The Exile

How do we sing the Lord’s Song in a foreign land?

". . . You will leave everything you love most: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You will know how salty another's bread tastes and how hard it is to ascend and descend another's stairs . . ." Paradiso XVII: 55-60

HAVE YOU EVER FOUND YOURSELF IN A COUNTRY, A CULTURE, A NEIGHBORHOOD, A SITUATION THAT WAS UNFAMILIAR AND UNCOMFORTABLE TO YOU? HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A PLACE WHERE YOU DIDN’T KNOW THE RULES OR THE LANGUAGE?

Exile

http://bible.gen.nz/amos/history/exile.htm

Bible Study notes and Biblical commentaries by Dr Tim Bulkeley

The deportation of leaders was a common feature of both Assyrian and Babylonian imperial policy. In biblical studies the term "the exile" or "captivity" refers to the deportation of Judah's leaders from Jerusalem in the 6th century. Earlier the leaders of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) had been deported by the Assyrians, following the fall of Samaria in 722BC.

The estimates of numbers deported vary (Jer 52:28-30 lists three deportations and gives 4,600 as the total exiled from Judah; while 2 Kgs 24:14 claims 10,000 in the first deportation alone). Whatever the exact figure, only a proportion of the population was directly affected. Yet since these were the leaders and skilled craft workers (2 Kgs 24:14,16) and since, at the same time, the Lord's temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed, the effect on the nation was traumatic. Psalms like 137 and the quotations from exiles in the prophets (e.g. Is 49:14) give a feel of the extent to which the foundations of faith and nation were shaken.

Thus "the exile" in this sense is a watershed in the history of the Old Testament. Literature after the exile (post-exilic) is very different from that addressed to the period of the monarchy (pre-exilic).

While it was the deportation of Judah's leaders which marked the Old Testament texts most, when Amos speaks of exile it is deportation from the North by Assyria of which he warns. Amos fears that the coming punishment may be final, for God's patience is near its end. Amos 5:3 warns of military decimation, while in 5:14-15 (one of the few places where the disaster is not spoken of as total) notice that the possibility of "grace" is opened only for the "remnant" of Joseph, thus after the destruction. ("Joseph" is here Northern Israel personified.) In fact, although we know of Judean exiles who returned (see 2 Chronicles 36:22f.; Ezra, Nehemiah etc.) there is no indication in the Bible or other sources of the fate of the Northern exiles.

Jeremiah 25:1 - 14 (NRSVA)

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon), 2which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. 4And though the LORD persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear 5when they said, “Turn now, everyone of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever; 6do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.” 7Yet you did not listen to me, says the LORD, and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm. 8Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace. 10And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. 13I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

Psalm 137

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

1 By the rivers of Babylon—

there we sat down and there we wept

when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows 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?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem’s fall,

how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!

Down to its foundations!”

8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator!

Happy shall they be who pay you back

what you have done to us!

9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones

and dash them against the rock!

Jeremiah 29:1 - 14 (NRSVA)

1These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. 3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: 4Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD. 10For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14I will let you find me, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

THE EXILE IS ONE OF THE PIVOT POINTS IN BIBLICAL HISTORY. IT IS A TIME WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE HAVE TO DISCOVER A NEW IDENTITY AND A NEW WAY OF LVING OUT THEIR FAITH. IT IS A TIME FULL OF QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT GOD IS DOING OR ISN’T DOING.

WHY WOULD GOD HAVE PERMITTED THE EXILE?

IN WHAT WAYS WAS THE EXILE INEVITABLE AND NECESSARY?

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FEELINGS OF THOSE IN EXILE?

WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY LESSONS OF EXILE?