Comes the Word of Yahweh in Parables
Prophecy for Today

Comes the Word of Yahweh to Bethmeri

Thus comes the Word of Yahweh to Bethmeri¹, saying, “Ben-Adam², lift up your eyes! What you see?”

And Bethmeri answers Yahweh, saying, “I see a people living in the streets with nowhere to lay their heads.”

Comes the Word of Yahweh to Bethmeri, saying, “Why does this people not go to their homes and why do they not sleep in their houses?”

So Bethmeri answers Yahweh, saying, “Lo, they do not have houses, and they have no land. They are a people in exile, cast about with no place to go and nowhere that they might call their own.”

Comes to Bethmeri yet again the Word of Yahweh, saying, “Tell this people to return to their homes and sleep in the houses they build and reap the harvest in the fields they plant, for why should they not rest in the land that I grant them and in the houses they build?”

Yet Bethmeri answers Yahweh, saying, “Behold, Lord, they are strangers in this land and the houses are not their own, but belong to another people. The temples of the land serve foreign gods and the houses and fields are those of an idolatrous and alien nation. In their exile, this people has no place to go and no place on which to rest their heads.”

Then comes the Word of Yahweh harshly to Bethmeri, for the anger of Yahweh is kindled against the prophet because of his stubbornness. And the Word of Yahweh speaks, saying, “O seer, do you not see, and are your eyes as blind as those of this people? Do I not give you sight as to the blind? Why then, do you not open your eyes and why do you rush to speak words of foolishness, believing the lie this people swallows? Why do you not listen to the voice of God, but heed rather the rash words of the confused and afraid? These houses you see are the houses of my people. These fields are their fields and these temples are mine. Though they are full with foreign invaders and a people that does not know Yahweh, yet my people I do not sent into exile, nor do I abandon them. They abandon the houses they build and the fields they plant and the temples they erect in my honor. They give up their wealth freely to an invading army that does not raise the cry of battle. They take to the streets to make room for the invaders and give them charge of all that I entrust to my people, my beloved. When the enemy comes, they open their doors and abandon my gifts. Why does this people now cry when they lift not a finger to oppose those who march in to invade?”

“Say to this people who wander with no place to lay their heads, speak to them, and be not silent: ‘You leave the land I give you and surrender with no cause. You roam the streets while your houses are full. You waste in hunger while there is abundance of harvest in your fields. Why do you forsake the gifts I give you and refuse the blessings I have bestow? Do you cast my gifts before the swine and trample my provision underfoot? How long will you exile yourselves in the land I promise and refuse nourishment from the fields I give?

“‘What I buy at great price you scorn and throw away. Are my gifts worthless that you have so despise them? Are the crops I give you so poor that you abandon them on the vine? Are the houses I give you so vile that you prefer to them the streets? Are my temples so odious that you desire them full of worthless idols? Are you so blind as the child that cries in the night, unable to find her mother?’

“Say to this people who wander in blindness and stumble in their slumber: ‘Awaken and open your eyes that you might see the gifts I bestow on you. Reclaim them as being of worth. My gifts are for your joy, and yet you trample them underfoot and cast them off before an advancing and powerless army. Why do you so neglect the gifts I give you?’”

Then Bethmeri hangs his head in shame and answers Yahweh, saying, “O Lord, I am blind and do not see. I do not recognize this people for they own, nor how they wander as exiles in their own land. How, Lord, do they fight against the army arrayed against them? Their hands are devoid of weapons and they know not the ways of war. How then, shall they fight against this mighty army and reclaim what is their own—the gifts that you give?”

Comes the word of Yahweh to Bethmeri, saying, “The heart of this people is grown soft, and they are not fit for battle. They are too comfortable to stand against the enemy, for they are yet blind to their predicament. Awaken them from their slumber and speak to them, saying, ‘Thus shall you fight, and this is the weapon that is placed in your hand: You shall raise the Sword of Yahweh, you shall speak Truth and see that the enemy knows that Yahweh is before you and even in your midst. And this is the sword you shall wield—it is the Word of Yahweh of hosts.’ Thus you shall cry unto them, but they will not listen to you.”

So Bethmeri goes out before the people and puts before them all the Word that Yahweh speaks. But yet the people slumber and remain in their stupor and do not see that they are despoiled by an army that does not raise the cry of battle. And they wander about as exiles in their own land, for they do not wish to wield the Sword of Yahweh, nor stand for the gifts that Yahweh bestows upon them. They consider them as refuse and trample them underfoot. And Bethmeri weeps bitterly at the plight of the people.

And Bethmeri cries out to Yahweh, saying, “How long will this people wander aimlessly in their stupor and live as exiles in their own land? Why do they not hear, and why do they not heed the words of their God? How shall I awaken them to send them back to their houses and into their fields?”

And Yahweh answers Bethmeri, saying, “In their comforts they grow soft and they lose their memories of the battles I fight for them. They cease to recite the stories of Yahweh in their midst, for they say, ‘The stories we know, we need not repeat them.’ They live too long in peace and comfort to remember my ways and to stand for Truth that causes pain. In their comforts their heart becomes rebellious towards the God, for they prize peace more than the gifts I give, and yet their peace is taken away. War is waged upon them and yet they know it not. They do not hear now, until all is taken away and even they are cast out of the city.”

And Bethmeri cries again to the people and brings to them the Word of Yahweh, their God, but they do not raise a finger, nor do they hear the Word of the prophet.

Thus is the Word of Yahweh come to Bethmeri, the seer.

¹ Bethmeri: "Rebelious House"

² Ben Adam: "Son of Man"

—©Copyright 2005 Christopher B. Harbin