Trusting God's Foresight
Memory Text
God’s Plan
Welfare
Jeremiah’s letter in 29:7 contains the command: “Seek the šālôm of the land246 … for in its šālôm you will find your šālôm.” Here šālôm should be translated “welfare, prosperity. V. 11 (Dtr247) cites an oracle of Yahweh in which he says that he has “plans for šālôm and not for harm (rāʿâ),” plans to give the deportees “a future with hope.” Here šālôm takes its meaning not only from its contrast with “harm” but also from the perspective of future hope (cf. also 38:4).
A hope = וְתִקְוָֽה
the noun tiqwâ denotes the hopes and expectations associated with the duration and quality of human life.
tiqwâ characterizes a human life that can be considered secure on the social level and ethically meaningful
Naomi dismisses her daughters-in-law because she no longer has any “prospect” (tiqwâ) of having sons of her own, who would be critical for her own reputation and that of her daughters-in-law. In the course of the narrative, however, this negative outlook of Naomi (cf. 1:20–21) is radically reversed by the ḥeseḏ shown by Ruth and Boaz.14
In this sapiential aphorism, the vb. “discipline” and the corresponding noun (NRSV “instruction”) from the root ysr describe the basic principle of education, the purpose of which is a lifetime (ʾaḥarîṯ) grounded in wisdom.
That death puts an end to all hope and that expectations for the future relate exclusively to this life are fundamental principles of the OT, never abandoned in the context of tiqwâ. Hope and happiness will not go down to Sheol (Job 17:15–16).
