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| Coins from Babylon, 500 BCE |
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| A "dragon" from the Ishtar Gate. |
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| Looted treasure from the National Museum of Iraq. |
The coming Babylonian Exodus is palpable in this chapter.
God has blessed the steadfast with spiritual redemption. They are the faithful
who have held the line against assimilation, idolatry, unprincipled and
licentious living; they are the ones who have taken his law into their hearts.
They are to be the returnees who will repopulate Jerusalem and be a light unto
the nations. This small group of the righteous is the group that Isaiah is
addressing. Free-will has separated the wheat from the chaff. Those who remain
in Babylon will throw their lot in with their host nation. For good or ill, this
group of Jews who stay will be a minority living amongst a dominant culture. Many
scholars pinpoint this pivotal event of those who remain in Babylon as the
starting point of the Jewish diaspora experience. Those who go back are returning revitalized,
with a new intimacy and understanding of God.
Rabbi: Chapter 51.
This chapter marks a dynamic transition. The faithful are being addressed and
it feels very personal as if this is directed towards individuals rather than
the collective group.
Bill: It’s like a “rallying cry.”
Bob: Where is the remnant today? Should we be returning to
Israel?
Rabbi: This is a historic reality. Some will go back to
Jerusalem but many will stay in Babylon and thrive. We are the inheritors of
both groups. The Jews who go write the Jerusalem Talmud; those who stay write
the Babylonian Talmud. Our experience has been coined the “tension of the
diaspora.”
Gary: I think this is a short view of this situation.
Everything changes. Perhaps in the future we will need to return to Israel but
for now we are thriving here.
Joel: We don’t require God to be in Israel. We don’t need to
be in Israel to have God. God transcends history and borders. The returning
Israelites have internalized the lesson of justice and morality. This is one of
the things that separated us from the polytheists of ancient times.
Bill: I read that there is a debate going on as to whether
all the Nazi research should be discounted due to the way it was collected
regardless of its accuracy.
Bob: This kind of retrogression denies progress.
Joel: Many ancient cultures had progressive ideas about
science. The problem was their theology which undermined advances and outcomes.
Bob: Like Gailaleo.
Rabbi: You make a significant point!
Gary: I think we need more tolerance for one another.
Ellen: Chapter 51:6 “My victory shall stand forever,/ My salvation through the ages.”
If God is in charge why does he
need to be constantly bolstered? “The victory of our God!” Is he in charge or
not?
Bob: I think you are being too literal. It’s a spiritual
victory.
Joel: This is a reiteration that he is the true God. Other
groups of people believed that if you lost your country then your god was lost
too. Their gods were connected to their land but this is not true for the
exiled Israelites. God is everywhere.
Rabbi: ( Answering Ellen’s query.) This is a victory. God
has used external forces (the Assyrians and the Babylonians) to punish the
Israelites, but they have been too harsh. God uses empires as tools, but all
people have free will. There is a battle between these forces.
Ellen: God is trying to get rid of the non-believers.
Bob: This is symbolic language.
Rabbi: I don’t think it is symbolic. I think God is saying
“I have brought you back.”
Ellen: I still think that God is depending on the people to
agree that he is victorious and powerful.
Rabbi: We choose to follow God’s plan. At times, he lets go
of control.
Ceil: God chastises but he doesn’t abandon us. It’s amazing
that we will return home in peace.
Cynthia: That is the triumph and the victory.
Ceil: There is no battle.
Rabbi: This is a turning point. We leave without bloodshed.
Throughout our history, the Israelites have consistently been
engaged in war. Israel’s experience of war has strengthened as well as diminished
it, yet now the Israelites are assured by God that they will be able to leave
Babylon peacefully. I see this as one of the most salient moments in the book
of Isaiah. God’s unmitigated power has been shown to be beyond all natural
limits and laws of nature. He has used his power again and again to aid the
Israelites in gaining their land, in fighting off foes and to punish them when
they have transgressed. Why does God allow the Israelites to return peacefully
now ? Where has all the violence gone?
The following three
images are seared in my brain:
1. Back in 2011, my son and I were channel surfing on the
television. While eating popcorn, we happened to see the horrific spectacle of
Mummar Qaddafi being sodomized and beaten by a mob.
2. I saw a photo of children in a National Geographic
magazine. It is a close- up of 4-5 youths standing in a semi- circle laughing.
One of the children is holding the dismembered tail of a lizard. The lizard, in
turn, is clenching down on his own bloodied tail as he is dangled from a height.
3. As a child, in the hopes of gaining the approval of some
older boys, I threw a rock and struck a bullfrog causing it to die. With
crystal clarity I remember the luminous pale yellow underbelly as it went “belly
up.” Its elongated tongue unrolled from its mouth as it lay buoyant on the
water’s surface. Despite the round of high fives I received from the boys, I
went home feeling disgusted and sickened.
The term “the
banality of evil” was coined by Hannah Arendt in her brilliant book, Eichman in
Jerusalem. She states that complicity and distance (lack of empathy and
relatedness) allows the unthinkable to be perpetrated. Each of us has
perpetuated a cruelty to varying degrees and knows on a visceral level how
crushing it feels to the soul. Violence creates a void, but true repentance
fills this space with compassion for sentient beings and us. Through this
process comes healing and relatedness. Each person constructs a version of my
bullfrog that sits upon their shoulders, which functions as a reminder of who
we are meant to become.
Chapter 2:4 “And they shall beat their swords into
plowshares
And their spears into
pruning hooks:
Nation shall not take
up
Sword against nation;
They shall never
again know war.”
L’Shana Tova! Wishing
all a healthy, productive and joyous New Year.
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