REASONS WHY WE FEEL GOD'S WRATH

The question has often arisen: why does God permit evil? If he is truly the God of all flesh for whom nothing is impossible, why would he for any reason, allow his own chosen nation and race, his consecrated people suffer the yoke of domination from the devil and marginalization from the seemingly ungodly. The prophet Jeremiah was amongst the few prophets who lived within a most tumultuous Israelite nation. His was at the peak of Israelite’s adamance and rebellion against Yahweh. Babylon had defeated the Assyrian empire. Despite this, Israel remained unrepentant. The continuous exhortations of the prophets fell on deaf ears. One would think, Yahweh could have made use of other means to bring back his people, but at the tail end of this cycle of sin, Yahweh declares that Babylon shall become the instrument of his wrath against his own people.

Here appears something counter-intuitive to everything we seem to know about God. Babylon was indeed a gentile nation. It knew nothing about God, it served idols and furnished itself and people with all kinds of atrocities. Why on earth would Yahweh choose to make use of such an ungodly nation to punish his people simply to bring them back to the keeping of the covenant he made with their fathers. 

This would not be the heartache of the Israelites. What is recorded in Jeremiah 29 from verses 4 to 8 wherein a letter was sent to the captives in Babylon, is more shocking to most bible readers. Now one would expect that Yahweh is trying to lure the godless Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into Israel and Judah’s clutches, who were already captives under the Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, and then Yahweh would make use of Israel’s army in defeating Babylon, thus setting his people free. But the very unthinkable is what we read in the above bible passage.

The prophet prophesies thus: Yahweh Sabaoth the God of Israel says this to all the exiles deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 

“build houses, settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce, marry and have sons and daughters…you must increase there and not decrease. Work for the good of the city to which I have exiled you, pray to Yahweh on its behalf, since on its welfare yours depends…” 

What we expected of God was to tell the Israelites to fight the Babylonians, destroy their crops, and find their way out of the land while despoiling them, as a punishment for taking them into exile. But it appears that Yahweh’s mind was already made up.  

The prosperity of the people of Yahweh was made dependent on that of those who were to hold them captive for an indefinite number of years. Amidst these shocking recommendations, the last was: any prophet who came prophesying Yahweh’s deliverance to them was to be burnt alive, and indeed, Zedekiah and Ahab the false prophets were roasted alive by Nebuchadnezzar.

Click the Book to get a full record of Israel's exile experience with a Theological interpretation

The unexpected does happen with God. Yes, he fights for those who do love him, but let us remember that we do not possess a monopoly of God’s attention; in fact, it appears, like John, the Baptist proclaims to the Jews, that we too have lost the right to appeal to Abraham as our father because the works we do clearly contradict that which characterized him.

If God were to punish us today, Israel and Judah’s exiles would be a child’s play compared to what might inflict on us, yet we complain that God keeps quiet when misfortunes assail us. God thus, necessarily permits evils on his people for the reasons we have seen above. But one truth remains, just like he reassured the people through Jeremiah namely: so do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, Yahweh declares…I shall rescue you from distant countries and your descendants from the country where they were captives. In essence, after this harsh judgment of Yahweh, salvation arrives. But this salvation comes in the hope that the rebellious Israelites, and today we, have learned their lesson through the bitter way.

FRIAR EMMANUEL IGBOEKWULUSI OFM, Cap.

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