Day 271. Habakkuk

The prophet Habakkuk was active in Judah around 600 B.C. Every time in history has its difficulties and dangers, but that was a particularly sticky moment. The ruthless Assyrian Empire had been destroyed—we recall the jubilant message of the prophet Nahum—but Assyria had been replaced by another threat--the rising power of Babylon. The little kingdom of Judah found itself being squeezed between the two superpowers of the day—Babylon to the north and east and Egypt to the south. Externally, there was the threat of invasion. Internally there was tension in society between the haves and the have-nots.

The prophet sees injustice everywhere. The wicked are prospering while the righteous suffer, and the LORD seems detached and indifferent to all of it.  So Habakkuk, about whom we know very little, bursts forth in a tirade which begins with the question: "O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?"(1:2).

The people's adherence to the Law of Moses "becomes slack" (1:4), and the Law's demand for justice in society is being perverted by greed and self-interest. What is God intending to do about the situation? The LORD replies that he is "rousing the Chaldeans"—another name for Babylon—"that fierce and impetuous nation, who march through the earth to seize dwellings not their own" (1:6) to exact punishment.  They are the scourge upon the earth. They scoff at kings and make sport of rulers. They laugh at every fortress, however strong. Nothing withstands them. They are without conscience or piety—"their own might is their god" (1:11). God, it seems, intends to use these ruthless outlaws to punish the injustice of his people.

But Habakkuk is not satisfied with this answer. For one thing, he is outraged that the pure and holy God would not scruple to use a nation so evil to punish his people. "Why do you look on the treacherous," the prophet wants to know, "and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?" (1:13). It is the old question—which is as new as today: Is the good God really in control of a world where evil flourishes? Why do the good people suffer and the wicked prosper?

God has made his people "like the fish of the sea," helpless and leaderless (1:14), the prophet complains, and then goes on to enlarge upon his fishing metaphor. The wicked hook the righteous and net them, and then they worship and sacrifice to the nets in which they catch others. Their "portion is lavish" (1:16); they go from triumph to triumph. Clearly the prophet has the ruthless power of Babylon in mind when he asks the question: "Is he to keep on emptying his net and destroying nations without mercy?" (1:17). He must have an answer. Habakkuk says he is prepared to stand as a watchman on the rampart and wait until he gets an answer from the LORD to the double question—Why does evil flourish, and what does God intend to do about it? (2:1).

And the LORD does in fact respond, though not with a direct answer to the "why" question. Instead he tells the prophet to write his "vision" large, so that it can be read by a runner (2:2). (And presumably this is what he has done.) That vision addresses the "end" of history—not the immediate future but the goal toward which things are moving. In the end, wealth will prove treacherous, says the LORD, and "the arrogant [will] not endure" (2:5). But "the righteous live by their faith" (2:4) and that  he is faithful to his promises.  This verse may be more familiar in its older form—"The just shall live by faith." St. Paul quotes it in Galatians 3:11 and Romans 1:17 to mean that those who hold fast to the promises of God and trust in him to deliver them will be assured and uplifted by the memory of God's steadfast love in the face of an uncertain future. It is faith and not the certainty of cut and dried answers that brings us into a saving relationship with the LORD.

God commands "everyone" to mock the wicked. The lives of "such people" are futile and ultimately empty of meaning. Each taunt begins with the word "alas."

Alas for those who make themselves rich by taking pledges--collateral for loans, essentially. The poor were forced to pawn things—often pieces of clothing—to raise necessary funds. This was a particularly cruel form of economic exploitation, because in a cash-poor society they could easily lose everything they had in that way, even their freedom. The prophet Habakkuk takes direct aim at those who have made themselves rich in this way.  Those who pile up meaningless wealth by plundering the poor will in the end be booty for their own creditors. "Because you have plundered many nations," says the LORD, "all that survive of the people shall plunder you" (2:8). In the end there will be a divinely sponsored revolution that will overturn the corrupt economic system that has heretofore benefited only the rich. 

