The Exile

In the past we have explored some of the great themes of the Bible. There are certain parts of life that are designed by God to give us insights into his nature. We are wired to grasp knowledge on an experiential level. When we get it we call it a "paradigm shift". You may have experienced this as the light bulb going off in one's head while standing in the shower or in the middle of a dream at night. Our brains are always searching on how to connect the dots of life. There is a reason Jesus taught in parables. We understand and "get" stories.



One of the great themes in God's revelation is the Exile. On a primal level it begins with the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. When Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden due to their original sin, this begins the Exile. By partaking of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they desired to be "like God" deciding for themselves what was "good" and what was "evil". The problem of such knowledge is that without an omniscient point of view, one can never figure it out for himself or herself. The result is that all humanity is lost to discover the meaning of life on our own.



When I listen to unbelievers share what they think about God, they will invariably tell me that they don't believe because they feel that God does not exist. In other words, they feel separated, apart and on their own......which is, by definition, the Exile of the human soul. Sin separates us from God. And, we cannot get back to God on our own. But, this is where we have good news! God created a way of escape for everyone. To walk this path it requires faith in His son who desires that all should be saved. It is a journey that takes courage and understanding. One has to examine life to grasp it. But, God did not leave us without a map and a guide.



The map is the Bible. The Bible is the story of Paradise lost and Paradise re-gained. And, beginning with Adam and Eve and running thought out the stories of the Old and New Testaments is the theme of Exile and Restoration. Abraham had to become exiled to his own people when God "called" him to a place that God was going to show him. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and exiled from his family in order to later save them from starvation. And yet Joseph, second only to Pharaoh, knew that his body would be returned to Israel some day. In the book of Genesis 50: 25-26, we read:



"And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die; but God will visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Then Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, saying, "God will visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."



The children of Israel were exiled into slavery for 400 years in Egypt until God sent them a deliverer named Moses to take them back to the promised land. In Exodus 13:19 we read that Moses took "the bones of Joseph" with them when they departed Egypt. How did Joseph know this before he died? It was revealed to him. These events are testimony to the truth of God's promises.

• The Role of the King
  

When the children of Israel asked God for a king, Samuel warned them that YHWH was their only king. But, they wanted to be like the nations around them and have their own king. In 1 Samuel 8 the people were told how all earthly kings become oppressive and behave. Even the behavior of David and Solomon would prove that point all to well. And, most of David's successors were weak or positively bad. God warned his people that in following an earthly king that they would be lead into exile from his presence. When the northern kingdom of Israel became a nation of Baal worshipers, and in spite of all the warnings delivered by God's prophets, the northern ten tribes were exiled into Assyria and lost forever. Even though Judah had some good kings, like Hezekiah and Josiah, who attempted to reform the temple worship in Jerusalem, eventually the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the remaining remnant of God's people were exiled into Babylon. Psalms 89 , one of the most majestic and haunting of the Psalms, sets forth the issue starkly. On one hand, God made all these great promises to David; and, on the other hand, it looks as though they have all come to nothing. This psalm lays both halves before God as though to say, "What are you going to do about it?" Out of this ambiguity comes a hope that one day there might be a true king, a new sort of king, a king who would set everything right. When he takes his throne, the poor (at last) would get justice; and, the creation itself would sing for joy. Psalm 72:1-4 says:

Give the king thy justice, O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son! May he judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with justice! Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor!

This now becomes the the way God's ancient promises are to be fulfilled. There will be a new king, anointed with oil and with God's own Spirit. The Hebrew for "anointed one" is "Messiah"; the Greek is "Christ". He will be the one to put the world back into proper order. The echo we hear from within each individual's soul which cries out for justice in this world will be answered. However, the world as it now exists is distorted. It began in Eden. It is rectified by the righteousness of the Messiah. However, the final fulfillment of complete reconciliation will be when the bridegroom returns again. The book of Revelation was given to us as a promise of that fulfilment. But, the final proof of God is given by Holy Spirit.

• The role of the Temple

It is while the children of God were in Exile that they learned more of God's nature. Up until the Babylonian captivity the temple had been the center of the universe for the Jewish faith. It was taught that this was the one spot on the earth where heaven and earth intersected. When Solomon's temple was destroyed, the faith of the people had to change. When the so-called second temple was rebuilt, it could not hold a candle to its predecessor. According to the prophet Malichi even the priests who worked there treated it disdainfully. From the time of David, it was the function of the King to build (or re-build) the temple. In the centuries before Jesus, two men used temple restoration as a means to advance their royal claims, even though neither of them was descended from David.

Judas Maccabeas enjoyed great success in his revolt against the Hellenistic Syria in 164 B.C. He overthrew the tyrant, Antiochus, and restored the temple which had been desecrated in pagan worship to Zeus. That was enough to make his family royalty for about a century. When the Romans conquered Israel they gave to "Herod the Great" the title King of the Jews, even though Herod was not a Jew himself. Herod was at the time the most powerful warlord in the area from Idumea. His father was married to the daughter of a Arabian sheik. Under Jewish law, unless one was born of a Jewish mother, one could not be a Jew. Herod sought to gain favor with the local populace by expanding and rebuilding the temple. The irony was Herod, as a non-Jew, could not enter the temple which he had reconstructed. The point here is that the King took on the obligation to the temple. Perhaps it is the greatest irony that Jesus taught in the temple of the King who would have murdered him as an infant in Bethlehem. Jesus' words to this followers in Matthew 24 beginning in verse 1 was that the temple, which they so much admired, would not be left with one stone on top of another. This prophecy was most distressing to his disciples. They wanted to know when it would happen? In fact, in 70 A.D. when the Romans besieged the City of Jerusalem the temple was torched. It was reported that the heat caused the gold and precious metals to melt and run into the cracks of the building. Looters pried every stone apart to recover the gold. To this day the foundation of the west wall, the so called "Wailing Wall" is the only remnant of the temple mount that remains. Yet, when the true King emerges, he will not only establish justice in the world. He would also involve the proper reestablishment of the place where heaven and earth meet. The deep human longing for spirituality, for access to God, would be answered at last!

• The role of the Bible as Scripture

It was while in Exile in Babylon that the role of scripture took place. When one could no longer worship in the temple, the synagogue and the Torah became the new center of worship. The stories of the Torah (the first five books in the Old Testament) were edited into their final form highlighting the ancient stories of slavery and freedom, of exile and homecoming, of oppression and Passover. But, they did more. They set the pattern of conduct for the lives of those who had been rescued. When God frees you from slavery, this is how one must respond, not to earn God's favor (as though you could put God in your debt), but to express your gratitude, loyalty and determination to live by the covenant. This was the practice of the Jewish community from the Babylonian exile until the time of Jesus and beyond. These practices of the Torah are what give Jewish people their identity.

There is a problem however whenever one takes scripture and turns it into law. Legalism was a problem for religious people in the time of Jesus as it is for the church today. Jesus in John 5:39-40 tells the religious people of his day:

You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

The irony is that the author of the Word of God was not recognized by those who focused upon scripture. There are a lot of religious people today who search the scriptures to use them as weapons to justify legal positions and empower their causes and authority. The Bible is a map that shows us the Way. While it contains commandments, they all can be summed up as Love YHWH first with all of one's heart, soul, mind and strength; and, love your neighbor as yourself. And for the believer, God did not leave us alone. Acts 2:38 promises us that the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to every believer who is born into the kingdom. God himself now tabernacles with his body, the church, to guide each believer on the Way. The begining of the end occured on the Cross of Calvary. The final end of the Exile is when the saints will gather before the throne to worship our Father in unity of spirit and in truth.