Friday 25 June 2010

Background

The year is 587 BC and the final calamity happens - the kingdomof Judah falls, the Temple is destroyed, the people are broken andtaken captive to Babylon. This event reverberates through thewritings of the histories and prophets of Israel, and especially inthe extraordinary person of Jeremiah who lives through it. It is atthe heart of the deepest theological reflection on the redemptivepower of suffering and sacrifice in the heart of the book ofIsaiah.

But the event is normal enough in the annals of the world. Anothersmall kingdom invaded, ravaged and depopulated by a world imperialpower - Babylon. Its king is brutally maimed, its leaders exiledand the remainder of the population left to eke out a living.

We know that there is a return from exile. The Temple will berebuilt (and then destroyed again by the Romans). But this event isthe centre around which everything else revolves. God had promisedto be Israel's god; God had called Jerusalem God's own holy cityand the Temple God's own and holy dwelling place - the centre ofthe earth. Despite the traumas of Israel's half-millenniumexperiment with monarchy, for as long as Jerusalem and the Templeendured there was hope and there was promise.

What does their destruction mean then?

Remarkably, exile gives rise to hope. You can sing the Lord's songin a strange land because nowhere is strange to God. You can trustGod even in a time of failure because God does not abandon anyone.You can hope in exile because salvation is not at root aboutprotection or rescue, but about a new creation in which everythingis changed.

These are the deepest reflections and insights on a terrible event.They do not come easily or cheaply. The hope and the future that isdiscovered in exile is not realised in the actual return and thebuilding of a new Jerusalem. The poor who are left behind to tillthe soil and dress the vines are even worse off after the exile.Jerusalem has been wept over many times; we weep for it still.

To Ponder

Reflect on when you have learned to 'sing theLord's song in a strange land' and what this means.

What words would you include in your singing ofthe Lord's song?

What is the difference between hope and wishfulthinking?