As we begin the season of Advent today, I’ll be the first to admit there are going to be times as we conclude this 100 Passages series covering the Old Testament that may feel a bit discordant with the familiar texts we’re used to encountering this time of year. What is Advent without passages like the angel Gabriel’s annunciation of Jesus’ birth? Or Mary’s beloved Magnificat? Where are the shepherds, wise men, and familiar faces like Joseph, Zechariah, and Elizabeth?

Yet while the absence of the early chapters of Matthew and Luke may be jarring at first, I’d argue these final passages we’ll read in Advent help us better understand the world Jesus was born into: a world of delayed hopes and deferred dreams, a world of negotiating what it meant to live in the context of empire, a world wrestling with what it was God was asking of them — all framed by a persistent trust that God was not yet done leading the people.

Our devotions the past two days covered perhaps the lowest point in Israel’s history, as the early days of the Exile saw thousands deported from Jerusalem into slavery in Babylon and Solomon’s Temple utterly destroyed, bringing more than 700 years of self-governance to a swift and brutal end. There was, in short, little reason to believe this was anything but the end — and yet many of the same prophets who had previously issued oracles of judgment began to deliver a different sort of countercultural word: hope.

Even in the midst of Exile — speaking to those who had lost homes, livelihoods, loved ones, and freedom — prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel boldly proclaimed a new era for God’s people, including our first hints of a coming leader who would help to guide them. Their words may not be traditional Advent passages, by and large, but their hope captures the spirit of this season as we wait expectantly for the one whom Isaiah names as Emmanuel — God with us.

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