Alas for those rich who live in solitary isolation from the suffering of the poor, "setting [their] nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm" (2:9). They will not be safe from judgment, however; indeed "the very stones will cry out from the wall, and the plaster will respond from the woodwork" (2:11).

Alas for those who govern the weak through coercion and violence—the Old Testament mafia, essentially. Their end is coming. They will be swept away and in their place "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (2:14). And this goes for bootleggers too. Alas for those who deliberately corrupt society with alcohol. Soon it will be their turn to drink the cup of the LORD's wrath.

Finally, alas for those who make and worship images. An idol is useless doll—"a teacher of lies" (2:18). It is dumb and insentient, without knowledge. "It is gold and silver plated"—not even real—"and there is not breath in it at all" (2:19),  but "the LORD is in his holy temple." He is the source of all life and meaning—"let all the earth keep silent before him" (2:20).

So the prophet receives his answer—though not to the question he had asked—and he responds with psalm of praise in which he expresses the awestruck wonder he feels when he considers God's mighty works and begs that "in [his] wrath [the LORD may] remember mercy" (3:2). Then in a remarkable passage he describes the appearance of the warrior God who breaks into history to "save [his] people" (3:  13). His power is like a tornado, which seems "ready to devour the poor who were in hiding" (3:14). In the face of such overpowering majesty the prophet describes his own wretched condition—"I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, and my steps tremble beneath me" (3:16).

But in this state of trepidation he determines to "wait quietly" without asking any more questions and see how God will deal with those who "attack" the righteous. There will be no more "why" questions, just simple faith. Even if things do not immediately get any better and his questions are not answered, Habakkuk determines to "rejoice in the LORD" (3:18) and derive strength from simply knowing that God will act to save his people. He can rise above all else. So the prophet concludes with an outburst of praise—"God, the LORD, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights" (3:19). On that high note the book ends. 

     

 

     

 

 

      

