In the story of Daniel, the King Nebuchadnezzar who symbolises all future totalitarian oppressors demands three Jewish men: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego bow to his absolute authority over them. But because they believe in God they hope in a future beyond the control of the King and so in this hope they defy the King even while enduring torture.

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hands, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
Daniel 3:16-18

The king is furious because their hope-filled lack of submission has already undermined his claims and his ability to intimidate those under his authority. This is dangerous for everybody.

Micah 4:1-5, reiterated in Isaiah 2:1-5, is the famous prophecy of peaceful disarmament:
“they shall beat their swords in to ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Micah 4:3

The prophet is well aware of the consequences:
“They shall sit everyman under his vine and under his fig tree,
and none shall make them afraid.
Micah 4:4

Disarmament will mean a lower standard of living. They will need to be satisfied with less – a vine, a fig tree, but they will be safe and well. The poem is a vision of hope when living will mean peace between people and nations and will not require constant bloodshed and oppression, in what Hebrews 11:1 will call “the conviction of things not seen”.

Isaiah 19:23-25 is a promise that can still speak powerfully to the “Middle East.”
“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of Hosts has blessed, saying: “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”

Hope beyond borders

Titles once used only of Israel now become stretched to cover the traditional enemies of Egypt and Assyria. This promise of biblical hope speaks to an unrealised future beyond fear, insecurity, and inequality and beyond narrow national interests. A future based on memories of the divine promise described in Isaiah 55:10-11.

Ezekiel’s vision is the promise of a covenant of shalom, for the restoration of the peace filled creation and the breaking of the yoke of oppression and “beastly” political power. The restoration of history and nature will reflect the prophecy of the creation story in Genesis 1.

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely… And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hands of those who enslave them… And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord God.”

Then in the great promise of Third Isaiah 65:17-25 we hear…
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; 
for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” (vv.17-18)

The prophet envisages a new social and economic order, where health is seen in childbirth without deaths and God is close to his people. It is clear in all these prophesies how life is not how it was meant to be or how it will be. Change is sought on the basis of God’s promises and the hope they encourage.

A further late flowering of prophetic hope arrives in the period between the Old and New Testaments in apocalyptic poetry. These writings are the grand dreams of biblical hope based on a radical sense of God’s unconditional freedom and love. They are not fixed plans and programmes since God must always remain free – not tied to a blueprint. 

So we read in Zechariah 14:8-9:
“On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will become King over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and the same one.”

The rivers of life that run in Genesis 2 will nowspring up in the holy Temple city and the God of Israel, will rule the nations. Hope here has become cosmic, breaking out of time and place, out of history and is as inclusive and all-enveloping as the glory of the God of hope.

The Biblical Enemies of Hope

In the Scriptures hope emerges among those who suffer and who come to articulate their grief and suffering. Hope does not appear among those committed to maintaining present power structures and present knowledge. Such people do not expect or wait on the newness of God. In the history of Israel you can see this played out between the kings and priesthood who manage the status quo versus the prophets as the voices of hope who challenge it. 

King Ahab regards Elijah as a “troubler” in 1 Kings 18:17. Amaziah the Priest banishes the prophet Amos in Amos 7:1-17. A century later kings and governors plot to execute Jeremiah because his mocking words echoing them “Shalom, shalom, well-being, well-being, peace and prosperity” show up the real situation and point to the need for hope for an alternative future in Jeremiah 26. Ezekiel accuses the managers, be they kings, priests or false prophets of “whitewash” in Ezekiel 13:8-16 covering the reality to protect their own power. And those who hope for something different are described as “treasonable” in Jeremiah 38:4, as a “conspirator” in Amos 7:10 or a “blasphemer” in Mark 2:7. 

Neither does hope arise among the scribes and intellectuals who record and control interpretation and advise their patrons daily. They expect nothing new from God. You see their work in the book of Proverbs which advises on how to survive in court, in the world as it is. There is no discontinuity, disruption or hope. The culmination is Ecclesiastes where there is nothing new under the sun: 

“All streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full;
To the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
Ecclesiastes 1:7

What has been, is what will be, and what has been done 
is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:9

There is no hope among the silent, suffering and oppressed, the nameless victims of history whose words and whose lives we do not know. We grieve and lament for them in compassionate silence. But we can remember them, regardless of the details. We remember history’s grief and honour the past when we join our grief with all those who have gone before us. This memory allows the silent voices of the past to speak into the present. It unites the collective memory of the Israelites with our journey of faith today. 

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