When Queen Jezebel hears what happened, she vows to kill Elijah within twenty-four hours. Elijah immediately heads south, outside of Jezebel’s territory, traveling as far as Beersheba, the southernmost city of Judah. From there he walks into the wilderness, curls up under a bush, and prays to die. Elijah’s death wish is likely more than personal despondency. He feels acutely the ineffectiveness of his prophetic ministry. If King Ahab can reject Yahweh after Mount Carmel, then the covenant is doomed.
This time, instead of answering his prayer as requested, Yahweh sends hope. An angel bakes him a loaf of bread (how practical!) and brings him water twice, restoring his strength. Elijah sets out for Horeb, “the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8). Commentator Peter Leithart notes that in this story, Elijah retraces Israel’s steps and relives Israel’s story. Elijah’s confrontation with the king and his gods mirrors Moses’ confrontation of Pharaoh in Egypt. Elijah’s journey into the wilderness and miraculous provision of food mirrors Israel’s experience in that same wilderness. Finally, Elijah returns to Sinai to meet with Yahweh regarding the broken covenant.3
Why did he go? What was he hoping to accomplish? Yahweh asks Elijah this very question. Elijah answers: “I have been very zealous for the LORD, God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10).
From Elijah’s prophetic vantage point, the covenant seems to have come to an end. Has he come to Mount Sinai to begin the covenant again? It would be an appropriate place to do so. Like Moses, he stays in a cave on the mountain. Like Moses, he converses with Yahweh. Like Moses, Elijah has the opportunity to see Yahweh pass by. Elijah shows himself to be a model prophet in the tradition of Moses, performing miracles and meeting Yahweh personally as only Moses had done (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). Elijah’s concern over the breech of the Sinai covenant is front and center.
Yahweh responds to Elijah’s despondency by assigning him a task. Elijah is to anoint the next king of Israel as well as his own successor. Yahweh also reassures Elijah, “I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah is not alone. His ministry has not been in vain. At Sinai, Yahweh again reveals himself and reassures his prophet that the covenant is still in effect. Although most have failed to bear the name well, a faithful remnant endures. Other prophets were part of this remnant, and among the most prominent stand Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
ROBBER’S DEN: JEREMIAH’S TEMPLE SERMON
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, from the tales of the Arabian Nights. Ali Baba is a poor woodcutter who stumbles upon a group of thieves in the forest. He watches as they approach a hidden cave with a magic door and pronounce the secret password to gain entrance: “Open Sesame!” Once inside, they cry “Close Sesame!” and the door shuts behind them, ensuring their safety while they count their stolen treasures. Or so they think. Now that Ali Baba has heard the password, their secrets are no longer safe. As the story unfolds, the thieves lose everything and Ali Baba becomes fabulously rich.
The prophet Jeremiah tells a similar tale. He stands at the gateway into Yahweh’s temple in Jerusalem, announcing Yahweh’s message for the southern kingdom of Judah. He calls them out by mocking their own secret password—“the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” (Jeremiah 7:4). They rely solely on these “magic” words, thinking that because Yahweh dwells among them in the Jerusalem temple, they are immune from his judgment. Jeremiah exposes their hypocrisy:
Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers [or robber’s den]4 to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 7:9-11)
Like Ali Baba in the forest, Yahweh has had his eye on the people of Judah. He is alarmed that they are treating the temple as a secret hideout, safe from all harm, when they are guilty of highway robbery. Breaking the covenant is a family affair for the people of Judah. Yahweh laments, “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger” (Jeremiah 7:18).
They have forgotten the commands of Sinai, yet they still expect their temple sacrifices to be effective. Yahweh suggests they go on a field trip to Shiloh in the north, where the tabernacle once stood in the days of the prophet Samuel. Not only had the tabernacle been removed, but by this point the northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered by the Assyrians and scattered to the four winds. If it could happen to God’s people in the north, it could happen to Judah. The temple would not save them.
Sure enough, as Jeremiah announced would happen, Yahweh intervened by allowing the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and Judah. Thousands of Judeans were dragged away from their homeland. God raised up another prophet, Ezekiel, to address his people with a message similar to Jeremiah’s. Writing from Babylon during the exile of Judah, Ezekiel describes the effect Judah’s sin has on God’s reputation. In graphic language, he paints a picture of how bad things became. The idolatry of the people of Judah (a violation of the first commandment) defiled the land Yahweh gave them. Their behavior is as detestable as a pile of bloody menstrual cloths sitting out in the open. Talk about vivid imagery! The natural consequence is that God had to clean house. He swept his people into other nations. If they cannot manage to live according to his covenantal terms, then they can no longer enjoy the covenantal benefits.