Day 270. Nahum

We are probably blessed that there isn't more of this vengeful little book—what there is enough. The whole of the Book of Nahum is focused upon a single historical event—the fall of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire to a coalition of Medes and Babylonians. The year is 612 B.C., and the power structure of the Middle East is changing. Assyria, which has terrified its neighbors for more than a century, has been destroyed, and the prophet Nahum, about whom we know next to nothing, can see in its destruction the work of "a jealous and avenging God" (1:2). In the past he has used Assyria as an instrument of his justice, but now the cruel, pagan empire is the LORD's sworn enemy. Now the ruthless destroyer of nations and peoples is itself being destroyed. The plunderer is being plundered. Justice is being worked out in the forge of history.
We have seen and noted it many times before--that tension between mercy and justice in the character of Israel's God. "The LORD is slow to anger," the prophet Nahum says, meaning that God is forbearing. He does not move quickly to punish, awaiting repentance. That is the essence of his mercy. But at the same time he is "great in power" and not to be underestimated or taken for granted. He "will by no means clear the guilty" (1:3), and now he is settling the score. This is the distillation for Nahum's message. The LORD is "good"; he is always there to protect his people "even in a rushing flood" (1:7). But the LORD is also a hunter of the ruthless and cruel, a destroyer of the wicked, and "he will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness" (1:8). That he has done to the mighty empire of Assyria, and for Nahum, its fall is a morality tale that points to the fate of all who live by pride and
violence.
In the contest of power with its gods, the LORD has proved himself victorious. The fall of Nineveh is proof that its pagan deities were worthless as protectors—"from the house of the Assyrian gods I will cut off the carved image and the cast image" (1:14), says the LORD. Now the messenger who brings "good tidings" of the fall of Nineveh also announces the LORD's triumph over his enemies. And now his people are free to celebrate their festivals and fulfill their vows without fear "for never again shall the wicked invade [their land] (1:15).
Behind the Book of Nahum is a deep and smoldering anger and the burning need of those who have been savagely misused for satisfaction. So the prophet pictures the LORD, the "shatterer" (2:1), attacking the rich and mighty capital of the Assyrian Empire, which had ravaged the "majesty of Israel" (2:2) and caused such suffering to God's people. With relish he paints a picture of a lavish city in the last stages of siege. Chariots "rush to and fro through the squares . . . like torches" (2:4). Nineveh is like an overflowing pond which has been breached—the people pour out with a rush (2:8). And the invaders rush in, seeking plunder, and find there "no end of treasure" (2:9) to satisfy their desire for plunder. Assyria had been like a pride of lions piling up the bodies of its prey. But now "what [has become] of the lions' den"—the city of Nineveh—the prophet wants to know (2:11). Assyria's king, filled "his caves with
prey, and his dens with torn flesh" (2:12). But the LORD, the hunter, has destroyed the pride that devoured the whole earth—"the sword shall devour you young lions" (2:13), the prophet says with evident satisfaction. Now the haughty words of Assyria's "messengers shall be heard no more" and its armies shall no longer be feared.
The people of both Israel and Judah had suffered terribly at the hands of Assyrians, who were infamous for their cruelty to their enemies. The northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed utterly by the armies of Assyria and most of its people carried off into exile. Jerusalem had been besieged and barely escaped destruction, and many Judeans met the same fate as their northern cousins and vanished into unknown lands. Now the prophet cannot restrain himself from taunting the fallen lion. He calls Nineveh the "city of bloodshed" (3:1). His words recall the savage cruelty of Assyrian warfare, which intended by its very brutality to intimidate the enemy. The prophet describes the "piles of dead, heaps of corpses" (3:3). But now all that is over. Assyria, the prostitute who "enslaved nations through her debaucheries and peoples through her sorcery" (3:4), is herself enslaved. The LORD has exposed her to the mockery of the whole earth. God
says—"I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle" (3:7)—and the prophet is delighted to join in.
And the taunting continues. Is Nineveh greater that the Egyptian capital city which the Assyrians had conquered and looted, the prophet wants to know. He recalls that that city and its inhabitants were treated by the Assyrians with the utmost cruelty. Infants, which had no value as slaves in the ancient world, were routinely "dashed to pieces" by invading armies (3:10). But now Nineveh will taste the bitterness it so freely doled out to other great cities. It is doomed. Its walls are so unsteady that when they are shaken they will fall like over-ripe figs (3:12). Its people desperately make new bricks to strengthen them—but to no avail (3:14). Its troops have lost their nerve. The gates of the land are open to its foes (3:13). Those who can are fleeing. The prophet compares the merchants, guards, and scribes of Assyria to locusts; now they have flown away, and "no one knows where they have gone" (3:17).
There is positive glee in the description of the helpless city that is not very attractive to a modern reader. But we have to remember that anger comes naturally to those who have been abused. Nahum and his contemporaries see the discomfiture of their enemy as their own deliverance and openly and honestly rejoice. The leaders of Assyria—its "shepherds"—"are asleep." Its people are scattered by invaders "with no one"—no shepherd—"to gather them" (3:18). Assyria has been dealt a mortal blow and all the nations of the world clap their hands with joy because it will never recover its strength. And the Book of Nahum ends with a question that reflects the hatred with which the prophet views the tyrant: "Who has ever escaped your endless cruelty?" (3:19). The unspoken answer is—no one. But now the whole world has—Thanks be to God!—and who can help but rejoice.

