Monday 21 June 2010

Background

This is a bitter story and a hard word to hear for a brokenpeople. The date is 721 BC. God's anger against God's covenantpeople wipes them out, leaving just the tribe of Judah remaining inthe land.

The story can be told from several perspectives. The writer of 2Kings interprets this disaster spiritually: the cause is Israel'sidolatry - the nation's wilful turning away from God'scommandments, especially the first command to worship God alone.Since Israel has rejected God, God rejected Israel. This accountleaves many questions about promises made but then abandoned - onboth sides of a covenant relationship.

The prophet Hosea gives us a window on a different story. He tellsus of political machinations - Israel manipulating Egypt againstAssyria by plotting alliances and breaking them just as easily forpolitical advantage (eg Hosea7:11). Hosea tells Israel to trust in God, not in the country'sown devices. This account also raises many questions. At what pointdoes trust look like foolishness? Does God bless only if we trustenough?

Historians tell us of an Assyrian empire whose rise is unstoppable.At its peak Assyria covered most of what is now Egypt, SaudiArabia, Syria, Iraq and some of Turkey. Against such a powerIsrael, tiny and politically divided, is nothing. We know storieslike this all too well - as we recognise the feelings ofhelplessness or rage against tyrannical regimes that crush all intheir path.

The inevitable end comes after a prolonged siege of the nation'scapital - Samaria. As was the custom, the leading citizens aretaken into captivity to break the back of any possible rebellionand the occupied country is settled by loyal Assyrians. So Israelbecomes Samaria, a failed state even until Jesus' time, despisedfor its apostasy (the abandonment of its religion andmorality).

To Ponder

Which perspective on this terrible event (if any)do you find most helpful, and why?

The theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who died inhis struggle against Nazism wrote a hymn just before he died, whichin one verse says:

"And when this cup You give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling,
out of so good and so beloved a hand."

Could you sing this hymn?