… in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all. – Jeremiah 52:30

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 11, 2017): Jeremiah 52

They are the unbelievable stories of my inbox – the Chicken Soup of the internet. Sometimes they are sent by random people, more often they seem to be sent to me from people who think they might make a good teaching illustration. They all appear to share a common theme, something good emerges out of something bad; a miracle takes place that could only happen because of God. They are also remarkably short on facts so that there is no way that they could ever be verified.

Recently the story highlighted a hole in a church wall and decorative carpet, just the right size (of course) to cover the hole. In the middle of a storm, the pastor invites a random woman into the church to dry off and offers to give her a ride home. She graciously accepts and then notices the carpet. On closer inspection, she recognizes that it is her carpet from the old country, lost in the days of Hitler along with her husband and all of her other possessions. The pastor offers to give her the carpet back, but she declines. She is glad that it has found a new home. A few days later, a man enters the church for a worship service for the first time. He notices the carpet. Under closer examination, he realizes that it is his carpet from his home in the old country, lost in the days of Hitler along with his wife and everything else that he had to his name. The Pastor offers to give him a ride home after service. But instead of taking him to his house, he makes a detour and takes him to the place where he had dropped off the woman a few days earlier. And then he sits back to watch the tearful reunion happen.

A heartwarming story? Definitely. True? There have been many similar “Chicken Soup” stories that have graced my inbox over the years. All of them brimming with a story that is akin to this one. Every one of them light on details and every one of them fulfilling our need for a happy ending. And, maybe, they are all based on a similar true story. Or maybe they are the work of someone who wants to make us feel that good really can come out of bad; that even today we serve a miracle working God. But the truth is that we want to know that reunions, like the ones found in the story, actually do take place.

There is a problem with this verse in Jeremiah. In light of what we know about this period, the number of exiles recorded in Jeremiah is remarkably small. Jeremiah maintains that only 4,600 Jews were taken into the exile. After seventy years of captivity, more than 40,000 Jews returned from Babylon. On top of that, Josephus maintains that many times that number (40,000) remained in Babylon where they had made their homes even after they were allowed to leave and go back. The total number of Jews in Babylon seems to be much higher than can be accounted for through three generations of living and having children in a foreign land if Jeremiah’s 4,600 is right.

Scholars have devised ways of explaining the discrepancy. One explanation is that Jeremiah was only counting the heads of the various clans, that the actual number of people exiled was much higher. Another is that there is a missing digit, or two, in Jeremiah count.

But maybe the easiest explanation is based on our desire for reunion. The Babylonian Captivity may not have been just three involuntary events. We know that, against the wishes of God, many Jews made their way to Egypt after the Babylonian invasion. It is also quite likely that many of those who had been left behind simply migrated in the direction of Babylon in search of family members. And once the reunion was completed, they stayed in their new land to create lives for themselves and their offspring. This would mean that the 4,600 officially forced out of Judah was just the tip of the iceberg. Many more would leave in search of those who were taken. These people would have made up a voluntary exile of the population of Judah to Babylon that was much larger than the official one that took place during the first two decades of the sixth century B.C.E.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 74

I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them – Ezekiel 25:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 10, 2017) Ezekiel 25

On May 10, 1940, the United Kingdom began its invasion of Iceland. The Invasion was somewhat of an unexpected artifact of the Second World War. The problem was that Iceland had already declared its neutrality, something it maintained throughout the British (with the help of the Canadian and American militaries) occupation of the Island. But Germany had already proved, with the invasion of Denmark, that they did not respect the neutrality of any country. There is no evidence that Germany ever planned a full-scale invasion of the Northern Island. But for the allies, the risk was too great that they might make an attempt on the island nation and that the Germans, through their invasion of Iceland, would take control of the Northern trade routes hampering both trade and the war effort in Europe. The United Kingdom had attempted several times to negotiate Iceland’s joining of the Allied War effort which would afford the Island the protection of the Allies during the war, but at every step Iceland refused. The Icelandic intention was to remain neutral throughout the war.

