Peace Part 3
Humanity has rebelled against their maker and creator, I AM. I AM has therefore cursed his entire creation by taking away shalom, the universe in that state where everything is as it should be. The created order is thrown into chaos and misery. Sin and death reign supreme over I AM’s creation now that shalom is gone. Yet I AM did not abandon his creation to its abysmal failure and self-destructing sinful rebellion against him. He gracious entered into the world and created a community through which shalom is restored. A sacrificial system in put into action, with a priesthood and temple/tabernacle to facilitate it, to atone for the rebellion of the people and re-establish communion between I AM and humanity, and the members of the community. Laws were enacted to facilitate proper relationship of I AM and the people within the community, including amongst themselves. The people were taught how to relate to I AM and to each other. The poor and oppressed were cared for. Now let us see if this worked.
Once the people were established at Mount Sinai, they set off for Canaan. Yet during this trek, the people repeated complained against I AM and his chosen leaders of the people (e.g. Moses, Aaron). Aaron was challenged as high priest, and I AM demonstrated his choice of Aaron. Moses was challenged by Aaron and his sister. The people complained that Moses was trying to kill them and they were better off in Egypt as slaves. Moses sent spies into Canaan to survey the land. Ten of the twelve spies reported that the people could not take the land, demonstrating the same rebellion Adam and Eve only in a different expression, convincing them they were hopelessly dying in the wilderness. The people were sent wandering in the desert to allow this disbelieving generation to die off.
Then Joshua and Caleb lead Israel into Canaan. Aside from the first battle of Ai and Achan’s sin as well as the treaty by the people from Canaan who deceived Joshua for self-preservation, the invasion was a success. Joshua defeats all of the armies from the cities in Canaan. However, Israel fails to completely drive out the remnants of the Canaanite peoples and their false religions and false gods. On top of that, when Joshua dies there was no strong central leader to guide the people in their relationship with I AM. Instead the people do what is right in their own eyes, worshiping whatever god they choose. This starts a spiral into depravity that will take centuries to recover from.
When Israel does not maintain her covenant relationship with I AM, reverting to the pagan ways seen in Egypt and in Canaan, I AM allows neighboring nations to conquer the land. This in turn leads to a period of enslavement that brings out from the people a cry to I AM for deliverance. A specific individual is raised up by I AM to throw off the shackles of the conquering nation and frees Israel. A period of faithfulness ensues before they fall back into rebellion and reject I AM again. Many call this a cycle, the Deuteronomic cycle. I prefer to think of this as a spiral because every leader that is raised up, called a judge, is progressively more depraved than his or her predecessor. Upon the conclusion of this period of Judges, civil war breaks out where Benjamin commits a sin so perverse it resembles what happened to Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Genesis 19
). The priesthood too has become perverse, no longer teaching holiness and sacred from the profane and common. Eli’s sons abuse their status as priests for selfish gains while Eli fails to intervene. The people are so perverse, the Ark of the Covenant, the piece of furniture that is placed behind the veil and contains the Decalogue, manna, and Aaron’s budded staff, is taken off. One woman names her child Ichabod, “Glory has departed.”
The people then ask I AM for a king, not so that someone can help them be the people I AM made them to be and bring back shalom, but so that they can be like the nations around them. I AM sees the rebellion in their request while still granting their request. But the king that is chosen will be a godly man, a Benjaminite named Saul. However, Saul’s godliness lasted only so long. He too failed to live according to I AM’s covenant stipulations, forfeiting peace. He is rejected by I AM so that Saul’s entire family is killed.
The monarchy falls to the house of David, son of Jesse. He is a man after God’s own heart who also happens to commit adultery and then covers it up with murder. His family then falls apart one son raping a daughter. Solomon, son of the woman whom David had an affair with, takes the throne. He builds the Temple and takes the expansion his father David began and took it to its apex. Then he fell into idolatry because of the hundreds of foreign wives and concubines. His son refused to look after his people so that I AM divides the kingdom established by Saul and David from the nation established by Moses and Joshua. The northern kingdom falls into a paganism that no even Elijah and Elisha can redeem her from. The multiple monarchs that held the throne barely held it for more than two or three generations until the kingdom was wiped out in 722 BCE by Assyria.
The southern kingdom remains the most faithful because of a promise made to David by I AM to always leave a son of David on the throne. Yet these men more often than not led the Judean people into sin and idolatry, choosing the might of Egypt and Babylon over I AM. Hezekiah, one of the best kings in terms of godliness was boastful. Uzziah, a godly king who preceded Hezekiah, tried to perform the function of the priests out of his own pride. Josiah, grandson or great-grandson of Hezekiah, found a portion (if not all) of Deuteronomy and led the people in a reformation. Josiah removed the pagan alters and restored a spiritual fervor for I AM that hadn’t been seen since Samuel’s time before David’s reign. Yet he was inexplicably killed by Egypt at Meggido. His successors undid all that Josiah had done and led the country to her demise at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
The community that was established at Mount Sinai, with its laws and sacrifices, did not bring the people back to shalom. Psalm 72 records a prayer for the king to lead the people to peace, reigning in righteousness and justice and liberating the oppressed while defeating Israel’s enemies. While the historical setting of this text is not known to me, the longing for the king to bring about peace, both within the community and abroad, is there. The Psalmist knows shalom is missing to some degree.
So we are right back to where we were before the creation of Israel in Genesis 12, is humanity doomed to suffer from God’s wrath? This past week I was reminded of what happened when shalom was taken from humanity because of its rebellion. A co-worker finally succumbed to a rare form of cancer. He was diagnosed just before Thanksgiving (2008) and passed away just before his 42nd birthday (04-08-09), having been buried the day after (that is today). He was so skinny from the cancer eating him from the inside out. His oldest child wasn’t even 15 years old yet. But that isn’t the end of life without shalom. It goes on for forever. There needs to be something done to bring back I AM and the shalom that comes with him. The question is, what?
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