God and Covenant through the Prophets

Here is my final term paper for my prophets class. It revolves around YHWH and his Covenant through the prophetic books.

God and Covenant

What is a prophet? A prophet is a person of agony, whose “life and soul are at stake in what he says,” yet who is also able to perceive “the silent sigh” of human anguish.[1] A prophet is also someone who speaks for God. These men were raised up in periods of sin and declension to accuse the people of their sin and predict the judgment of God if they did not repent.[2] As a performing artist, I find it fascinating how the prophets use imagery to describe the relationship between the Israelites and YHWH. What is the deep meaning the prophets paint for the readers/listeners through their words? How well does the modern reader understand the prophet’s imagery? Throughout this journey the focus will be on the subjects of destruction and restoration.

Background
What was it that caused YHWH such anguish with his people? What made YHWH send a multitude of prophets to urge the Israelites to turn from their sinful ways? I think the pin point of all of the problems between YHWH and his people had to do with the political powers. First, we see YHWH’s disapproval of appointing a king over his people.
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Everyone go back to his town" (1 Sam. 8).

Because of their request for a king like all the other nations they broke the covenant, rejecting YHWH who was their king and forgot his constant provision for their protection in the past.[3] The Israelites were under the rule of Saul and David but when things started to go down hill David’s son Solomon began his reign. Bruggeman gives 3 points on how Solomon was able to break the covenant that was given to the early Israelites during the time of Moses.[4]
1. He countered the economics of equality with the economics of affluence (1 Kgs 4:20-23).
2. He countered the politics of justice with the politics of oppression (1 Kgs 5:13-18; 9:15-22).
3. He countered the religion of God’s Freedom with the religion of God’s accessibility (1 Kgs 8:12-13).

Brueggemann’s first point shows how the wealthy Israelites could take as much as they want while the Israelites who had less finances could only get less. This contradicts the Mosaic covenant where one only takes what one needs (Exod 16:18.).[5] His second point shows a Darwinian approach where the richer stays rich and the poor stay poor. This contradicts the teaching in the Mosaic Covenant:
If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves (Lev 25:35-42).[6]

To summarize Brueggemann’s last point, the Israelites make demands of YHWH and in essence put YHWH in a box opposed to the Mosaic thinking of YHWH as being able to “…show mercy to whom he shows mercy too… (Exod 33:19b).[7] Because of these three points the Israelites have become numb to the covenant that their descendants have made with the God of their fathers. Here is a good summary of Solomon’s reign;
Like Saul’s and David’s reigns before him, Solomon’s is divided into two phases: “good king” and “bad king.” Judgment had to come, if not in Solomon’s lifetime, then afterward, and come it did.[8]

At the time of Solomon’s death around 930 B.C.E., the nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms; Israel and Judah. Around 857 B.C.E., the Assyrians started their conquest to the west.[9] While the Assyrians were pressing westward, many prophets of YHWH started to appear. The prophet’s role during these troubling times can be summarized as this;
These prophets refused to see national misfortune from a purely political perspective. They were religious idealists who insisted that a higher agenda was being played out in the setbacks, reprieves, and downfall of two nations that shared a common theological tradition, Israel and Judah. They saw themselves as interpreters of crisis in terms of the ongoing will of YHWH, the God of these twin nations.[10]

