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WHAT YAHWEH SEES

The Faithful Few

ONE MAN SHOW? ELIJAH AT SINAI

Through the centuries, God sent prophets to announce his word to his people, calling them back to covenant faithfulness. Most ignored their message, but their words were preserved by the faithful few for future generations. The first significant prophet we meet during Israel’s monarchy is Elijah, who ministered after the Israelite kingdom had split in two, with Israel in the north and Judah in the south. At that time, the northern kingdom of Israel was led by two devout worshipers of the Canaanite god, Baal. Not only is worshiping other gods a direct violation of the covenant, but King Ahab and Queen Jezebel become obsessed with eliminating Yahweh-worship altogether. They kill any prophets of Yahweh they can find, but they have a terrible time tracking down Elijah. Elijah, whose name means “My God is Yahweh,” announces a drought lasting several years, earning him the nickname “Troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17). His threat isn’t random. Lack of rain is a curse prescribed at Sinai in the event that Israel disregards the covenant:

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. . . . But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant . . . I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit. (Leviticus 26:3-4, 14-15, 19-20)

Lack of rain should be the first clue that the Israelites have gone off the rails, but their perspective has been skewed.

Lack of rain is also a source of deep embarrassment for Baal, as he is supposedly the storm god, responsible for thunder, lightning, and rain.1 An ancient story known as “The ‘Aqhatu Legend” illustrates Baal’s inability to bring rain under similar circumstances. Here his name is spelled Ba’lu:

Thereupon Dani’ilu the man of Rapa’u, uttered a spell upon clouds in the heat of the season, upon the rain that the clouds pour down on the summer fruits, upon the dew that falls on the grapes. Seven years has Ba’lu failed, eight (years) he who rides upon the clouds: no dew, no showers, no upsurging (of water) from the deeps, no goodly voice of Ba’lu.2

Baal is directly blamed for the lack of rain.

Drought is also an embarrassment to King Ahab, who depends on Baal’s endorsement of his kingship. Shrewdly, Elijah plans to beat Baal at his own game. He arranges a contest with the prophets of Baal in which the god who sends lightning will be recognized as God. He gives Baal the home turf advantage, holding the contest on sacred Mount Carmel. After a whole day of desperate prayer, Baal’s prophets give up. Baal is silent and so are the skies. Elijah prays a single, simple prayer and Yahweh sends a dramatic answer: the lightning he sends from a cloudless sky burns up not only the sacrifice on the altar but the stone altar itself. Instantly, everyone present recognizes that Yahweh is God. The rains soon follow, removing any remaining doubt about who caused the drought. Yahweh’s victory vindicates the prophet who bears his name.

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 offspring 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 restoration 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)

No, the covenant hasn’t changed. It involves the same partners and the same law. The difference is that God will enable every Israelite to internalize it. Yahweh said earlier that “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool . . . on the tablets of their hearts” (Jeremiah 17:1). Their sin occupies the center of their thinking, feeling, and decision making. When the covenant is renewed, their center of gravity will be the Torah instead: It will be written on their hearts. Ezekiel 11:17-20 echoes this idea, too, when it says that God will “remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,” enabling them “to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

As he’s done before, Yahweh extends forgiveness. This time he offers Israel a new opportunity. Forgiveness has always been available through the sacrificial system (note the constant refrain through Leviticus 4–6, “and they will be forgiven”). However, this time he plans to offer something more permanent and transformative so that they won’t need to keep bringing animal sacrifices.

It’s a “new” covenant in the same way that the prophet says Yahweh’s mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). Yahweh’s mercies are not radically different each day; they are renewed, made freshly available. This is what Yahweh announces he will do with the covenant. He’s reformatting their hard drive. All the programs are the same as before, but the messes they’ve made of things will be wiped away for a fresh start. That’s good news indeed!

HOW NEW IS THE NEW COVENANT?

To understand what Jeremiah means by “new” in his discussion of the new covenant, we can turn to other prophetic passages where the word “new” appears. Ezekiel 11:17-20 announces that Yahweh will put a “new spirit” in his people after their return from exile. He talks about a “new heart” and “new spirit” again in Ezekiel 18:31 and Ezekiel 36:24-28. Both are for the purpose of removing their stubborn rebellion and animating their obedience to Yahweh. We might say that God plans to restore their heart and spirit to his original design, responsive to their Creator.

Lamentations describes Yahweh’s compassions as “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). Obviously here “new” cannot mean entirely new or different. Yahweh’s mercies are not radically different each day; they are renewed, made freshly available in spite of Israel’s sin. The verbal form of the word “new” is used in Lamentations 5:21, asking God to “renew our days as of old.” Here the context makes clear that restoration rather than a decisive break is in view.

Hebrews 8:13 is the biggest challenge to my contention that the new covenant is continuous with the old one.11 Hebrews says explicitly that “by calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” But the author goes on to describe what exactly will disappear: namely, the sacrificial system. Sacrifices brought forgiveness, but they could never cleanse guilty consciences because people kept sinning. The first system of sacrifice, instituted at Sinai, was only temporary. Now that Jesus has given himself once for all, the earthly temple is not necessary. Sacrifices are redundant.

WAS THE SINAI COVENANT
CONDITIONAL?

