Ezra, Nehemiah, Psalm 137 and Playing Well with Others...

 

Dear Bible Challenge participants,

 

In our readings of the various Hebrew Scriptures we can see just how powerful was the impact of the Exile (and destruction of Jerusalem) to the world-view and God-view of the people of Israel.

 

One piece I find heartbreaking is how some responded to this extraordinary pain by striking out at others. A human response, to be sure, and wrenching. Several examples stand out in my mind... perhaps others struck you...

 

We saw the Samaritan-Israelite conflict in its early days back in Ezra, when "the people of the land," who had been forcibly transported there by the Assyrians, tried to help with the rebuilding, but were rebuffed, even though they had been worshiping the LORD since the time the Assyrians put them there.  No wonder the Samaritans of Jesus time weren't into worshiping in Jerusalem!

 

The sequence of events in Ezra that leads up to the setting aside of the "foreign wives and children" is another...

 

And Psalm 137's final verses are so brutal they are eliminated from almost every liturgical reading of this psalm... 

 

I find it helpful to remember that these voices are expressing only one perspective. There are other voices in scripture that contradict this xenophobic (or in the case of Psalm 137, vengeful) world view.  Recall the Book of Ruth, set in the time of the Judges, but full of "Aramaisms" (Aramaic being a late dialect of Hebrew) that suggest a much later date of writing... and Ruth...the Moabitess... was the grandmother of King David... take that, Ezra! 

 

Similarly, though a very ancient story in itself, some see the rendering of the story of the Noachic Covenant  (after the flood, symbolized by the rainbow) as another anti-xenophobic text.... God makes a covenant with all people and all the earth-- not with merely one nation...

 

We will hear other dissenting voices when we read the later parts of Isaiah.  The Wisdom Literature (especially Job and Ecclesiastes) have different takes on theodicy (God's justice) as well, and give the Deuteronomists a run for their money in the debate of why bad things happen to good or bad people...

 

Which reminds me... how did you like that revised version of Manasseh's story as offered by the Chronicler? In 2 Chronicles 33, Manasseh is pretty rotten, but repents, whereas no such repentance is reported in 2 Kings 21...

 

On a gentler note, we continue our reading of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, and get to read Chapter 13 in its context in the letter, rather than the context in which we usually experience it: weddings. How might you hear this differently, now that you've experienced it in it's place within the letter?

 

Some think that Paul borrowed the poem in Chapter 13 from another source. Remember--there were very different understandings about authorship and attribution in the ancient world. Whether Chapter 13 is original to Paul or not, it's interesting seeing where he chooses to place it: right before he spends the next chapter correcting their behavior in worship, and reminding them what it's all about, Love, and God's love for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

As ever, thank you for being on this journey!

 

Peace,

Paige+ 


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the Rev. Paige Blair

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