I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land. Ezekiel 38:12

Today's Scripture Reading (August 21, 2023): Ezekiel 38

The World Map, as we commonly picture it, is actually wrong. The map I had hanging in my bedroom as a kid was a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional image. And that is hard to reproduce accurately. As a result of the transcription from three to two dimensions and our bias about what is important and unimportant, a map often shows a northern hemisphere that is larger than it is and, therefore, a smaller southern hemisphere. And thus, in our minds, the South is of less importance.

Often, what we think is important is also placed at the center of our rendering. A map centered on Alaska looks very different from one centered on New Zealand. And the size of whatever is at the center of our image is also exaggerated.

God says that his people will live at the center of the land, or this idea could be literally translated as "the navel of the earth." When we talk about the center of a globe, that place could be anywhere. In our current society, we often believe that the United States, or maybe the nations of Europe or China, exists at the center. But that wasn't the belief with which the Bible was written. According to Rabbinic literature, just as the navel was the center of the human body, Israel was the center of the world. It was the starting place from which everything came. But more than that, Jerusalem was the center of Israel, the Temple was the center of Jerusalem, the Holy Place was the center of the Temple, and the Ark of the Covenant was the center of the Holy Place.

For Ezekiel, it doesn't matter that none of these things existed anymore. Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple, the Holy Place, and the Ark of the Covenant were all gone. As hard as it was to imagine, everything that had existed at the center of the world had been destroyed. Now, Ezekiel saw a different group of people living at the naval of earth, but Ezekiel says that God would never accept these people. Instead, God would wait until the day when his people would return to the center of the land.

Today, Israel has returned. Jerusalem exists, although the central nature of David's City is, at least politically, in question. But there is no Temple, no Holy Place, and no Ark. But maybe someday, those will return as well, making Jerusalem once again the center of the earth.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 39