From the Assyrian conquest to the Babylonian exile, the prophets continued to warn the Israelites from the destruction that was heading their way because of the broken covenant with YHWH. If the Israelites would only repent from their wrong doings and return to YHWH then the coming destruction would not fall on them. However, The Israelites continued to worship other gods and oppress the poor until both kingdoms were destroyed. Here is a brief history of the fall of Israel and Judah:[11]
Kingdom of Israel
Kingdom of Judah
Jehu paid tribute to Shalmaneser, King of Assyrian (842 B.C.E.)
Jehoiakim became the puppet of the King of Egypt.
Menahem paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser. The latter started taking the Israelites away from the land.
Babylon conquered Egypt and Assyria, and thus Judah came under her power (605 B.C.E.).
In the reign of Pekah, Tiglath-Pileser captured cities of Naphtali and carried off inhabitants to Assyria. He also overran the country east of the Jordan and deported the two and one half tribes to Mesopotamia, 740 B.C.E. By his connivance, Pekah was killed, and Hoshea was put on the throne.
In 605 B.C.E., Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, took some of the vessels of the temple to Babylon, and carried off certain members of the royal family as captives. The captives included the king and the prophet Daniel.
Hoshea became Shalmaneser’s servant and paid tribute to him, but plotted against him by sending gifts to Egypt and seeking an alliance so that the Assyrian yoke could be broken.
In 597 B.C.E., Nebuchadnezzar carried off Jehoiachin and many others. Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in this deportation.
Shalmanser besieged Samaria. The city was taken in the first year of Sargon’s reign, 722 B.C.E. Many of the people were deported to Mesopotamia and Media. The rest were placed under tribute.
In 586 B.C.E., the armies of Nebuchadnezzar burned the temple, destroyed Jerusalem, and carried off the bulk of the population, leaving only some of the poorest people in the land.

The people who remained in the land were ruled by a governor, Gedaliah. Jeremiah was in this group. Then Gedaliah was assassinated, and many of the people fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah with them.

The seventy-year captivity extended from the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. to the rebuilding of the temple in 516 B.C.E.

Now that we’ve covered the background during the time of the prophets, let’s get to the prophetic imagery of the prophets.

Images from the prophets: Destruction/Restoration

Leslie Allen has a great model for how the covenant between YHWH and Israel works. YHWH entered into a knowledge of Israel and in return Israel came to know YHWH. This relationship is not vertical but worked out horizontal in developing a community with other Israelites.[12]

However, once the community started to get tainted by neglecting the poor, idolatry, and other communal sins, YHWH sends his prophets to tell his people about the destruction heading their way and also give his people the hope of restoration.
First image comes from Jeremiah 17:1 NIV:
Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.

The image we get from here is Judah’s sin being deeply rooted into stone. This image of writing also has a connection in 4:4 and 31:33.[13] Stone is a hard rock that is very difficult to break into pieces. When engraving on the stone, it takes a long time before it is finished. I think that beginning with the breaking of the Mosaic covenant the Israelites hearts continue to be hardened throughout the years. During Moses time, the Israelites broke the covenant when they made the golden calf and like Moses, who broke the stone tablets on the ground, YHWH plans to break the old covenant with his people.[14] However, YHWH writes a new covenant on the hearts and minds of his people. The only difference is that this covenant is an everlasting one that can not be broken. Paul recognizes this in 2 Cor. 3:6 when he describes himself as “Ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the spirit; for the written code kills, but the spirit gives life.”[15]
The other image from Jeremiah is the pottery image in Jer. 18:1-12 NIV.
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ “

When the potter is working with clay he needs the clay to be wet. The more wet the clay is, the easier it is to mold and sculpt. As water leaves the clay, the clay becomes harder to work wit and ends up cracking. After the potter has finish sculpting the clay into his image, he puts it into a fiery furnace and cooks it until it is finish. The relationship between YHWH and his people were the water to keep the clay wet, but when his people turned away from him the clay started to get hard and crackle. Once clay get’s too hard, it has to be broken for it to get the right absorption from the water in order for it to be molded again. The difference between YHWH and the potter is that when the potter put’s his creation in the fire, if there is a defect in it, the jar will break. Once clay has been fired, it can never absorb water which will never be able to be repaired once it breaks. But YHWH does not throw his people in the fire; he has to break them in order for him to begin a new work with his people. I see the water being the restoration of the covenant between God and his people. The water of the new covenant comes from Jesus whom he says in John 4:13-14 NIV.
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The next image we get is from the prophet Hosea. YHWH used the prophet Hosea as a vessel to portray the relationship between himself and his people. So YHWH tells him to marry Gomer, who was an adulterous woman.
When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son (Hosea 1:2-3 NIV).

The image we get here is that YHWH was faithful to his people, but his people decided to turn away from him and worship other Gods. Like Gomer, who was living an adulterous life, the Israelites were a prostitute to Baal and the other god they worship. This angered YHWH.
I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, but me she forgot," declares the LORD (Hosea 2:13 NIV).