Day 269. Micah 5-7

The face of rising menace of Assyria, and with the city of Jerusalem under siege (5:1), the prophet recalls the promise of God made to the house of David—2 Samuel 7—and predicts that a Davidic king ruler will soon be born in Bethlehem, the shepherd David's home town. This king will deliver—the biblical word is "redeem"—the covenant people from their enemies. This oracle is recalled by both Matthew and Luke when they record that Jesus is born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:6) and tell us how the infant Jesus is adored by shepherds (Luke 2). Micah emphasizes the Messiah's role as a shepherd who will "stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD his God" (5:4). Under his protection they shall no longer live in fear of invasion because of his strength which will reach "to the ends of the earth." He shall not only be "the one of peace" (5:5), also one of strength who will be able to defend his flock if "the Assyrians come into our
land," as a shepherd might defend his flock against wild animals.
Under Davidic rule, "the remnant of Jacob" will be like "dew from the LORD," which falls unbidden and depends upon no mortal (5:7). In battle it will be impossible to withstand them; they will be as irresistible as "a young lion among the flocks of sheep" (5:8-9). But vindication will come at the cost of suffering in the immediate future. The people must learn to put their trust in the LORD rather than in themselves and their own devices. Therefore, "in that day" the LORD will destroy all those things upon which his people depend in preference to putting their faith in him—not only their horses and chariots and fortifications, but also their "sorceries" and "soothsayers," which they consult to predict the future. But in order to destroy their images and uproot the phallic pillars and poles sacred to the pagan fertility gods they worship, the LORD must "destroy [their] towns" (5:14) and uproot their villages, executing
vengeance on all "the nations that did not obey" (5:15)—including Israel.
In chapter 6 we are again transported into the cosmic courtroom where we have been so many times before. The history of the covenant people is seen as a trial. The natural world is called upon to witness to the awesome power of the LORD and to judge in the "controversy" the LORD has "with his people" (6:2). In his own defense the LORD recalls the great acts he did in choosing and delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt. He has made them his own chosen people; now what response to his mercy and grace does the LORD require? Does God ask for lavish and extravagant sacrifices? Does he ask for human sacrifice as the pagan gods do? "Shall I give the firstborn for my transgression?" (6:7), the prophet asks. God does not require ritual acts of sacrifice. Indeed he looks for a holy pattern of thought and action—obedience, in short. The people already know what they should do—they have the Law of Moses. And in accordance with the
Law they are required to "do justice, and . . . love kindness, and . . . walk humbly with [their] God" (6:8). Religious observances do not please God, unless with them the covenant people give an offering of integrity, honesty, and compassion in dealing with other members of their community.
