Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 “Just How Can You Know What God is Doing?”

Last updated on: August 29, 2016 at 1:10 pm by John C Holbert

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 “Just How Can You Know What God is Doing?” 2016-08-29T13:10:24-05:00 John C Holbert

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(Lectionary for October 9, 2016)

Chapters 28 and 29 of the long book of Jeremiah raise two crucial questions for all believers in the existence and activity of God: how can one understand what that God wants, and what exactly is it that God is doing? The scenario of this story is memorable and classic in formulation.

In chapter 28 we are presented with a super bowl of prophecy. On one sideline we find the prophet Hananiah, whose name means in the language, “The grace (favor) of YHWH,” a quite deeply religious name indeed. His opponent is Jeremiah, obviously far better known to us, given the fact that we are reading a book with his name on it! His name in the language may mean “May YHWH raise up” or perhaps “YHWH founded.” Each of the protagonists is in his time a recognized spokesperson for YHWH, whose name is locked at the end of each of their names. And so the contest begins. The date is sometime right after the Babylonian armies have first descended on Jerusalem in 597BCE, have removed the king Jehoiakim and his son Jeconiah (or Jehoiakin) to Babylon, along with members of the royal court, and have installed their own puppet, Zedekiah, on the throne. Many people in the city are confused about what YHWH has in mind for Jerusalem and Judah now, and so they turn to two religious powerhouses for insight from God.

With the crowd, both general populace and priests in the temple precincts, anticipating a prophetic battle royal, Hananiah takes the ball first and moves clearly and smartly down the field. “Thus says YHWH of battles,” he thunders, “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of YHWH’s house that king Nebuchadnezzar stole from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon” (Jer 28:3-4). The word from YHWH is said with the full assurance of a man who knows the ways of his God! The exile will be brief; no need to fear a prolonged disruption of the city, because YHWH has long blessed our city and will surely not forget us now. Touchdown, followed by wild celebration!

Then the eyes of the crowd turn to the other sideline where stands the dour and deeply unpopular Jeremiah whose life has consisted of lengthy diatribes against Judean evil, including lack of concern for the poor, denial of the rights of widows and or 465px-Life_of_Michael_Angelo,1912-_The_Prophet_Jeremiah phans, callous rejection of strangers and immigrants. In short, a complete lack of understanding of the ways and demands of YHWH. He does not disappoint. “Oh, amen, Hananiah. May YHWH do as you say; may YHWH fulfill all of your words, and bring back the vessels and all of the exiles” (Jer 28:6). His tone drips with scorn and sarcasm, and the crowd begins to grumble dangerously, their eyes fixed with fury on the prophet they have hated for so long. Jeremiah is hardly through. “The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. So as for the prophet who prophesies peace (present company included!), when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that YHWH has truly sent that prophet” (Jer 28:8-9)! To underscore the truth of Jeremiah’s rejection of the easy words of Hananiah, he stands before the people with an ox yoke fixed on his shoulders. Vetlanda_kyrka_Jeremia_017

Just as surely as we yoke oxen to our plows, so has YHWH yoked us now to the power of Babylon!

With supreme confidence, Hananiah walks over to Jeremiah and breaks the yoke off his back, shouting that as easily as he has shattered the ox yoke from Jeremiah, so shall YHWH shatter the yoke of Babylon from the Judean back (Jer 28:10-11). But the contest between the two is far from concluded. After Jeremiah leaves the field, he hears from YHWH again. YHWH tells him that the shattered wooden ox yoke will be replaced by an iron yoke that YHWH will fix on all nations who will become slaves of Nebuchadnezzar for a lengthy period; Hananiah’s two-year exile is a lie, and as a result of that lie, in that very same year, Hananiah dies (Jer 28:12-17).

After Jeremiah’s victory over the lying Hananiah, he writes a letter to the exiles in Babylon, urging them not to expect a quick return to Judah, but rather telling them to “build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce; take wives and have sons and daughters. Then take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Seek the welfare (the shalom) of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to YHWH on its behalf, for in its shalom you will find your shalom” (Jer 29:5-7).

Of course, we all know that Jeremiah turned out to be quite right. The Judeans remained in Babylonian exile, prospering there, creating one of the most important Jewish communities of learning that lasted for the next 1000 years. In the shorter term after some 70 years, Cyrus, king of Persia, absorbed the tottering realm of Babylon in to his expanding empire, and in the process allowed many of the Judean exiles to return to Jerusalem where he helped them to resume at least a shadow of the Judean lives that their great-grandparents had had in the fabled city.

Because we read today the prophet Jeremiah, and not the prophet Hananiah, we easily conclude that Jeremiah was the true prophet of YHWH. It is Jeremiah that spoke God’s holy word and not Hananiah who died in his lies. What Jeremiah said finally came true, thus fulfilling the definition of a true prophet according to Deuteronomy 18:22: “If a prophet speaks in the name of YHWH but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that YHWH has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it!”

And, of course, here lies the problem. Short a crystal ball or a wizard’s wand, just how can I know whether or not something spoken in the name God will in fact come true? Such a definition of a true prophet is frankly absurd, and ultimately ludicrous. How exactly can I parse among those claiming divine truth whose number in our times is legion? “Vote for Donald Trump,” shouts the evangelical pastor of the 1st Baptist Church of Dallas; “He is surely God’s choice for president.” “Any serious Christian who would vote for Donald Trump is plainly deluded,” says Richard Land, the long-time Baptist spokesperson in Washington D.C. “Homosexuality is the work of the devil and clearly against the word of God’s Holy Scripture,” says this same 1st Baptist pastor, while myriad other Christian voices accuse him of bigotry, of cherry-picking ancient scripture, of hating those he plainly does not even know or understand. Yet, all these claim to speak for God. If I were in the crowd that day long ago in Jerusalem, witness to the struggle between Jeremiah and Hananiah, would I know that Jeremiah was God’s truth-teller while Hananiah was the liar? Hardly!

I would say to both Jeremiah and Hananiah, as well as to Robert Jefress and Richard Land, and especially to me, whose opinions have long been sharp and uncompromising on any number of hot-button religious questions throughout my public ministry, something that Oliver Cromwell once said, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you might be mistaken.” Such thinking requires what is so often lacking in discussions of what we think God may be thinking: humility. Robert Jefress might be wrong; Richard Land might be wrong; I might well be wrong. Until I and they can think that, admit that to ourselves, we cannot talk to one another. And if we cannot talk to one another, then we are doomed to shouting ever louder in our own divided echo chambers. I suggest that one of the prime reasons that religious thinkers have become increasingly absent from any serious discussions of the issues in our day is that few religious thinkers possess the humility to listen, to listen well, to listen carefully and faithfully. Perhaps we are too busy telling hearers what God is about in the world, that we find it very hard to listen to that God or to those who are trying to hear us.

As I age, I become increasingly convinced that I have spoken far too much in my life and Lehmann_Demut have listened far too little. Now that I am 70, I hope to correct that grievous fault. Perhaps you religious types can join me.

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