But here’s the kicker: “Wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and yet they had to leave his land’” (Ezekiel 36:20). God’s people didn’t need to say a word. Just by going into exile, Judah casts Yahweh in a negative light because he appears to be powerless to protect them. Never mind that Yahweh himself is sending them into exile. From the perspective of the nations, Yahweh isn’t much of a match for the gods of Babylon. His reputation is on the line because he’s chosen to claim these people as his. For better or for worse, they bear his name.
Perhaps you’ve had a leadership role in your community and felt the pressure that comes when everyone is watching your kids to see how well behaved they are. Your sermon holds little weight when your kids are fighting in the front pew. God knows just how you feel.
So Yahweh plans to do something about his people’s plight. He can’t have the nations thinking he is impotent. He’s got to set the record straight, and he speaks plainly with his people. He’s about to put into effect a dramatic rescue plan, gathering his people from the nations, bringing them home, cleansing them, and bringing abundance. But he’s very blunt: “I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD” (Ezekiel 36:32). The point of God’s rescue plan is clear: to “‘show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘when I am proved holy through you before their eyes’” (Ezekiel 36:23).
It is not the people’s predicament that merits God’s action. Yahweh’s own reputation is at stake.
SINAI RE-IMAGINED: PROPHETIC VISIONS OF RESTORATION
Although the prophets speak out strongly against Israel’s unfaithfulness, with the help of the Spirit of God they’re able to see beyond sin and judgment to the deliverance God has planned—and what a deliverance it is! They look at the devastation around them, and by faith, imagine full restoration. It’s possible to disqualify oneself from covenant blessings, but the covenant itself is unstoppable. Yahweh has pledged himself to bless the world through the o
ffspring of Abraham. He’s not going to let a rotten generation or two (or ten) derail his plans.
It’s possible to disqualify oneself from covenant blessings, but the covenant itself is unstoppable.
He gives the prophets glimpses of a day when restoration will be possible, along with all the glorious promises God intended from the beginning. Take the book of Isaiah, for example. This prophet of Judah announces certain judgment, but as soon as covenant rebellion is dealt with, God has great things in store.
But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
This is what the LORD says—
he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.
(Isaiah 44:1-4)
It’s not unusual to see the language of agricultural abundance paired with the outpouring of the Spirit in the prophets: Both are evidence of covenant renewal.5 In Elijah’s day, drought was the direct consequence of covenant unfaithfulness. Here, the reverse is true. Faithfulness brings fruitfulness. In that day of spiritual renewal, Isaiah says something truly remarkable will occur:
Some will say, “I belong to the LORD”;
others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;
still others will write on their hand, “The LORD’s,”
and will take the name Israel.
(Isaiah 44:5)
Unlike the days of Ahab and Jezebel, when worshipers of Yahweh had to go into hiding, or the days of Jeremiah, when the prophet’s life was in danger, in the future envisioned by Isaiah, the nations will flock to join the people of Yahweh. Instead of a people reluctant to identify themselves as Yahweh’s while other nations run them out of town, Isaiah 44:5 speaks of a great spiritual awakening, when people will clamor to belong to him. Some will even make their allegiance to Yahweh physically evident, with a tattoo that says layahweh, “Belonging to Yahweh.” These are the same words engraved on the high priest’s forehead ornament. He was a symbol of the status of the entire nation. The prophet can see it now, tattooed on the hands of those joining Yahweh’s people.
This is what the prophet sees far in the distance. First, there are still hard hearts to win.
Isaiah 58–62 contains a whole cluster of passages in which Israel is called by a new name. For this prophet, the work of redemption and transformation is an occasion for renaming, a change in identity. Conversely, rebellion reverses progress, reverting to old titles.6 Then, in a deeply emotional lament poem, the prophet expresses his wish to return to Sinai for a do-over. Beginning in Isaiah 63:7-8, the prophet recalls Yahweh’s election of Israel using covenant terms derived from Deuteronomy such as covenant faithfulness (hesed), goodness (tov), and “my people,” an expression that never refers to other nations.7 But the recital of history turns sour as he describes their rebellion (Isaiah 63:10). Their disobedience is so acute that Israel’s own ancestors would not have recognized them (Isaiah 63:16). Israel’s enemies have overrun her holy place because Israel’s moral and spiritual deterioration has resulted in the complete loss of Yahweh’s protection (Isaiah 63:18-19).