In this their rulers have set a bad example. The kings of the northern kingdom of Israel particularly—"Omri" and the "house of Ahab" (6:16) -- were notorious in their time for their callous exploitation of the poor and their grotesque distortions of justice—see 1 Kings 21. Now the people of both kingdoms "have followed their counsels" and become corrupt in their business practices, tolerating what the LORD cannot endure "wicked scales, and a bag of dishonest weights" (6:11). All of the prophets--including Jesus of Nazareth-- took aim at the wealthy, who exploit the poor and live in callous disregard of their suffering. Speaking to his Israelite contemporaries, Micah tells them that "[their] wealthy are full of violence, [their] inhabitants speak lies" (6:12). Therefore because of the prevailing atmosphere of dishonesty, the land will suffer a diminishing prosperity--a lingering economic recession. Wealth and comfort will depart,
to be replaced with poverty and dissatisfaction.
But even in judgment the prophet Micah is not detached from his people; he includes himself in the message of condemnation he brings. He laments the spiritual want and longing in his own heart which mirrors the emptiness of this people —"there is no first-ripe fruit for which I hunger" (7:1), he says. He hungers and thirsts for righteousness which has departed from the land; "there is no one left who is upright" (7:2), he laments. The officials are corrupt and the powerful distort justice for their own benefit. The best of them is like a "thorn hedge" (7:4), prickly and harsh. In a passage echoed in Jesus prediction in Luke 21:16, he marks the climate of mistrust and the disruption of family relationships which mark the dissolution of society—7:5-6.
In the midst of all this, however, the prophet puts his trust in the faithfulness of the LORD and waits "for the God of [his] salvation" (7:7) to save. With his confession of faith and trust, the mood of the book changes from despair to hope. He will not be overcome by his "enemy"—even when he sits in darkness, "the LORD will be a light for [him]" (7:8). The prophet shares in the guilt of this people and their judgment—"I must bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him" (7:9), he says. But his humiliation—and that of his people--will not last forever. He will see his "vindication" against some unnamed female "enemy"—which may be the personified Israel—who has wronged him and then asked derisively—"Where is the LORD your God?" (7: 10) This may be a play on Micah's own name, which means "Who is like the LORD?" But the "enemy"—whether "she" is an individual or the corrupt
nation—"will be trodden down like the mire of the streets" (7:10).
And for Micah and for the faithful remnant of the people the LORD will prove himself an incomparable savior. After uprooting a day of replanting will come. In the midst of a "desolate" earth, restored Israel will flourish, and the scattered exiles "from Assyria and Egypt" shall return to their homeland to be ruled by an ideal king of the house of David. The prophet now addresses the Messiah and summons him to be the "shepherd [of his] people," exhorting him to call forth his flock into "the midst of a garden land" (7:14). His kingdom will include lands—"Bashan and Gilead" on the far side of the Jordan--long since lost to foreign powers. The restoration will be a time of wonders. As in the time of the Exodus, the Messiah, like a new Moses, the liberator, will "show [his people] marvelous things" (7:15). And when they see these "marvelous things," erstwhile enemies will be crushed with fear at what the LORD is doing for his
people (7:17).
The Book of Micah ends with a sort of doxology of praise to the God who alone is glorified for his mercy—"pardoning iniquity" (7:18) and "showing clemency" even to the undeserving. He shows his "faithfulness to Jacob" and his "unswerving loyalty to Abraham" (7:20) by forgiving his people "all their sins" and treading their "iniquities under foot" (7:19), raising them up again and again from death to new life in him.

