Prophets of Exile
December 19, 2021
Prophets of exile (think Jeremiah, Ezekiel, parts of Isaiah) have a difficult task. They are calling God’s people to faithfulness before the exile—“repent, so that the day of destruction may not come upon you!”—even as destruction is looming. That’s the story of the first half of Isaiah and much of Jeremiah, as well as smaller prophets like Micah. The false prophets during this time period seem to say God will not allow his people to be destroyed, because he has made a covenant with them and he will not break his covenant. The true prophets say, yes, he does have a covenant with us, but it requires us to fulfill our part of it—live with justice and righteousness in the land. You are not living with justice and righteousness, therefore the covenant is broken, therefore God is going to punish us with destruction.
The day of destruction occurs—Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem, and now many of God’s people are in exile. God’s people are traumatized. If God isn’t protecting us, what’s the point of being his people? Can he not save us? Could he not have saved us? Maybe he will restore us quickly! Maybe this day of trouble will soon pass! And there are lots of prophets who say that very thing, just read Ezekiel 13 and Jeremiah 29 (among others).
Not so fast, says God. I could have saved you, I long to protect you, but you have turned away from me. Now you need to get settled in the land I have placed you. You will return eventually, but not soon. Submit to your punishment.
All this sounds very tit-for-tat. “You messed up, now you’re getting punished, when you repent and turn back I will restore you.” But when God finally gets around to restoring the people, that is precisely not what is going on.
Israel gets taken out of the land, and the people who conquered them start saying, “These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.” (Ezek. 36.20). Well that’s not going to work! The LORD is supposed to be associated with the Exodus (Exod. 3, 6), with taking his people out of their low estate and bringing them into the land with great power and might! Now the LORD is associated with powerlessness?! As if he’s not able to save!
“It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.” (Ezek. 36.22). No, the LORD isn’t going to be associated with the exile. He’s going to be associated with the Exodus and the return to the land. And now he’s going to do a new thing—“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.” (Ezek. 36.26-27). The entire section is beautiful, and calls us to recognize God’s gracious salvation, raising the question—now that God has saved us, how shall we live?
—John Coffey