So on the morning on May 10, 1940, the British arrived on the shores of their northern neighbor. Iceland protested the invasion but did not resist. The British invaders expected resistance at the German Embassy, but even there they simply knocked on the door, heard a German protest over the invasion reminding the Brits that Iceland had declared their neutrality (and the British reminded the Germans that Denmark had declared their neutrality which did not stop the Germans from taking control of the nation on April 9, 1940, a little more than a month earlier) and the invasion was over. There was no loss of life in the invasion unless you include a suicide among the British forces that took place on the journey to the Island.  

If Jeremiah had been listened to by those in charge of Jerusalem, the Babylonian invasion of Judah, and Jerusalem, could have been carried out in a similar way to the British Invasion of Iceland. The gates to the city could have been opened, a protest given, and the Babylonians could have gained control with little or no loss of life. This had been God’s plan. But the powers in Jerusalem had resisted Jeremiah every time that he came before them. As a result, the city was destroyed. The tragedy is that it didn’t have to be that way. But the people’s resistance to the message of Jeremiah simply proved that they did not know God. They had not heard his voice, and so they believed that Jeremiah had been lying.

In the midst of disobedience and a lack of knowledge of God, God’s refrain is always “then they will know,” a chorus that is lifted among his people. God is willing to negotiate a peaceful surrender, ready to allow us to become allies of his efforts in the world, but our lack of knowledge of God has too many consequences just to allow that to happen. And so our struggles multiply, and we experience, as Jerusalem did, the “then they will know” moments of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 52

Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. – Ezekiel 24:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 9, 2017) Ezekiel 24

Maybe one of the most enduring, real royal love stories was the one between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The pair met and “felt mutual affection” for each other starting in 1839. The two were married on February 10, 1840. The queen described in her diary her thoughts about Albert on the night of their wedding.

I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!

Twenty-one years later, Victoria would experience grief with the same vehemence that she had experienced love. 1861 was not a good year for the Queen. It started off with the death of her estranged mother, and then the discovery of how much her mother had loved and missed her in the years they had been apart. Then, later in the year, news reached the royal couple that their oldest son, Albert Edward who would become King Edward VII, was sleeping with an Irish actress (an event that was set up by his friends to give the nineteen-year-old virgin a sexual experience.) Prince Albert was dispatched immediately to issue a reprimand to his son, and two weeks later, on December 14, 1861, Prince Albert died. Victoria blamed his death on “that dreadful affair with Albert Edward” and went into mourning. She wore black for the rest of her life, which was almost four decades (Victoria died on January 22, 1901), an act which earned herself the title of the “Widow of Windsor.”

Much was happening for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This prophecy is probably best placed in 588 B.C.E as the siege of Jerusalem was beginning. And in the midst of everything that was happening politically and spiritually for the people hidden within the city walls, Ezekiel was thrust into a personal crisis. His wife dies. Adding to the drama is the command of God that he should not mourn the passing of his wife – “the delight of his eyes.” Instead, he is to carry on in front of the people of Jerusalem as if nothing has happened.

The message that Ezekiel was to give to the people was that so much was going to occur in the next couple of years that there would be no time for mourning. The end was going to come with a terrible crash that would scar the people of Jerusalem. In spite of their pain, they will be forced to leave their land and push forward with their lives. The time of great pain was upon them, and there was nothing that they could do to change it. Just as God was not permitting Ezekiel the time to mourn, so Judah would not be allowed by their Babylonian captors the time to mourn all that was about to be lost. Death would come, and no one would be able to observe the losses that they would experience correctly.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 25

Now this is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Why bring such great disaster on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and women, the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant? – Jeremiah 44:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 8, 2017) Jeremiah 44 & 45

Often our response to stress seems to be self-defeating. We fail a physical and conclude that that diet we have been half-heartedly following just isn’t working, and then we binge on junk food. We don’t get that promotion at work, and so we stop trying to do what is necessary to advance in our careers. A few years ago I was working hard on a paper for a course that I was taking. I had admittedly taken a few risks with the project.  But when the Professor handed the paper back, I had received a B+ on the work I had submitted and a personal note from the Professor that the paper didn’t measure up to the usual standard of my work. I was crushed more by the comment from my teacher than by the grade I had received. I considered dropping the course before something switched inside of me reminding me that I was still passing the course and that dropping the class because of a comment from the professor was … well, stupid! But sometimes this is our unhealthy reaction to the stress in our lives.