Day 268. Micah 1-4

The Book of Micah is a mixture of hope and despair--tempered despair over the future of the northern kingdom of Israel and moderate hope for the southern kingdom of Judah. It was a dangerous time; during the mid-eighth century B.C. both nations were living under the ominous shadow of the rapidly expanding Assyrian empire. Micah was a small town boy, probably a farmer, from the village of Moresheth, twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem, and in his oracles he displays a love of the peaceful, agricultural life and presents it as an ideal. Nevertheless, Micah prophesied "the word of the LORD" fearlessly before the royal courts of both Israel and Judah.
The oracles in the Book of Micah set up a rhythm of judgment and encouragement. The first of the judgment oracles is directed against Israel—in the text sometimes called "Jacob," and at other times by the name of Israel's capital city, Samaria. The prophet establishes a courtroom situation in which the LORD is called to be "a witness against" all the peoples of the earth (1:2). He comes out of "his holy temple" to "tread upon the high places of the earth"—God moves out of sacred spaces and breaks into history (1:3). In this case he breaks into history to judge "the sin of the house of Israel" and pronounce its doom. Samaria, its capital, is a hopeless cause. It will be abandoned, "a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards" (1:6). "Her wages"--the offerings made to her idols-- "shall be burned with fire"; her images are sacrilegious and abhorrent to the LORD-- "as the wages of a prostitute she
gathered them, and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used" (1:7).
As for the cities of Judah, the prophet also laments them "barefoot and naked"—deshabile in Judaism was a traditional sign of grief--making sounds of mourning like the desert animals, "the jackals and the ostriches," because of the destruction that is to come (1:8). Ten towns near Jerusalem are singled out as destined to be destroyed by the invading armies of Assyria as punishment because in them "were found the transgressions of Israel" (1:13). The prophet mentions them by name one by one, and the name of each resembles a Hebrew word of desolation. At one of them—Lachish (1:13)--archeologists have discovered evidence of siege and massive destruction during this period. The inhabitants of Judah are called to lament with the prophet, to "make [themselves] bald and cut off [their] hair for [their] pampered children" (1:16), because the mass deportation that will surely follow an Assyrian invasion.
Why is this calamity coming? It is because the wealthy have plotted to seize the homes of the poor and devised schemes to get control of family property to which they have no claim. When the Assyrians come, however, these land-grubbers will lament, because "the LORD [has altered] the inheritance of [his] people, and takes it away [from them]" (2:4). Now their land will be confiscated from them and parceled out "among [their] captors," and they will even lose their place "in the assembly of the LORD" (2:5).
Such words are unwelcome among the upper classes, and they have tried to silence the prophet. They do not want to hear the preaching of condemnation, proclamation that strips "the robe from the peaceful" (2:8). They would rather hear some tame prophet "uttering empty falsehoods" and going on and on about the dangers of "wine and strong drink," rather than speak the bitter truth to them (2:11).
But Micah's message is never unadulterated bitterness and doom. There is always hope for the remnant of God's people. The LORD, the good shepherd, will "gather the survivors of Israel," from the northern kingdom (2:12). Someday a restored Israel will be led out of captivity by their king, with God "at the head" to guide them (2:13). But that remains somewhere in the future, beyond the suffering that is to come. The nation must be destroyed before any of its people can be saved.
That is because the "heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel" are exploiting those whom they should protect, and "eat the flesh of [God's] people" stewed "like meat in a kettle" (3:3). When trouble comes, and the heads and rulers of the nation call out to the LORD "he will not answer them" (3:4). God will be silent in that day. As for the so-called prophets who "cry 'Peace' when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing in their mouths," they will be left in silence and darkness "without vision . . . , without revelation" (3:6). They will "be disgraced," and they too will receive "no answer from God" (3:7) when they call to him.
But in the face of opposition, the prophet Micah feels his own spiritual strength and exalts in it. He says--"I am filled with power, with the spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin" (3:8). But as for rulers and chiefs "who abhor justice" (3:9) and the priests who "teach for a price," and the prophets who "give oracles for money" they will perish. They proclaim that "surely the LORD is with us" and put their confidence in his promise to Jerusalem and the House of David, but their false sense of security will be shattered, and Jerusalem will be left "a heap of ruins" and its temple mount "a wooded height" (3:11-12).
But after this scathing outburst, comes another peaceful oracle which reminds us in its phrases and sentiments of the hopeful songs of First Isaiah (see Isaiah 4:1-5). In the time to come, Micah says, "the mountain of the LORD's house" shall be established as the center of the world. The nations will stream to Jerusalem in order to learn the ways of the LORD, for "out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word the LORD from Jerusalem" (4:2). In that time the peoples of the world shall beat their weapons into agricultural instruments, and the arts of war shall perish and be forgotten (4:3). For Micah the agricultural life is the ideal of peace and prosperity, and so he says that when the kingdom is restored the people of Israel "shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid" (4:4).
In Bible times the lame were excluded from the worship of the temple. But "in the days to come" the LORD will gather "those who have been driven away," and he will make of the lame and outcast "the remnant," forming out of the weak and despised, "a strong nation" (4:7). And over this new, inclusive Israel the LORD shall reign "now and forevermore."
In the future the people will have to go into exile in Babylon (4:10). But the LORD intends to "redeem" them—to buy them back—"from the hands of [their] enemies." The nations despise Jerusalem, but they "do not understand [the LORD's] plan" for his people (4:12). He intends to gather them up and take them to his "threshing floor" where he will separate the grain from the chaff. Then he will make Jerusalem--"daughter Zion"—strong—stronger than ever before. He will make her "horn iron" and her "hoofs bronze," and she shall "beat in pieces many peoples" and devote their wealth to the glory of "the LORD of the whole earth" (4:13).

