Kingdoms Fall, and introducing the Chronicler and Paul in his own words...

 

Dear Bible Challenge readers,

 

What an incredible week or so we've had with our readiings!

 

The conclusion of 2 Kings...The Northern Kingdom falls, and in the South we have the deep trouble of Manasseh, Isaiah makes a cameo appearance, the bright light of Josiah's reforms (and the re-discovery and reading of what we now believe is the part of the Deuteronomy scroll) to the siege and famine, and eventual "decapitation" of Jerusalem's society: all the leaders of government and religion carried off to Babylon, and finally, after an attempt at rebellion, King Zedekiah is forced to watch his sons be killed, and then is blinded-- the death of his children being the last thing he would ever see, before he was carried off in chains to Babylon.  (This "decapitation" was how the Babylonians handled those they conquered, as opposed to the disorienting moving around of peoples that was the m.o. of the Assyrians.  Hard to rebel when all the likely leaders are captive in far away Babylon...)

 

Did you notice how the author started basing the calendar on the years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, after chapters of dating by the reigns of the kings of Israel or Judah? Phew. In the final chapters the Babylonians undo everything the Kings of Judah (or Judah and Israel, looking back to David and Solomon's time) had done over the centuries: the House of the Lord, and all it's beautiful appointments, destroyed or removed. The royal palace and every important building in Jerusalem--destroyed. 

 

"So Judah went into captivity, away from her land."

 

And even those left behind would eventually flee to Egypt-- back to Egypt! Back to the place God had rescued them from! Outrageous! (This is how Jeremiah the prophet ends up with the refugees in Elephantine...)

 

It is safe to say that after the Exodus, there was no event in the history of Ancient Israel that had a greater role in shaping thought, theology and perspective than this destruction and Exile. The Davidic Monarch. The one who was supposed to be on the throne in Jerusalem al olam, forever, blinded, and carried off in chains.   How could this be? How?

 

And so we come to understand the urgency of the Deuteronomistic Historian... it had to be because we were unfaithful. And so we also come to understand the urgency of the Priestly redactors, working during the Exile (who brought us, among other things, alllll thoooooose lawwws in Leviticus....)  "This can never, ever happen again... and since it happened because we were unfaithful to God, we're going to set out a code that will ensure that, if we follow it, we will never ever go through this devastation again..."  

 

As we continue our reading in the Hebrew Scriptures, we'll continue to circle back to the destruction and Exile.  Some of the prophets will write about it (sometimes disagreeing with one another about what life after the Exile should be.) Lamentations will wail about it. The Psalms (137...including that last verse...) will sing about it... in a strange land... And when we get into the wisdom literature, different sages will disagree about it's meaning.

 

Chronicles, where we find ourselves now, cam feel like a twisted version of deja vu... It's not quite the same story all over again, though it seems like much is borrowed from Samuel and Kings--plenty is different. Written after the Restoration (so the earliest date could be about 536 BCE) it is far enough from the destruction and Exile to have a different take on things. In the Hebrew versions of the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles is not located where it is in our English Bibles (as something of a "set" with Ezra and Nehemiah, following the histories of Samuel and Kings ), but rather with the later Kethubim, or writings (such as the Psalms and Proverbs). (Samuel and Kings are gathered into the Nebiim, or Prophets in the Hebrew Bible.)  In some of the ancient collections, Chronicles is very last, as if to be a summary of all of the History... starting with Adam, as the opening verse does.  These first chapters might lead you to think you slipped back into Numbers... take time to see how the Chronicler composes his geneologies... but if your eyes start to cross, be kind to yourself, and move on.

 

It's been interesting to me that as we've read in Kings of idolatry on the rise, and then through reforms, eradicated (and what a collection of idols Josiah destroyed, and idolatrous practices such as temple prostitution, eliminated) and then brought back again, at the same time the Psalms have led us through some of the same conversations-- in poetry and song....those idols have mouths but are dumb, have feet, but don't walk... 

 

And then our opening chapter in Romans included his rant against various forms of idolatry, all of which lead to his conclusion that humanity is in desperate need of a savior...and so he launches into his offering about God's faithfulness  despite our lack of fidelity, and his understanding of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. 

 

And so I wonder, what are our modern idols? Those things we put in the place of God in our lives?

 

Romans is a beautiful letter-- the first in our canon, but among the last that Paul wrote. Many think the Letter to the Romans was Paul's masterpiece. Because of where he seems to be in his journeys, most scholars date the letter to the mid to late 50's CE. 

 

This is a change for us, leaving the narratives of the New Testament for the Epistles... no longer reading Luke's take on Paul, but Paul's take on God, Jesus, salvation, and the life of faith in Christian Community.

 

I'll be interested in your take on this transition, your thoughts on the narratives, now that we are moving on, and even whether you prefer the Samuel-Kings version or the Chronicles version of history.

 

Thank you, as ever, for being on this journey.

 

Paige+

  

 

 

 

 


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the Rev. Paige Blair

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