Exile

‘Now, in this faraway land
Strange, that the palms of my hands
Should be damp with expectancy’

                                                                                From ‘Exiles’ by King Crimson[1]

The theme of Exile casts a long shadow over the biblical text.

The history of Israel revolves around the twin focus of Exodus and Exile. At the Exodus, Israel began the process toward becoming a nation. The Exile, however, signalled the loss of Israel's status as an independent nation, and even after the return of the people to the land of Israel, they remained merely a political backwater in a Persian province

The importance of the theme of Exile for the Hebrew Bible has been long recognised. In particular, the Babylonian Exile of Judah in 586 BC, involved many factors including the destruction of Jerusalem, the cessation of the sacrifices, the end of the monarchy, and so on. The entire national and religious structure of the kingdom, which was thought to be ordained by God himself, came crashing down. This was their ‘Day of the Lord’, and it left them absolutely devastated.

Now, you would expect all of this to be a bleak period in the life of God's people: Jerusalem destroyed, the temple burned, the end of David’s dynasty, and the fruit and flower of the population deported. And it was. If you want to have a sense of what it felt like, read the book of Lamentations, or (more briefly) Psalm 137.

However, this was also an amazingly productive period of Israel's history; in effect it fostered the birth of Judaism. The people came to recognise that although their nation had been defeated, God had not been defeated. Indeed, God could be worshipped apart from native land, temple, priest, or monarch. This was a crucial insight. Without a king, Israel remembered that the Lord had always been their true king. A burned temple hundreds of miles away meant there were no sacrifices, but the Sabbath could become a time to worship and contemplate God's word in the synagogue. They realised that they had identity as a people which was not simply defined by occupation of a land or national boundaries.

The experience of the Exile began to cause a transformation of the Jewish religion within which the various forms of Judaism, and – indeed – early Christianity, developed. The theme of Exile remains important to the development of Judaism and Christianity even to the present day.

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

Jesus entered into this context and saw himself fulfilling a larger story-line that was told in His Bible, which we know as the Old Testament.

However, Exile is not simply a matter of history. It is a recurring theme for people of faith. In our present day, many Christians in the Western world have returned to the Exile narratives of the Old Testament as a way of interpreting and understanding the decline and marginalisation of the church in our day. In another place I have written about some of my reservations regarding this identification of church decline with Exile. Nonetheless, there are still some important things to ponder. Just as Exile provided a context for the people of Judah and Israel to reflect upon the nature of their faith, reshape it and reform it, so perhaps we can see in the current situation facing the church a similar (God-given?) opportunity.

However, Exile can also be seen as a more individual experience. The words of the late Eugene Peterson connect with my own experience – and that of my family – over this last wee while;

‘The essential meaning of exile is that we are where we don’t want to be’

‘Repeatedly we find ourselves in circumstances where we are not at home’

                                                                                                                                                Eugene Peterson

Exile is not just geographical, but may be physical, emotional, spiritual.

But even when we feel in ‘Exile’, even when we are in that place we would rather not be (as a church or as individuals), even when everything that we have known, believed and taken for granted seems to be stripped away (as for those in Babylonian Exile) still it seems that there is genuine hope and expectation of a new thing emerging.

‘Now, in this faraway land
Strange, that the palms of my hands
Should be damp with expectancy’

                                                King Crimson

I have found in these last few months that even in my own wee ‘Exile’ – my time of being where I do not want to be, of finding myself in circumstances where I am not at home – I have nonetheless felt a strange, unspecific yet persistent sense of expectancy and anticipation.

Perhaps that is what hope is.

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

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[1] For those of you who may be unaware, King Crimson are far and away my favourite rock band. Their first album was released in 1969 which is when this 13 year old first heard them. Almost 50 years on they are still touring and I last saw them just a few weeks ago.