the Israelite exiles

September 13, 2017

The two elder judges (Dan 13:5-13:6)

“That year,

Two elders

From the people

Were appointed

As judges.

Concerning them,

The Lord had said.

‘Wickedness came forth

From Babylon,

From elders,

Who were judges.

They were supposed

To govern the people.’

These men

Were frequently

At Joakim’s house.

All who had a case

To be tried

Came to them.”

That year, the Jewish or Israelite people chose or appointed these two elders to be their judges. However, there was a saying of the Lord, probably referring to something from Jeremiah, chapter 25, that seemed to indicate that these two men were wicked judges because they were not governing the people correctly. These two elders were often at Joakim’s house, because they held their trials there. They would judge the Israelite exiles with their various disputes.

June 20, 2017

The valley of the dry bones (Ezek 37:1-37:2)

“The hand of Yahweh

Came upon me.

He brought me out

By the Spirit of Yahweh.

He set me down

In the middle

Of a valley

That was full of bones.

He led me

All around them.

There were very many

Lying in the valley.

They were very dry.”

This time, like in the earlier chapters, Yahweh transported Ezekiel to a different place. Yahweh came upon Ezekiel. Then the Spirit or Yahweh brought him to a large valley full of bones. Ezekiel was able to walk around them, since there were so many of these very dry bones lying around in this valley. Perhaps this is allusion to the Israelite exiles who were like dead bones.

April 11, 2017

The end of the vision in Babylon (Ezek 11:24-11:25)

“The Spirit lifted me up.

The Spirit brought me

In a vision

By the Spirit of God

Into Chaldea,

To the exiles.

Then the vision

That I had seen

Left me.

I told the exiles

All the things

That Yahweh

Had showed me.”

Ezekiel concluded this vision by saying that he was lifted up by the Holy Spirit of God back into Babylon, among the Chaldeans and the other exiled Israelites and Judeans. The vision left him. Then he told the Israelite exiles there all about the things that Yahweh had shown him.

March 6, 2017

Do not remember the sins of our ancestors (Bar 3:5-3:8)

“Do not remember

The iniquities

Of our ancestors!

But in this crisis,

Remember

Your power!

Remember

Your name!

You are the Lord

Our God!

It is you!

O Lord!

Whom we will praise!

You have put

The fear of you

In our hearts

So that we would

Call upon your name.

We will praise you

In our exile!

We have put away

From our hearts

All the iniquity

Of our ancestors

Who sinned before you.

See!

We are today

In our exile

Where you have scattered us.

We are reproached.

We are cursed.

We are punished

For all the iniquities

Of our ancestors

Who forsook

The Lord

Our God.”

Baruch wanted God not to remember the iniquities of their ancestors. Instead he wanted God to remember his own power and his name. They, the Israelite exiles, were going to praise God whom they feared in their hearts, during this exilic time. They were going to call on his name. They wanted the stain of their ancestor’s sins removed. They were scattered in this exile, reproached, cursed, and punished. It was their ancestors who had given up on the Lord, their God, not them.