I want to continue my line of thought that I have been on for a few more posts. In my last post, I described a way of reading Scripture so that the conquest narratives of the Old Testament do not have the last word on violence. Let me fill out this picture on the Hebrew Bible before I go on to Jesus - and show that peace is a major theme in the Old Testament. Some may be shocked by that statement - so here goes.
We must start with Genesis - particularly with the creation account in Chapter 1. Notice that God speaks the world into existence without violence. He simply speaks and an ordered creation comes into being. We sometimes overlook this. There were other creation stories in antiquity. The Enuma Elish is a early Babylonian creation story - its story tells us how human life came about. In the story, the Gods war for supremacy. In the midst of the slaughter of one another Marduk rises to power and decides to create the earth and humans out of the blood of one of the other executed Gods. Thus, this ancient story sees the beginning of the world and human life being born in violence. Violence is the norm of human existence. But as I said, this is not so for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He simply speaks and brings about a peaceful garden where man and woman, created in his image, are to dwell in shalom.This vision of peaceful existence with God and with one another is set as the backdrop for the biblical story. Even though humankind finds living in peace difficult - it is the state of which God's redemption draws us.
This vision of peace is picked up again by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 2:2-4
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of Yahweh
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
and all nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that God my teach us His ways
and that we may walk in His paths"
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
That is a vision of where God's spirit is leading us. The prophets of old were leaning into this vision of redemption, righteousness, and peace. As I said in the beginning, the horizon of the Old Testament is one of God bringing us back to peace - His original intention. And amazingly, breaking in the dawn of Jesus' birth is the announcement of the angels - "...peace on earth...(Luke 2:14) In the next post I will note how the message of peace is lived and proclaimed by Jesus.
We must start with Genesis - particularly with the creation account in Chapter 1. Notice that God speaks the world into existence without violence. He simply speaks and an ordered creation comes into being. We sometimes overlook this. There were other creation stories in antiquity. The Enuma Elish is a early Babylonian creation story - its story tells us how human life came about. In the story, the Gods war for supremacy. In the midst of the slaughter of one another Marduk rises to power and decides to create the earth and humans out of the blood of one of the other executed Gods. Thus, this ancient story sees the beginning of the world and human life being born in violence. Violence is the norm of human existence. But as I said, this is not so for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He simply speaks and brings about a peaceful garden where man and woman, created in his image, are to dwell in shalom.This vision of peaceful existence with God and with one another is set as the backdrop for the biblical story. Even though humankind finds living in peace difficult - it is the state of which God's redemption draws us.
This vision of peace is picked up again by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 2:2-4
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of Yahweh
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
and all nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that God my teach us His ways
and that we may walk in His paths"
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
That is a vision of where God's spirit is leading us. The prophets of old were leaning into this vision of redemption, righteousness, and peace. As I said in the beginning, the horizon of the Old Testament is one of God bringing us back to peace - His original intention. And amazingly, breaking in the dawn of Jesus' birth is the announcement of the angels - "...peace on earth...(Luke 2:14) In the next post I will note how the message of peace is lived and proclaimed by Jesus.
1 comment:
this whole idea of war and a God familiar with venengence with the old testament as proof have got me thinking. tozer in a book i'm reading commented that the concept of mercy is mentioned 4 times more in the old testament then in the new which is an interesting thought.
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