GIFTS FROM THE EXILE: WHAT THEY LOST & WHAT THEY GAINED

 

THE LOSS

Things were not going well for the Jewish people.

The Northern Jewish Kingdom, known as Israel, had fallen to the Assyrians in 720 BCE. The inhabitants were dispersed throughout Assyria and beyond.

In 597 BCE the Southern Jewish Kingdom, known as Judah, was invaded by Assyria. The elite of the population was carried off to Babylon. In 586 BCE the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and many of the remaining inhabitants of Judah were deported to Babylon.

The fall of the Southern Kingdom was a tragic blow to Hebrew faith and culture.  They land God had promised to Abraham and his descendants was now fully lost into Gentile hands

 Many in the land had come to believe Jerusalem was inviolable. Now the holy city Jerusalem was ransacked and lay in ruins.

The Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated, stripped of its wealth, and left as a relic. This Temple was the very spot where the Name of God dwelt and the people met God in worship and sacrifice.  It was the only place where this was to happen (Deuteronomy 12).  The structure was singularly irreplaceable.  In the most sacred space in the Temple sat the Ark of the Covenant, containing the original autograph of the Tablets Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. 

The Jerusalem Temple was the only place on the face of the entire earth where sacrifices could be offered—no exceptions.  Without the capacity to sacrifice, where did that leave the practice of the Hebrew faith?

It is likely the Assyrian invaders carried the Ark and its holy cargo back to Babylon.  It was never recovered, There is no mention of it again until some second century Rabbis speculated about where it might be.

The fire on the altar in the Temple must burn continuously it must never go out (Leviticus 6:13).  That fire had gone out.

The point is, things necessary for the efficacy of the Hebrew faith as they knew it were now gone.

William Butler Yates caught the mood of these exiled Hebrews: “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”  We hear the exiles’ pain in the words of Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon—
    there we sat down, and there we wept
    when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows^[a] there
    we hung up our harps.
³ For there our captors
    asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴ How could we sing the Lord’s song
    in a foreign land?

LOSS IS NOT THE LAST WORD

Loss is a part of all our lives, but God does not permit loss to be the last word.  There is always a way beyond the loss.

 After 70 years of exile in Babylon, Isaiah brings a word of deliverance to the Hebrews living there.

Do not remember the former things
    or consider the things of old.
 I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19)

The people are going home.  Yet the Prophet has a discordant note in the announcement.  He tells the people not to remember the former things, not to consider the things of old.  God is about to do a new thing. Isaiah is warning them they are not just going to return to “the good old days.” Much of what they lost they will never get back.

WHAT THEY DID AND DID NOT GET BACK

They rebuilt the Temple, over time.  But prophesy became rare in that place and miracles faded.  The Ark of the Covenant with those precious tablets was never recovered.

Except for a brief period between 167 and 160 BCE during the Maccabean revolt when the great powers of the word were preoccupied with other things, the ancient Hebrews never lived as free and sovereign people in the land again.  In 70 CE, the Temple built by Herod was destroyed by the Romans, never to be rebuilt.  Even today in the modern State of Israel, sacrifices are not offered in Jerusalem.  There is not Temple there.

What did the Hebrews take home from Babylon?  They left with a faith that could survive anywhere in any age.

The reading of the scriptures took the place of burnt offerings in the Temple.  This became a type of sacrifice.  This could be done anywhere in the world.

The synagogue system came out of the exile.  Through the synagogue, Hebrews could hold communal worship anyplace you had 10 or more adult males.  Can’t get that together?  Fewer than 10 adults could hold a reduced sort of service. This meant the worship of God was no longer tied to a purpose built building in a particular city.  One could worship anyplace one found oneself.

In Babylon, God was preparing the Hebrew people for their dispersion throughout the world. They now had a faith that could survive, and even flourish, wherever they found themselves.

The exile brought loss, but it also gave birth to a form of faith observance that was positioned for whatever history might bring their way.

IN OUR DAY

At our ABCNYS 2022 Biennial, we are going to think about how the experience of the pandemic has equipped us, even in the midst of loss, for God’s future.  We are not going to relive the losses.  We are going to seek out the gifts God has nurtured within us for a future of faithful service.  To join in this journey, go to https://www.abc-nys.org/abcnys-biennial.html

 

Jim Kelsey

Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of New York State