There is no doubt the Judah was paying a stiff price for their sin. But the intention was never to drive them away from God. God was hitting the pause button. He desired to bring his people back to what was truly important. God’s plan was to rebuild the nation around him. With no Temple, the people would have to figure out what it really meant to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Without a Temple, they could explore what God might have desired when he spoke through Samuel saying, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22). But if they were going to learn anything, they were going to have to re-engage in life and the worship of their God.

Instead, the remnant that had been charged with starting the process of rebuilding over again had run off to Egypt and had entirely abandoned the God of their ancestors in exchange for the practice of burning incense in front of the gods of Egypt. And with this act of rebellion, they were leading their families into lives of idolatry and loss. They would never be the people that God had hoped that they would become.

And the remnant would have to come from somewhere else. In fact, the remnant would originate from the very ones who were willing to ask the hard questions about worshipping God as they sat by the Rivers of Babylon. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps … How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land” (Psalm 137:1-2,4)? The answer to that question was precisely what God had needed his people to ask. Giving up was not on the agenda. Following God, even in the wilderness, was the required response of a remnant who were going to rebuild the nation of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 24

Then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. – Jeremiah 43:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 7, 2017) Jeremiah 43

Sometimes, the history of Ancient Egypt reads a little like a soap opera. Consider the life of Apries (who Jeremiah calls Hophra). Apries came to power in February 589 B.C.E. at the death of his father, Psamtik II. In the name of Egyptian national security, Psamtik had already begun a policy of meddling in the affairs of his neighbors. Most often, the victim of this meddling appears to be Judah and Jerusalem, but there were other nations to whom Egypt sent their armies. As Apries rises to power, he maintains the same meddling policy. The problem appears to be that Apries was not very good at meddling. A year after rising to power, Apries sends his army into battle with Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in defense of Jerusalem. In the eyes of Apries, Judah made a nice cushion between Egypt and Babylon. (Consider the concept of Russia attacking Canada. The United States, as much as they pretend to abhor interfering in the wars of other countries, would likely react quickly irrespective of whether they considered Canadians friends or just an annoyance. The truth is that the United States would probably much rather share the world’s longest undefended border with Canadians than with Russians.) But Apries fails in the attempt to defend Jerusalem. His army is quickly crushed, and eighteen months later Jerusalem falls, the walls of the city are leveled, and the Temple is destroyed. Apries is left with an internal uprising which he eventually puts down.

And, for a while, peace reigns in the House of Apries. But in 570 B.C.E., Apries once again marches his army into another neighboring state. This time it is Libya who receives the help from Egypt in their struggle against the Greeks. Once again, Apries army is routed, and few soldiers make it back to Egypt to tell the story of their horrendous loss. And once again, a rebellion rises from within Egypt against the reign of Apries. The nation eventually throws its support behind Amasis, the general who had led a highly successful invasion of the Nubia in 592 B.C.E. Apries is sent into exile and Amasis declares himself to be Pharoah of Egypt.

Whether or not Nebuchadnezzar ever conquered Egypt is an open question among scholars. But what we do know is that Apries went over to the Babylonians and marched back into Egypt with the support of the Babylonian army. (Just a reminder, the Babylonian Army had routed Apries in his attempt to defend Jerusalem a little more than two decades earlier. But that is the way that soap opera plots often go.) This invasion of Egypt is likely the fulfillment of this prophecy of Jeremiah. Babylon fought its way into the very heart of Egypt. What we don’t know is how long they stayed. It is likely that Apries died in the invasion in 567 B.C.E. With no king to place on the Egyptian throne, the Babylonians probably backed their way out of Egypt. But Apries had become the messenger who summoned Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt and brought the conflict to the Judean exiles in Egypt that they had run to Egypt to escape.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 44 & 45

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my son, Craig. Dad is proud of you.

If you stay in this land, I and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you. – Jeremiah 42:10.