Hosea then has 3 children, where YHWH tells him to name them as part of the drama he is laying out before his people.
Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel." Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God." After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God (Hosea 1:4-9 NIV).

Jezreel means “God scatters,” Lo-Ruhamah means “no love/compassion,” and Lo-Ammi means “Broken Covenant.[16]” The message YHWH is trying to show his people is that because of his people’s unfaithfulness to him they have broken the covenant. Because of this YHWH’s hand is against them and he will show no mercy for the destruction that is about to come. Even though YHWH is furious by his people’s unfaithfulness, he then cues his “actor” to do something unexpected.
The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you." For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days (Hosea 3 NIV).

Despite all the Israelites have done to YHWH, YHWH still wants to have a relationship with his people. Like Hosea, who goes and takes back his unfaithful wife, YHWH will take back his unfaithful people because he loves them deeply.
The final image I will present is an image that is not obvious like the other images presented. This image is a presentation of a courtroom drama where YHWH is stating his case against Israel. Israel is the defendant while YHWH is not only the judge but also the plaintiff.[17]
This is what the LORD says, "What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?' I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD ?' Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. "Therefore I bring charges against you again," declares the LORD. "And I will bring charges against your children's children” (Jer. 2:5-9 NIV).

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying (Hosea 4:1-3).

Listen to what the LORD says: "Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O 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 counseled 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 oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, 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 (Micah 6:1-8).
Reading these three verses we see YWHW bring up his case against Israel. Looking at the verses from Micah, we see that YHWH is bringing his case not only before his people, but to the entire world. Although the hills and mountains are invoked to hear the case, they do not participate in it.[18] As the case progresses, YHWH brings up all the things he has done to help the Israelites throughout their history. In the end, he doesn’t want their sacrifices or offerings, he wants his people to act justly and to walk with him. As the plaintiff YHWH is presenting the case against the defendant Israel. YHWH the judge shows the Israelites mercy as along as they turn from their ways and return to the covenant relationship between them.
Final Thoughts Through the prophet’s YHWH was able to present his message to his people through dramatic narratives. As an actor who makes his living creating characters to help change the human soul by using artistic abilities; YHWH, the ultimate creator, uses different creative methods to show his people how they broke the covenant with him and also how to restore it.

End Notes

[1] Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), xiii.
[2] William McDonald, Introduction to the Prophets, Believer’s Bible Commentary, ed. Art Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 931.
[3] J. Robert Vannoy, 1 Samuel, The NIV Study Bible, ed. Kenneth L. Barker (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 382.
[4] Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 31.
[5] Ibid, 31.
[6] Ibid, 31.
[7] Ibid, 31.
[8] David A. Hubbard and Frederic William Bush, “Israel’s Golden Age: David and Solomon,” in Old Testament Survey, ed. William S. Lasor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 196.
[9] Harrell F. Beck, The History of Israel, Part I, The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, ed. Charles M. Laymon (New York: Abingdon Press, 1971) 1023-4.
[10] Leslie C. Allen, “Images of Israel: The People of God in the Prophets,” in Studies in old Testament Theology, ed. Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992), 149.
[11] William McDonald, Introduction to the Prophets, Believer’s Bible Commentary, ed. Art Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 933-4.
[12] Leslie C. Allen, “Images of Israel: The People of God in the Prophets,” in Studies in Old Testament Theology, ed. Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992), 152.
[13] R. P. Carroll , “Inscribing the Covenant: Writing and the Written in Jeremiah,” in Understanding Poets and Prophet: Essays in Honour of George Wishart Andersons, ed. A. Graeme Auld (Sheffield: JSOT, 1993), 62-3.
[14] Ibid, 66.
[15] Ibid, 73.
[16] Jack P. Lewis, Hosea, The NIV Study Bible, ed. Kenneth L. Barker (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 1315.
[17] Michael De Roche, “Yahweh’s rib against Israel: A Reassessment of the so-called ‘Prophetic Lawsuit’ in the Preexilic Prophets,” Journal of Biblical Literature 102 (1983): 563.
[18] Ibid, 570.