Day 267. Obadiah and Jonah

Our reading for today comprises not one but two short prophetic books—one by a prophet and the other about a prophet. Obadiah is an angry little book—it comprises a single speech or oracle delivered at a single moment in time by a prophet about whom we know very little. It calls itself a "vision" (verse 1), which the prophet receives from the LORD shortly after the city of Jerusalem has fallen to the Babylonians. But the anger of the book is directed not so much at the Babylonian conquerors, but at the neighboring country of Edom, which has proved itself a proud and cruel neighbor to the people of Judah "on the day of distress." The prophet is so filled with indignation with their behavior because the Edomites are kin to Israel, part of the same Semitic gene bank. The Book of Genesis tells us that Edom's ancestry goes back to Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, who is also called Israel—see Genesis 25:19-34. The ancestral relationship between the two nations makes the callous cruelty of Edom all the more execrable. But God has seen, and his justice is forthcoming, the prophet proclaims. In Bible times the people of Edom—also called in our text "Esau" and "the house of Esau"--inhabited a mountainous area southeast of Judah on the far side of the Dead Sea. It is an inhospitable place, and the prophet says the Edomites live "in the clefts of the rock" and "in the heights" (v. 3), and apparently considered their land impregnable. From their elevated vantage point, they looked down on their more vulnerable neighbors, including Judah, with contempt. The God of Israel, however, is exalted above all nations, and even if the people of Edom "soar aloft like the eagle" (v. 4), the LORD is determined to bring them down. What has happened to Jerusalem will happen to them—and worse. Verses 5-9 are an ironic lament over Edom framed in the past tense, as if the desolation which is surely coming has already happened. "Esau's" closely guarded treasures have been plundered (v.6). His trusted allies have let him down (v.7), and his "confederates" have betrayed his trust. Now he cannot understand why he is left alone, abandoned by all. Teman—mentioned in our text in verse 9—was Edom's capital, and in ancient times the city was legendary for its wisdom. But now "understanding" has been destroyed in "Mount Esau" (v.8). Soon the "warriors" of Teman "shall be scattered," and the people who were so smug and secure in their pride "will be cut off" (v. 9). And why? Because of "the slaughter and violence [they have done to their] brother Jacob" (v. 10). When the city of Jerusalem was taken the Edomites "gloated over [their] brother" (v. 12) and rejoiced in the downfall of Israel. The LORD is outraged because they "looted his goods" (v. 13), and even worse, because they "cut off the escape of his fugitives" and "handed over his survivors" to the captors (v.14). Because of this, the inhuman cruelty of their actions shall be turned against them, and their "deeds shall return on [their] own head" (v. 15). The bitterness that Judah has "drunk" on the LORD's holy mountain"—Jerusalem--"shall all the nations around [them] drink" (v. 16). But Obediah ends on a hopeful note. God is faithful, and on "Mount Zion" a remnant shall escape destruction. That remnant "shall be holy"—set apart by God-- and the remnant of Israel in turn will eventually dispossess "those who [have] dispossessed them" (v. 17). This includes, first and foremost, the "house of Esau" which shall be kindled and consumed like stubble by the fire of "the house of Jacob," and Edom shall be left without survivor (v. 18). The lands of the surrounding peoples shall be annexed into a restored Israel. Even those tribes belonging to the northern kingdom who were carried off by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. shall miraculously return from "Halah," a place in Assyria where they were taken as exiles. They shall come back and take possession of the land of Phoenicia (v. 20). So in the end justice shall be done. The chosen people shall be vindicated, and "those who have been saved" shall "rule Mount Esau," as agents and deputies of the LORD (v. 21). The book of Jonah is really more of a fanciful short story than a prophetic oracle. It too is a little book, but the influence of its symbolism has been enormous in both Judaism and Christianity, far out of proportion to its size--see Matthew 12:38-40. The story is too familiar to need much repeating—but thoroughly charming. Jonah is commanded to go and preach repentance to Nineveh, capital of the great Assyrian empire. God has decided to offer the city mercy, instead of the judgment it so richly deserves. Nineveh was a city whose very name is synonymous with wickedness and cruelty in the Bible. It was, we remember, responsible for the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel and for untold suffering throughout the ancient Near East. Jonah is only too well aware of this, and he wants Nineveh to remain unrepentant and perish, as it should. So in order to escape his calling he takes ship for Tarshish, in modern Spain, a place important in ancient times for the tin necessary for the making of bronze and as remote as could be from Nineveh. Jonah is a caricature of the snobbery and prejudice of post-exilic Judaism, the period of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is a book filled with gentle mockery and broad humor. Jonah would rather undertake a long and perilous sea-voyage to Tarshish, than share the God of Israel with