Some have described the Sinai covenant as “conditional,” saying that because God required Israel’s obedience, their failure brought an end to the covenant. However, to say that the covenant has ended is misleading. How could God punish them for their disobedience to a covenant that has been called off? No, the covenant itself was not conditional. Rather, the enjoyment of covenant blessings was contingent upon loyalty to Yahweh. In order to benefit from the covenant, the Israelites had to keep up their end of the agreement. Unfaithfulness did not spell the end of the covenant; it simply meant that they came under the jurisdiction of its curses rather than its blessings. The covenant itself endured.

The laws were good laws. They just didn’t have the power to transform hearts. The covenant was a good covenant. The administration of that covenant (temple, priests, and sacrifices) was just temporary.

Israel’s covenant wasn’t a complete disaster. Despite failing as a nation, a few faithful men and women keep alive the possibility of renewal for the rest of the people who bear Yahweh’s name. They are the people with hearts wide open.

HEARTS WIDE OPEN: THE FAITHFUL FEW

There’s always a remnant. Even when everyone else seems to have abandoned the faith, there are always a few who stay the course and remember whose they are.

Elijah felt lonely. He thought he was the only one left who followed Yahweh, but 7,000 others had refused to bow to Baal. Every generation has its faithful who resist being lured by the world. These men and women are in a unique position to see what Yahweh sees and to call on him to act. They have not been blinded by disobedience or numbed by going along with the crowd.

They are the ordinary faithful.

Every generation has its faithful who resist being lured by the world.

Meet Joanne. She lives away from the public eye, alone in a suburban neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. She has no cable TV, no internet, and no smartphone. Her husband, Ron, died several years ago. He had suffered a stroke, leaving him unable to drive and in need of extra care. Joanne spent most of her adult life as a missionary in Africa and never learned to drive, so the two of them were house-bound, dependent on others to take them to the grocery store, to medical appointments, or to church. Joanne is not a likely candidate for a book illustration. Hardly anyone sees her. But I did.

We lived around the corner from Ron and Joanne for almost five years. I watched as her circle of activity grew ever smaller. Her active involvement in church was the first to be curtailed. Then her daily walks. Ron could not be left alone for long. Joanne never complained. She looked to Jesus for her strength. Once I asked if she was able to manage caring for Ron on her own. She paused, trying to find the right words. “Able? I don’t suppose that’s the best word. No, I’m not able. But I’m enabled. God gives us everything we need, doesn’t he?”

Joanne is a living example of faithfulness. She may seem ordinary, but she’s battling the demons of apathy and self-centeredness, fear and worry, day after day. She simply glows when she talks about how Jesus is her everything. Joanne doesn’t pretend things are easy, but she renews her trust in God daily. From that unshakable confidence in Jesus flows a wellspring of life into those around her. Joanne leads a Bible study in her home and mentors several women. She encourages her children and grandchildren by phone and writes letters that showcase the grace of God in her life. Joanne’s life and heart are wide open.

The Psalms offer us a glimpse of other hearts open to God—not pretending that all is well, but bringing every hurt to the throne. When we’ve run out of words, we can pray with Old Testament saints, “Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1, emphasis added).

Listen to the heartfelt words of those distressed by the world’s brokenness and those who recognize their own complicity with evil:

“For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great” (Psalm 25:11, emphasis added).

“Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” (Psalm 79:9-10, emphasis added).

“But you, Sovereign LORD, help me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me” (Psalm 109:21-22, emphasis added).

These passages from the Psalms have in common a concern for Yahweh’s reputation, his name. Men and women through the ages have prayed these words. They have committed themselves to bear his name with honor. They have kept the faith when others have thrown in the towel. Wouldn’t you love to know their stories? I sure would.

We can read the story behind one biblical prayer during the exile. Daniel is among the Israelites who feel the full brunt of negative consequences for covenant unfaithfulness. He and his companions are taken to Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem. He is a shining example of one who remained steadfast in his devotion to Yahweh even in an environment hostile to his faith. A beautiful prayer is recorded in Daniel 9 that shows us his heart wide open to God, fully aware of Israel’s failed vocation. It’s worth quoting at length, now that we have a firm grasp on the covenant theme of bearing Yahweh’s name. (Better yet, read the entire prayer in verses 4-19!)

Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. . . . Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. . . . Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” (Daniel 9:4-6, 11, 17-19, emphasis added)

Daniel is aware of the sin problem. He knows that Israel has failed to uphold the covenant and that they deserve God’s wrath. But he also knows that Yahweh’s reputation is at stake. He grounds his prayer in Israel’s vocation as God’s representatives, crying out for God to act on behalf of his people.

Even in the anguish of these prayers, what Yahweh sees is beautiful. Every heartfelt prayer is proof that the covenant lives on among the faithful. Perfection is not necessary. The sacrificial system in Leviticus demonstrates God’s willingness to forgive. All that’s required is that we keep coming back with hearts wide open, committing ourselves to the most important work of all—honoring the one whose name we bear.

DIGGING DEEPER

Daniel I. Block. The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 24–48. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

*Walter Brueggemann. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001.

*Aaron Chalmers. Interpreting the Prophets: Reading, Understanding and Preaching from the Worlds of the Prophets. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015.

*J. Clinton McCann Jr. A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.

Jeffrey J. Niehaus. God at Sinai: Covenant and Theophany in the Bible and Ancient Near East. SOTBT. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

*Christopher J. H. Wright. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006.

 

Related videos from The Bible Project: “Prophets,” “Holy Spirit,” and “The Way of the Exile.”