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 6, 2017) Jeremiah 42

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. It is the proverbial belief that the circumstances somewhere else are always better than the ones that are experiencing here. It is the anthem of the people in our lives that seem to have a hard time simply staying put in the same job, or the same house or even the same church. Somewhere else the prospects are better, and life is easier. It doesn’t seem to take us long to discover that we were wrong, but that does not appear to stop us from chasing what is on “the other side of the fence.”

Sometimes the hardest decision is to stand still where you are. In the wake of the exile of most of the people to Babylon and the assassination of Gedaliah, there is much fear in Judah. But God’s promise to the people is that if they are willing to stand their ground, they will prosper. The time of God’s anger had passed. If the people would stay, the rebuilding of Judah and Israel could begin right now.

But the people are too scared to stay. A prosperous and comfortable life awaits them in the opposite direction of Babylon – they believe that prosperity awaits them in Egypt. So the people come to God and hope that God will give them his blessing to leave the land promised to their ancestors for the land of their slavery. It should not come as much of a surprise that the hoped for blessing does not come. Even an objective look at their situation leads us to the belief that staying in Judah was the safe response. The battle was over, the capital city and the temple had been destroyed. In Judah, at least for a while, there was no reason for Babylon to come against the population. They had no army and no power. Here they could have started the rebuilding process in peace with the promise of God and the strength of Babylon to keep the peace.

Egypt, on the other hand, was still actively rebelling against the rule of Babylon. Conflict would most likely follow those who decided to run to Egypt. And the history of the people of Judah in Egypt had never been a positive one. Moving to Egypt was to once again leave the protection of God for the possibility of slavery in a foreign country. It might have even been better to run after the retreating Babylonian army and join the exiles in Babylon. But for the remnant in Judah, going to Egypt felt like the right decision. It was a positive decision emotionally.

And so the people would leave their homes, and the rebuilding of the nation would have to wait for a couple more generations, and the time of Nehemiah, Ezra, and Zerubbabel – men who were willing to do what was uncomfortable, and follow the will of God in the rebuilding of a nation.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 43

But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites. – Jeremiah 41:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 5, 2017) Jeremiah 41

Truth is relative. As Christians, we often argue against the idea, believing that there is and must be absolute truth. But, at best, that only applies to things that pertain to or are in the orbit of God. The reality is, no matter how much we might rail against it, that truth is relative. Pilate’s question at the trial of Jesus is actually a good one – “What is truth?” It is a question that we need to ask ourselves whenever we venture outside of the realm of God.

At least, these are the thoughts that go through my mind as I read about the story of Ishmael, son of Nethaniah. There is no doubt that Ishmael believed that he was serving his own version of truth. And yet he was also blind to his own hypocrisy. His anger was directed at Gedaliah because the prince had gone over to the Babylonians. In actuality, Gedaliah had only been following the command of Jeremiah as dictated by God. By the time that Gedaliah left Jerusalem, the city was already doomed, and Nebuchadnezzar was the chosen instrument by which God had decided to bring about the city’s demise. At this moment, fighting against the Babylonians was fighting against the dictates of God as spoken by Jeremiah. Gedaliah had accepted Jeremiah’s words and had followed Jeremiah’s version of the truth – and because this he had left the city with a group of his followers.

Apparently, this made Ishmael angry. In the eyes of Ishmael, Gedaliah should have stayed in the fight, even if the fight was lost. And this is where truth becomes relative. Gedaliah is wrong because he gives in to the Babylonians, but Ishmael also refuses to stand alone. Instead, he aligns himself the Ammonites who are all too willing to back Ishmael against Babylon with Judah caught in the middle. The problem with Ishmael’s decision is that the Ammonites had been just as much the enemies of Judah in the past as Babylon was now. Gedaliah is wrong, not because he gave in to the Babylonians, but because he chose Babylon over Ammon. And that is a relativistic decision on the part of Ishmael. Ammon was not as much of a threat to Judah as Babylon was, so in the eyes of Ishmael that made Ammon the right choice. But in killing Gedaliah, Ishmael was destroying the last chance of the remnant of Judah to live safely in the land that they had called their own.

Even Ishmael had to leave his home in Judah for the safety of Ammon. His relative truth left him no better than the exiles that had been carried off into Babylon. And Judah had become a poisoned well where no one could safely exist.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 42

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Alyssa. Your Dad is proud of you.