Faith & Politics: Seek the Peace of Where You Are

Some of the most familiar verses in the book of Jeremiah are:

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord ... (Jer. 29:11-14a)

You might be surprised to learn the real context of the verses!
 In 597 BC, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, laid seige to Jerusalem and took King Jehoiachin and the royal court into captivity back to Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-20). In all, 10,000 people were taken, and the Bible says, “Only the poorest in the land were left.” Nebuchadnezzar also looted the temple and the royal palace, taking all of the valuable articles back with him. Although Judah had effectively ceased to be a viable country, Nebuchadnezzar installed Jehoaiachin’s uncle—Zedekiah—as the king. 2 Kings 24 concludes:

It was because of the Lord's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

We pick up the story in Jeremiah 27. God told Jeremiah to make and wear a yoke as a symbol of Judah’s subjugation to Babylon. Jeremiah was to wear the yolk willingly as a prophetic word to the Zedekiah and the people in Judah:

With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand. So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the Lord. (Jer. 27:5-11)

However, another prophet, Hananiah, gave other counsel. He told the king that within two years that God would break the yoke of the Babylon—i.e. free Judah from subjugation—and bring back to Jerusalem all of the valuables looted from the palace and the temple, and the 10,000 exiles as well. Then Hananiah took the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and broke it as a symbol of God breaking the yoke of Babylon. However, then God told Jeremiah:

Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals. (Jer. 28:13-14)

Despite Jeremiah’s warnings—including Jeremiahs’s prophecy of Hanaiah’s death, which was fulfilled just months later—Zedekiah listened to Hananiah’s counsel. Nebuchadnezzar returned and laid seige to Jerusalem (again!) Zedekiah fled, but was captured by the Babylonian army:

They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. (2 Kings 25:7)

However, before Zedekiah was deposed, Jeremiah wrote to the first wave of exiles to Babylon:


Jeremiah 29:4-19
 
Commentary
 
This prophecy has three main parts:

v4-9 Even in exile, seek the peace of the place where you live; prosper; do not listen to prophets who tempt you with words that satisfy your longing for something else.

v10-15 At just the right time, God will act. The exiles will be in Babylon until Babylon’s turn for justice comes (Jer. 27:7).

v16-19 Another warning about false prophets! The rest of chapter 29 is a warning for the false prophet Shemaiah, who was living with the exiles and giving the exiles false hopes.
The entire storyline of the Babylonian captivity is a lesson in theodicy, i.e. the justification of God. Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder challenges the idea of asking God to justify himself, asking:

 Where do you get the criteria by which you judge God?

 Why do you think you are qualified to judge God?

 If you think you are qualified, how does the trial proceed?

Religious persons have difficulty dealing with secular society & secular government. However, God makes it clear that he is in control, he is the force at work, and the government—any government—is simply a tool in his hand. God can use these tools to build or to destroy in order to re-build on the ruins of what was.


Points to Ponder

There are several referenda on the ballot in Maine next month— taxes, gay marriage, school consolidation, medical marijuana, etc. Religious voices on both sides are saying, “This is what God wants.” Is it possible ...

... that God will use the election to bring justice? (What needs to be destroyed?)

... that God would first have you seek the peace of the place where you are?

... that we are to remain engaged in the community even when the it is going in a direction we think is wrong?