Yahweh’s name has been all but lost along with their memory of his saving acts: “No one calls on your name” (Isaiah 64:4-7). It is no wonder that the prophet pleads with God for another dramatic self-revelation. He longs to turn back the clock to the moment when Israel was first brought into a covenant relationship with Yahweh, to hit the reset button on their election.
The key passage for our purposes is Isaiah 63:19–64:1, where the prophet’s lament breaks into a plea. Although these two verses are divided by a chapter break in English, they constitute a single verse in Hebrew, linked by poetic sound patterns.8
We have become as those who from ages past you did not rule over,
those over whom your name was not invoked.
Oh that you would split the heavens—
that you would come down and the mountains would quake before you.9
The dramatic intervention envisioned by the prophet is reminiscent of Sinai. God’s appearance before his people then was staggering: “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because Yahweh descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exodus 19:18). Now the prophet wants Yahweh to return to the mountain.
We know that the prophet is thinking of Moses because he has already explicitly retold the story of the exodus in Isaiah 63:11-14. Of special interest to us is the mention of the purpose of Yahweh’s great acts of redemption: “to make for himself an everlasting name” (Isaiah 63:12, ESV) and “to make for [himself] a glorious name” (Isaiah 63:14). Israel’s election as the people of Yahweh was designed to magnify his reputation among all nations. While the prophet maintains that Israel is the people of God, there is no longer a basis in Israel’s behavior to claim superiority over the nations. She has reverted back to her pre-election status—“like those not called by your name”—in need of a fresh revelation of Yahweh’s power and forgiveness.
The prophet is ready to return to Sinai.
Like Isaiah, the prophet Hosea also envisions a redo of Israel’s wilderness experience. He likens Israel to an unfaithful wife who turns to prostitution in spite of her husband’s love for her. The metaphor is fitting. Israel’s worship of other gods is a violation of the covenant commitment made with Yahweh—a covenant for which marriage is our closest analogy. Rather than gratitude for all Yahweh has provided, Israel attributes her blessings to other gods, such as Baal, praying to him for rain and thanking him for fruitful crops.
Through Hosea, Yahweh announces his plan: “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. . . . There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt” (Hosea 2:14-15). Israel needs another encounter with God in the wilderness—one that will show her once and for all that she belongs to Yahweh and that he deserves her complete devotion. The result is a beautiful reaffirmation of the covenant formula that echoes the first two commandments: “I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God’” (Hosea 2:23).
The wilderness is worth it for such a result.
Do these prophetic imaginations ever take shape on the pages of history? And if they do, what happens to the Sinai covenant?
REBOOT: THE RENEWED COVENANT
My friend Shannon had a rough childhood. From ages twelve to eighteen she was sullen and rude to her parents. Her outlook was entirely negative. She tells me that even when she wanted to change, wanted to break from the script, the words would come out with the wrong tone. She was stuck, and so were her parents. Change finally came when Shannon went off to college. Being away from home gave her the freedom to start fresh. When her parents came to visit her several months after she started, they were shocked at how she much she had changed. They were able to begin again too. Now, years later, they are very close as a family.
Sometimes things are so terrible that a reboot is the best way forward. That’s what the prophet asked for in Isaiah 63, a return to Sinai. Jeremiah had the privilege of announcing to the people of Jerusalem Yahweh’s answer to that prayer. He spoke of a future day when the exile would come to an end, God’s people would serve him faithfully, and the Davidic dynasty would be restored (Jeremiah 30:3, 9). He says, “Their children will be as in days of old, and their community will be established before me,” with the result that “you will be my people, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 30:20, 22). Covenant renewal! As we would expect, spiritual re
storation is accompanied by agricultural fruitfulness (Jeremiah 31:5).
Let’s zero in on a well-known passage in Jeremiah 31, the new covenant text. Interpreters have often assumed that this passage announces a radical break from the old covenant at Sinai—that Jeremiah is foretelling the end of covenant law and the beginning of grace in Jesus, an entirely new arrangement. But look closely:
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:31-32, emphasis added)
Yes, the prophet announces a new covenant, one unlike the covenant at Sinai, but how is it new? A different covenant partner? No, this one is also with Israel and Judah, signifying the restoration of the original twelve tribes. Why do they need a new covenant? The reason is clear. Not because there was something wrong with the Sinai covenant. Simply “because they broke my covenant.” The problem was with the people.10 We’ll see in a moment that the law hasn’t changed. What changes is the mode of delivery.
As the prophet explains,
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34, emphasis added)
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