the unclean and godless people of Nineveh. Some within Judaism would do anything to resist God's purpose for the Jews, to bring salvation to the world. So Jonah takes ship in Joppa (1:3).And soon thereafter a terrible storm arises—in the tiny trading vessels of ancient times that must have been a harrowing experience. The danger becomes so great that the sailors throw the cargo overboard. Jonah, however, oblivious to the peril, had "gone down to the hold of the ship and had laid down, and was fast asleep" (1:6). And Christian readers will be reminded of how Jesus slept in the storm on the Sea of Galilee--see Mark 4:38. The ancient world was essentially polytheistic—the sailors call on their many gods, and the captain wakes Jonah to call upon on his God too (1:6), unaware that it is the LORD who has "hurled a great wind upon the sea" (1:4), We have noted elsewhere that the ancients often used lots to seek divine guidance in making decisions. The sailors cast lots (1:7) to determine who "the Jonah,'' the unlucky influence is among them, and the result is predictable. They question the prophet, and he reveals that he is "a Hebrew," a worshiper of the One God. Now they are truly afraid and want to know—"What is this that you have done!" (1:10). One of the elegant ironies of the story is that these pagan sailors are so much more admirable that God's reluctant prophet. They "row hard to bring the boat back to the land." Only when that proves hopeless, do they reluctantly and with a prayer for forgiveness do what Jonah told them and cast him into the sea" (1:14). Then, just as in the story of Jesus and the calming the storm, "the sea [ceases] from its raging" (1:15), and like the disciples in the boat, the sailors "[fear] the LORD even more." But Jonah does not perish—as the youngest child knows. The gracious providence of the LORD is one of the themes of the book. God provides "a large fish to swallow" him (1:17). Fish are part of the elaborate symbolism of the story. Fish, because of their cold-bloodedness, are a symbol of life in death. Jonah dies. Jesus dies. Jonah is buried in the belly of the fish. Jesus is buried in the tomb. Jonah waits "three days and three nights" for his resurrection (1:17), but in the end life overcomes the powers of death. And while he is there in the belly of the fish with nothing else to do, Jonah composes a psalm of thanksgiving for his deliverance from "Sheol," the place of the dead (2:1). The experience of drowning is beautifully evoked—"weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains" (2:5), the prophet sings—and yet he does not drown. Instead he lives to praise the LORD who has "brought up [his] life from the Pit" (2:6). Finally after three days the LORD speaks to the fish, and it vomits Jonah "upon the dry land" (2:10). Now again the LORD commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, and he knows better than to refuse. The city that is described as so exceedingly large that it takes "three days to walk across" (3:3)—an exaggeration, perhaps, but necessary to a story filled with exaggerations. Jonah delivers his prophetic message—repent or in forty days Nineveh shall be destroyed—and his warning meets with more success that most prophetic preaching in the Old Testament. The whole city and its king "[turn] from their evil ways" and do penitence in sackcloth and ashes. So when the LORD sees it he changes "his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them" (3:10). The essential humanity of the God of Israel is emphasized throughout the Old Testament by the fact that under the influence of changed circumstances, God can change his mind. The God of Israel is not blind fate—he is a companion in our destiny. Now it is Jonah's turn to be angry—angry "enough to die" because he knew all the time "that [the LORD] is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing" (4:2). He is furious because the LORD has spared and not destroyed Nineveh, as the wicked inhabitants of that wicked city deserved. Human beings are always more vengeful than God is. So Jonah went out of the city to pout. There the LORD finds him, sitting in the sun, wishing to die. But just as God had provided a fish to save him from the sea, so now God "[appoints] a bush, and [makes] it come up over Jonah" (4:6). The bush may in fact have been a bean plant, but in any case Jonah was happy about it. That is, until "God [appoints] a worm that [attacks] the bush, so that it [withers]" (4:7). So the angry prophet is back where he started, sitting in the scorching sun, asking that he might die—the image is intentionally ridiculous. There God comes to him in his misery, as he came to Job, to ask him what business he has to be angry. The bush was a transitory thing, it appeared and it vanished. Its dying is no tragedy, except to the self-centered prophet. For God the object of concern is Nineveh, lost and condemned to destruction—"a great city," as the LORD points out, "in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from the left, and also many animals" (4:11). Even the animals are precious to God, who as their creator has made himself responsible for them. This represents the highest evolution of religious consciousness in the Old Testament—the realization that the love and mercy of God is not limited to Israel, it is extended to all of humankind. And it is not even limited to humankind; it also extends to the animals. So the funny story of the reluctant prophet ends with the announcement that God's mercy extends in ever widening circles to all creation.