Today’s reading: Jeremiah 51; 1 Corinthians 10
We’ve talked a lot, over the past year, about the popular conception of God in the Old Testament as a God of judgement, wrath, vengeance, etc., generally as opposed to God in the New Testament being all about love, grace, and mercy. Reading His decrees against Babylon though, I’m reminded of just how much we don’t get to see on the other side of His judgement.
Before we get into Babylon specifically, I want to point out, for anybody who hasn’t been reading along, that when we read about God judging nations in the Old Testament, it’s not because He just doesn’t like them, or because they aren’t following Him (for nations other than Israel anyway), but because injustice, exploitation of the vulnerable, rape, and murder have become commonplace and/or institutionalized, and God will not abide by that. Over and over again, these are His indictments against the nations He is declaring judgement against; they are sacrificing their children to their gods, taking advantage of the poor, the orphan, and the widow, enslaving people without cause, etc. Honestly, I’m betting that the same people who boldly cry foul against God for judging people in the Old Testament, if they paid attention to what He was judging them for, would probably agree whole-heartedly with His judgment, and maybe even say He should have acted sooner or stronger…
But reading, yesterday and today, God’s declaration of judgement against Babylon, I couldn’t stop thinking about the book of Daniel. Daniel was one of the Jewish exiles in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, and through him, we learn about how God is working in Babylon. We see God speaking to King Nebuchadnezzar in dreams, revealing Himself in His rescue of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, humbling Nebuchadnezzar when he gets too prideful, writing on the wall of the palace, etc. In short, God did not just sit back and watch things get worse and worse in Babylon until it was time to rain judgement down upon them, but He was actively involved, revealing Himself to them and calling them to humble themselves. Even though they were not His chosen people, similar to how He worked with Israel, God gave Babylon ample opportunity to go a different way and stop or forestall His judgement.
It’s an important reminder that, just because we don’t read about it in the Bible doesn’t mean God was not at work among the other nations. In fact, we occasionally run into non-Jewish prophets of Yahweh in the Scriptures, and I take that to mean there were very likely more that we don’t read about.
God was not quick or excited to judge, but He is just and good, and there were points at which He had to step in in judgement when things had gone too far. But we should never assume His judgement came out of nowhere and that He never gave people a chance to repent and go a different way just because it’s not explicitly recorded for us in Scripture.
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