Today’s Scripture Reading (January 7,
2014): Isaiah 64
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| A Coin depicting Saddam Hussein in front of an image of Neuchadnezzar II of Babylon |
Saddam Hussein considered himself to be the reincarnation, or at the very
least the one who possessed the spirit, of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar
II. During his reign he seemed to desire to repeat the feats of Nebuchadnezzar
and this was one of the reasons that Israel treated his threats so seriously –
it had been Nebuchadnezzar that had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple for the
first time (although Rome repeated the feat in 70 C.E. and Israel disappeared
from the history of the world from that moment until 1948 – and the temple in
Jerusalem [the third temple] continues to remain unbuilt.) Hussein even minted
a coin that bore his image and the image of Nebuchadnezzar standing side by
side. This practice of Hussein (and others) is usually undertaken in order to
make a regime seem more legitimate than it really is. But there are other
reasons to invoke the past. Sometimes it is just to revive a spirit that had
existed in a previous time so that the society can reach for bigger things. Or
it can serve to remind the people of their essential identity – the reminder of
the past serves as a way of bonding the people together. For Hussein, it may
have been for all of the above reasons that the ruler invoked “the Spirit of
Nebuchadnezzar II.”
But this
practice of identifying with ancient leaders is also a common device of the biblical
writers – but usually in the Bible the purpose of this identification with
ancient is only to remind the people of their essential identity. Usually the
points of identification are one of the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob –
or the liberator of Israel – Moses – or the nation’s greatest king – David - so
that the people would recognize their essential character as the people of God.
And sometimes that identification is very obvious, but sometimes it is a little
more obscure.
This would
be an example of a more obscure identification. This portion of Isaiah was
written about the exile of Judah in Babylon, the time of history inaugurated by
Nebuchadnezzar II – or maybe possibly even written during the exile. But the
purpose of this section of the prophecy is to remind the people of their
essential identity – of who they really are. And Isaiah starts the reminder
with two illustrations as he prays.
The first is
his desire that God would split the boundaries of heaven and come down. In
Isaiah’s mind, that must have been exactly what God had done during the time of
Moses, when he repeatedly stepped into our world to meet with the prophet. This
had to be what happened when Moses met with God at the burning bush, and when
the plagues were brought on Egypt, and when the Red Sea was parted with the
Egyptian army closing in from behind. God ripped the heavens and stepped into
human time.
The second
desire was a little more specific. Again it is a time when God tore the
heavens, but this time he stepped into human time on Mount Sinai. And with all
of Israel encamped around the mountain, God shook it.
The current
situation for Israel was better than it was in the time of Moses, and yet
Israel still was not allowed to return home. And yet, if God had split the
heavens and he shook the mountain once, he could do it again. If God could do
that for Israel then, the same God could do it for Israel now – as long as
Israel remembered who it was that they were. And the same is true for us – if we
remember who it is that we are – the adopted of God and co-heirs of the promise
with Christ. This is our identity. And this is what we need to remember.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
65
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