Exile and Return

Bible Text:  Ezekiel 5:5–8; 36:22–32; Zechariah 1:1–6
Lesson Focus:  Even when we feel separated, God always welcomes us back.
Big Question:  How can I be sure that God is really with me?
Key Words:  EXILE, BABYLON, JERUSALEM, FAITHFULNESS, PROPHET

Prepare
Quick Prep
• The Babylonian exile of the Jews from their homeland was a turning point in the life of God's people, reshaping them for new life with God. This forced exile happened over several years and lasted for about 60 years.
• The prophets who served during the exile and the return emphasized God's presence and purpose among the people and in all events—even painful and tragic ones. Ezekiel recalled the people to a life dedicated to Yahweh.
• The release from exile came in stages, beginning with the edict of Persian King Cyrus in 538 B.C.E. that allowed exiles to return and reestablish their worship of God.
• Ezra and Nehemiah were concerned with religious reform, organizing the returning community around Torah, and rebuilding the temple. Both Ezra (a priest) and Nehemiah (a political leader) had a strong sense of God's working in history and God's ability to use whomever God wills.
• The prophets of the post-exilic period (including Ezekiel and Zechariah) laid the basis in language and imagery for the development of biblical apocalyptic writing. Unlike much popular apocalyptic literature today, biblical apocalyptic literature was written to reassure oppressed people of God's power and abiding presence and mercy.

Deep Prep
This session covers a 200 year period between the Babylonians' capture of Jerusalem in 598 B.C.E. to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah in 445 B.C.E. (Check out the timeline of this period in the Lutheran Study Bible, pp. 30–32). During this period, the Jews lost the Jerusalem temple, which had been overrun with false idols and unfaithful sacrifices, and lived without any sign of God's presence except the words that they remembered and the words spoken to them by prophets. Only then was Yahweh, who had remained faithful, able to regain their attention and recall them to the covenant promises. After decades in exile in Babylon, the Jews were allowed to return.

The exile came about in stages. In 598 B.C., Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar deported several thousand people, including the elite of society. Deportations continued for several years until all but the poorest people were exiled from the land. In Babylon, the exiles lived "freely" as long as they did not try to escape and return. Many made permanent homes. From the time of the first deportations, the exile lasted about 60 years, or almost three generations (597 to 445 B.C.), so that most deportees died in Babylon. Of those who finally returned, most had never known life in Palestine.

Through the prophets, God's people came to understand that the exile and their suffering was important to the people's readiness for a new relationship with God. Ezekiel includes oracles of warning (chapters 1–24) from before the fall of Jerusalem, oracles against foreign nations (chapters 25–32), and oracles of hope (chapters 33–48) from after Jerusalem's destruction. Ezekiel emphasized God's presence and purpose among the people and in all events. Ezekiel recalled the people to a holy and just life dedicated to Yahweh (36:26–27).

The return from exile, as the exile itself, came in stages. After the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 B.C.E., the Babylonian empire weakened from internal strife and lack of leadership, and in 539 B.C.E., the Persian Cyrus conquered Babylon. In 538 B.C.E., the Persian King Cyrus, whom Isaiah (45:1) names the Lord's anointed ("messiah"), issued an edict allowing the exiles to return and reestablish their worship. Ezra led another wave of returning exiles under Persian King Artaxerxes I (464 to 423 B.C.E.), and Nehemiah led a group under King Artaxerxes II (404 to 358 B.C.E.). Judah remained subject to the Persian Empire from 583 to 332 B.C., when the Macedonian Alexander the Great conquered Persia and its lands.

How was the post-exilic community to be defined? What was the source of their identity as a people? The temple rebuilding was crucial, but what was the central meaning of the temple? A building in itself did not give them an identity as God's people. For Ezra and Nehemiah, a strengthening of the Zadokite priesthood and an emphasis on Torah were to be the basis for the community's identity. Nehemiah also emphasized prayer. Having witnessed the role in the community's restoration not only through Cyrus but also through subsequent Persian rulers, both Ezra (9:8–9) and Nehemiah had a strong sense of God's working in history and God's ability to use whomever God wills.

After the exile, the prophet Zechariah continued to call the people to repent and return to God (Zechariah 1:1–6). In eight visions, Zechariah proclaimed judgment, restoration under Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the coming of a messiah (1:7—6:15). At the restoration and coming of the messiah, all the exiles would return (chapters 9–11). Zechariah prophesied a day when God, who rules the earth and all history, would overthrow all the rulers and reestablish Jerusalem (chapters 12–13). Despite Zechariah's prophesying a king and messiah to come, their focus was not on kingship or the Davidic dynasty. Their emphasis was priestly. They focused on rebuilding the temple and establishing true, purified worship of God in preparation for the coming of a messianic age.

God is God of history. Believers have witnessed God's activity in history, for example, through the Persian kings, the priest Ezra, and the governor Nehemiah. God works where and through whom God wills. In considering where God is at work in the world, It's important not only to look around for signs of God's grace and for times and places where justice and compassion are found but also to take a long view and consider the perspective of history. What future does God have in mind? Where is the current conflict or controversy going? In our actions, being faithful means not only showing compassion and acting for justice in the immediate moment but also participating in the long arc of history that bends toward God's kingdom coming on earth as in heaven. This always means change, which is something we humans often resist. Taking the long view—from the perspective of God's working in history to bring the kingdom of grace and peace—helps us see more clearly and act more faithfully.

Adolescent Connection
 How can I be sure that God is really with me?

This lesson on exile and return teaches us that disaster and disconnection often come out of disobedience. But we also learn of God's constant desire to lovingly reconnect with us and restore us through our confession and the promise of forgiveness in Christ. Time-honored ways of behaving can keep us connected with God and God's people. Students will discover how God's demands and God's promises are both intended to keep them walking with confidence and hope through difficult and confusing days. God's will for us always longs for reconciliation and return.

Baptismal Connection
In the Rite of Affirmation of Baptism, a five-part question addresses each confirmand's intent to continue in the covenant God made with them in Holy Baptism. Here We Stand resources help students—with support from parents, leaders, and the entire congregation—prepare to answer this question as they continue in their lifelong faith journey.

Today's lesson focuses on the clause "to strive for justice and peace in all the earth" (Lutheran Book of Worship, page 201; Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 236).

While the words of the prophet Zechariah were originally intended to guide the returning exiles, they continue to suggest a constant returning to God's ideals that should be true of the baptized today: "These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, says the LORD" (Zechariah 8:14–17).