“For this is what the Lord says: ‘When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you’—this is the Lord’s declaration. ‘I will restore you to the place I deported you from.’” ~ Jeremiah 29:10-14
At the time of this famous declaration, the Israelites were not going into a time of joy or prosperity; rather, they were about to go into captivity. Yes, God gives this famous promise of a “future and a hope” at a pivotal moment of sorrow.
Our God can give such a promise, for His Hope is not like that of the world; His Hope is not the hope of Pandora…
Pandora
Pandora was a “gift” to man, “the lovely curse, the price for the blessing of fire” that Prometheus had given man.[1] Hesiod’s harsh words for her (and women in general) is a fascinating study into how the Greeks thought of women – and contrasts starkly with how Jesus thought of women. That, however, must wait for another day. Our focus is not Pandora herself, but the “hope” she left trapped inside the jar of evils.
Yes, it was a jar, not a small box like we see in paintings. It is a pithos, a huge jar over five feet tall used to store grains and liquids in the ancient world. And, yes, hope remained within the pithos.[2]
Now, unlike modern re-tellings, this hope was not necessarily a good thing. Why should it be? Hesiod clearly says the pithos is full of “pains and evils,” and “thousands of troubles” are in the earth after it opens.[3] According to the commentator, “Hesiod leaves it ambiguous as to whether Hope is the one solace left for men in the new troubled world, or simply one more of the troubles brought by woman. The Greeks did not generally speak well of hope: her constant epithet is tuphlos – ‘blind.’”[4]
Pandora’s Hope
Regardless whether it was good or evil, however, hope remains trapped, a perfect picture of worldly hope. It is elusive and blind at best; existing, yet not quite accessible. It eludes us as we wait for the healing of a loved one. It blinds us into passivity as our world descends into chaos. It tricks us into thinking we have everything under control.
Worldly hope – Pandora’s hope – is pent up hope that takes us nowhere. A hope founded on wishes and dreams, not on truth.
But God offers us a sure and strong hope no matter what our circumstances are. It does not rest on the knowledge of mankind, nor on the “chance of fate.” Rather, He offers us Himself to hope in. God – Yahweh – gives us Himself as our surety. Our Hope is founded on Who He is and what He has done.
Preparing the Nations
God is the Hope the Israelites rested in as they went into exile. They knew He would be true to His word. What is more, God used the exile to spread the Hope of Israel to the gentile nations. As the Israelites disperse, the helpless hope of the gentiles collided with the Hope of Israel. Through those tumultuous times, God showed the gentile nations what True Hope was, and prepared their hearts for the coming Messiah.
It was into the Greco-Roman culture that the Messiah was born. Into that world, the world of false hope and false saviors, the Hope of nations came, a tiny babe. He brought with Him the opportunity to accent real Hope – the Hope only found in Him. There is a longing for hope inherent in Pandora’s story, and God used it to shape the gentiles’ longing for Him. He used it to prepare their hearts for a Savior.
I pray this Christmas will flood your heart with hope. If you’ve found yourself clinging to Pandora’s hope, I pray you let go – so that you may take hold of the Sure Hope of Jesus, the Messiah.
Sources
[1] Hesiod, Theogonis, 42, translated by Dorothea Wender, Penguin Books, 1973.
[2] Ibid., 62.
[3] Ibid.
[4] 155
