The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. – Jeremiah 39:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 3, 2017) Jeremiah 39

It is a conversation between a White Supremacist and an American Black Man. Actually, all I have seen is the commercial advertising the program. Yet, I am deeply bothered by it. In the snippet of conversation offered by the advertisement, the Black Man says that “We are all immigrants.” The White Supremacist disagrees and then extols the many benefits of an all-White society. I get that the commercial is supposed to shock me, but I have a hard time trying to get my head around what is being said. The fact that any white person could assert in all seriousness that they are not immigrants to North America is a grave omission of important parts of our history. If we are not Native American, we came from somewhere else.

I am an immigrant. I have done some work on my family tree, and I know a couple of things for certain. Yes, I understand that I have spent my whole life in North America and that I have deep roots on the continent. On my Dad’s side, I have been able to trace my roots back to Peter Mullen who lived in Poughkeepsie, New York in the mid 18^th century (the 1700's). I am not sure about how he came to be in New York or who his parents were, it is one of the enduring mysteries of this side of the family, but my guess is that he emigrated from Ireland to the United States sometime during the 1700’s. His wife, I have been able to trace back further to a Colonel Barent Van Kleek who fought in the Dutch Wars of Independence (which were fought from 1600-1715) and then after his last tour of duty (probably somewhere around 1650) emigrated from Holland to the New York area. This may not mean anything to you, but to me, they are important pieces of who I am. I know that I am an immigrant, even if the immigration happened centuries ago. And I do not want to omit this part of my history by denying my immigrant status.

Sometimes important details missed, often by mistake or because we do not understand the importance, but sometimes on purpose because we are trying to reshape the story. My guess is that the White Supremacist of the commercial is trying to reshape history, trying to tell a different story from the one that is real. But it is possible that he just does not understand the history of the nations of North America.

There exists in this passage either an omission or an attempt at reshaping by those who have read Jeremiah and passed the story down to their children in exile. There should have been a mention of the destruction of the Temple in this verse, but it is not there. Most scholars believe that this is an omission due to a damaged text at some point. But it could be that in exile, far away from the broken city of Jerusalem, the people of Jerusalem simply could not bring themselves to understand that the Temple was gone. And so they decided to reshape history and erase the event from the text of Jeremiah.

But there is no doubt that at this moment in history, the walls of Jerusalem were torn down, the palace of the King was demolished, the houses of the people were leveled, and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed. And an omission in the text of Jeremiah, either accidentally or on purpose, cannot change that fact.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 40

Personal Note: My grandmother turns 102 today. She is an amazing lady who I love very much.