic passages of the Tanakh come in places like Isaiah’s opening chapter. He tells the people of Judah exactly how He feels about this “trampling of my courts.” It’s so poetic and electric and straightforward, I can’t help but hear the heart of God.

Prophets often have an image that drive their message. One of the most famous images of the prophets is the image of the vineyard in Isaiah 5. This image will drive more of Jesus’s parables than any other single image. This depiction of God’s people will serve as the basis of a poetic understanding of who God sees His people to be and what He thinks about what they are doing.

"My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside..." Isaiah 5

And throughout the message of 1 Isaiah, God’s frustration is abundantly clear. They are not taking care of the alien, the orphan, and the widow. They deprive the poor of justice and are overcome by their greed.

They are too busy building their own empires to worry about God’s kingdom. And God’s had enough: Shalom is about to come crashing into earth, one way or another.

And so God speaks of planting a vineyard (His people) on a fertile hillside. He talks about all the things He did for His vineyard to set it up for success. He even claims that He built a wine press — a silly thing to do, and a clear sign of His belief and confidence in His vineyard. (It takes five years to produce your first harvest of grapes. You would never dig a wine press without waiting to see if the vines took.)

Yet when He came with excitement to see His vineyard’s good fruit, He found only betushiym. Betushiym is a condition that grapes get when they aren’t tended. The grape never matures and it becomes diseased and useless.

And then, God makes a play on words. God says He came looking for righteousness, but instead heard cries of distress (5:7). The word for righteousness is tzedekah. And we’ve ran into the word for “cry out” before — tze’ekah. God says He came looking for tzedekah, but instead all He found was tze’ekah.

God tells us what kind of fruit He’s looking for.

He planted a vineyard and was looking for partners.

He wanted to reap a crop of mercy and generosity and grace.
Instead, He found greed, selfishness, and injustice.

I think it may be wise for us — as individuals AND communities — to heed the voice and call of the prophets. Because I believe that God comes to each generation looking for a crop of good grapes.

And I’m not sure how He’ll feel about what He finds.

We have a garden to tend to. And it’s not enough only to make sure we’re matching up to the morality parade and following all the rules correctly.

God cares about people. The rules are supposed to help us love people.

And one day, when a King reigns in righteousness, rulers will rule in justice. And we’ll know that the Kingdom of God is among us when people find shelter and shade from the heat of the day.

MICAH: the Judge

Indeed after looking now at two prophets from the Pre-Assyrian time period, perhaps we have seen the two sides of this narrative coin. While Amos was unabashedly touting a critique right in line with the Chronicler, we also saw a story of adultery (a common theological sister to idolatry) that would fit nicely with the theme of the writer of Samuel and Kings. Both of these two prophets were written to the northern country of Israel and so we now get an opportunity to turn our sights to the message that God chooses to send to their brothers in the south, the countrymen of Judah.

If prophets often had an image, then Micah’s image would be that of the LORD as the Great Judge. If Amos’s image was that of a plumb line (God has hung His plumb line and found you crooked…) and Hosea’s image was that of a harlot (you have prostituted yourselves to other gods…), then Micah’s image would be that of a gavel (pardon the western judicial image, but it communicates well here) poised and ready to come down with the judgment from God.


Let’s take a look at some of the things that God says through Micah.

After some ominous statements about what awaits the people of Judah, we hear these words to open chapter 2:

Woe to those who plan iniquity,
    to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out
    because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields and seize them,
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.

It appears as though we may be back on track to see a lot of talk about injustice. The case is being made against this people that they plan wickedness as they fall asleep; they sit on their beds and plan how they might build their own empires bigger and bigger. They covet fields, assets, and property — and they seize them. They desire houses and take them. They are frauds who rob people of their rightful inheritance. Idolatry? Sure, in a sense. Idolatry that lies behind their plans? Absolutely. But that’s what idols promise, isn’t it? Don’t idols sit in all of their grandeur and make promises they can’t deliver?

You see, at the end of the day, idolatry is really about MY KINGDOM and MY NAME. God’s story is the only one that invites you to trust that you already have everything that you need and insists that you are free to lay down your life on behalf of others.

And isn’t the real tragedy of our buying into the wrong story that it ends up hurting other people? The real tragedy is that the idol encourages you to build your own kingdom and building your own kingdom comes at a price. It is too often built on the backs of those you’re having to trample in order to get to the top.

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders of Jacob,

    you rulers of Israel.

Should you not embrace justice,

    you who hate good and love evil;

who tear the skin from my people

    and the flesh from their bones;

who eat my people’s flesh,
   
 strip off their skin

    and break their bones in pieces;

who chop them up like meat for the pan,
   
 like flesh for the pot?” 

Then they will cry out to the Lord,
   
 but he will not answer them.

At that time he will hide his face from them

    because of the evil they have done. 

And later:

Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;
who build Zion with bloodshed,
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.

But God invites us to trust the story — to live in something better:

Listen to what the Lord says:

“Stand up, plead my case before the mountains;

    let the hills hear what you have to say. 

“Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation;
   
 listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.

For the Lord has a case against his people;

    he is lodging a charge against Israel.

“My people, what have I done to you?
   
 How have I burdened you? Answer me.

I brought you up out of Egypt

    and redeemed you from the land of slavery.

I sent Moses to lead you,

    also Aaron and Miriam.

My people, remember
   
 what Balak king of Moab plotted

    and what Balaam son of Beor answered.

Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal,
   
 that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” 

With what shall I come before the Lord
   
 and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

    with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
   
 the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

    And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy
   
 and to walk humbly with your God. 

Listen! The Lord is calling to the city—
   
 and to fear your name is wisdom—
   
 “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house,

    and the short ephah, which is accursed?

Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales,

    with a bag of false weights?

Your rich people are violent;
   
 your inhabitants are liars
   
 and their tongues speak deceitfully.


It seems as though we’re hearing an awful lot about justice these days. The LORD has pleaded His case and His gavel is poised. The judgment is coming — and yet, we are still not left without hope. In addition to the words of Micah 5, we are also given the epilogue in chapter 7:

Do not gloat over me, my enemy!

    Though I have fallen, I will rise.

Though I sit in darkness,

    the Lord will be my light.

Because I have sinned against him,
   
 I will bear the Lord’s wrath,

until he pleads my case
 and
    upholds my cause.

He will bring me out into the light;

    I will see his righteousness.

Then my enemy will see it
   
 and will be covered with shame,

she who said to me,

    “Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will see her downfall;

    even now she will be trampled underfoot

    like mire in the streets. 

The day for building your walls will come,

    the day for extending your boundaries.

In that day people will come to you
   
 from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

even from Egypt to the Euphrates

    and from sea to sea
   
 and from mountain to mountain.