Book
Three (Psalms
73-89): Grapples with crisis, national pain, and the Babylonian exile.
The
seizure of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 B.C. was horrific:
“The
siege lasted for eighteen months, during which time the people of Jerusalem
were starved to the point of cannibalism (see Lamentations 4:8-10). As the
final defences broke down and the Babylonians became victorious, King Zedekiah
and his army fled toward the Jordan River but were captured. He was forced to
watch as his family was murdered, and then the Babylonians put out his eyes and
took him captive to Babylon.
“The
city was burned, Solomon’s temple was destroyed, and the kingdom of Judah came
to an end. According to Jeremiah, the Babylonians took the remnant of the
people captive to Babylon except for some who were left behind under Babylonian
rule (see Jeremiah 39:8-10). Thus Nebuchadnezzar was able to control Judah by
keeping the leaders in captivity, and some few of the people were allowed to
remain behind to harvest the crops. The breakup and displacement of the Jews removed
the threat of national revival. (Old Testament Student Manual Book 2: The
Lasting Effects of the Fall and Captivity of Judah)
The
Book of Psalms lets us experience this painful event in Judah’s history first-hand
through the lamentation of Asaph:
“O
God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; they holy temple have they
defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. How long, Lord? Wilt thou be angry
for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? For they have devoured Jacob and
laid waste his dwelling place. O remember not against us former iniquities; let
thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for we are brought very low. Help us, O
God of our salvation for the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and purge away
our sins, for thy name’s sake. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy
face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Psalm 79:1,5,7,8,9; Psalm 80:7).
I
literally cried reading this. There is a great lesson to be learnt in
repentance and that is that even forgiveness of our sins cannot wipe away
consequences. They serve a mighty purpose, the memory of suffering through them
deters a return to former sins:
“The
captivity had a profound effect on Judaism. Scholars almost universally agree
that the Jews never returned to image worship after the captivity. The fall of
Jerusalem was a great turning point in Israel’s religious life. From earliest
times the sin of idolatry had existed in Israel, and the prophets of every age
had combated it. After the fall, idolatry eased to be a problem for the Jews.
“The
captivity seemed to impress upon the minds of the Jewish people that the God of
Israel was, indeed, a jealous God. The prophets had been right in their
warnings of the doom and destruction that would follow if the people did not
repent and follow their God and Him only. The nation, as a whole, accepted the
verdict that God’s wrath had been poured down upon them for the sin of image
worship. They reached the conclusion that only the God of Israel should be
worshipped. Henceforth, Israel became a very zealous nation for its God. This
zeal took the form of devotion to Jehovah’s law, which led over the years to
the creation of numerous rules of conduct that went beyond the law itself. This
has been described as building “a hedge around the Law to render its
infringement or modification impossible” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah, 2 Vols.; Old Testament Student Manual 2: The
Lasting Effects of the Fall and Captivity of Judah)
The
captivity of Judah was like a cleansing fire that brought the nation to its
senses which purged the sin of idolatry from their very being. The Messianic Psalm
89 echoes the mercy, greatness, justice and judgment of the Holy One of Israel
and Judah’s vision of the coming of Messiah to restore the throne of David through
Christ, God’s Firstborn. What hope such
words must have been to the suffering of the souls of Judah’s nation in the midst
of their repentance:
“I
will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations. For who in the heaven can be compared unto
the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? The
heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness
thereof, thou hast founded them. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy
throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. For the Lord is our defence
and the Holy One of Israel is our king.” (Psalm 89:1,6,11,14,18)
The
scars of sin do not last forever. The sin is purged when sin is discarded and
our hearts are turned to Him who can make us whole again. He is our Saviour,
our Redeemer, our all…
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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