Shavuot picture uploaded by yanec

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

Huran joins his voice to the hearty throng of men belting out this song as they walk on pilgrimage. The explosive joy of these worshiping Hebrews seems to shake the ground beneath their dancing feet.

Today is Shavuot. And these hearty pilgrims burst out with rejoicing in this feast of thanksgiving, of harvest, of celebration for the abundant blessings from the Lord. Today the people gather and offer praise and thanks for the great and wondrous gift of Torah.

Shavuot is the first fruits festival celebrated seven weeks after Passover. On this holy day, the Hebrews bring their first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem rejoicing in the trustworthiness of the Lord.

But today Jerusalem sits empty. No festival. No shouting. No singing.

Huran and the pilgrims are not in Jerusalem. They celebrate as captives in the land of Babylon. They rejoice in the place of their forsakenness.

When they first entered the land, the suffering was too great, too painful. As they begin to grasp the loss of land and name and culture, they crumbled under the grief and devastation. They hung up their harps and could no longer sing, but only weep by the rivers of Babylon.

Over time, the words of Ezekiel and Isaiah taught them expectation and hope in the midst of struggle. They learned to find joy in their longing for the day of the Lord. They learned to sing songs of praise in the land of the forsaken.

So today they rejoice in the promise of returning.  They dream of Jerusalem.

Huran sings with the celebrating throng, and he also dreams of Jerusalem. He longs to return home. He longs to worship at the rebuilt Temple. He longs to see the end of the great exile.

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.

Huran serves the Lord in the rhythms of planting and harvesting. He is a simple farmer who works the ground, who cultivates the land, who serves his family and community.

He is not a Levite; he is not a diplomat; he is not a royal son. In fact, he’s not a Hebrew at all.

Huran is not only an exile, he’s an alien. Alien to this land, alien to his people and alien to Jerusalem.

Born in the great city of Sidon, Huran came from a wealthy Phoenician family. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Phoenicia, he was captured and eventually ended up in Babylon.

When he first encountered the Hebrews, he fell in love with their stories. The great lawgiver Moses, the warrior king David, the wise Solomon. The more he heard, the more he felt like these people were his own family. Their stories rooted inside his heart and bloomed in his imagination, his speech, his worship.

Visions of a restored Jerusalem filled his mind, and he longed, ached to go home to the home where he had never been. He was a wild vine that longed to be grafted into the vineyard of HaShem. His interest led to his obedience and submission to the way of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Today Huran walks alongside the Hebrew men as a brother. He joins them walking to the synagogue to read from Torah, meditate upon God’s commands, and worship the Holy One who dwells in unapproachable light.

He lives as an adopted son, a vine grafted to the vine of God. As the people around him sing, he sings:

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
The Lord bless you from Zion!

The people burst forth in song and dance, repeating this refrain,
The Lord bless you from Zion!

And as they sing, they form a circle turning and facing one another while singing again and again:

The Lord bless you from Zion!
The Lord bless you from Zion!
The Lord bless you from Zion!

Huran laughs and claps and rests in the goodness of the Lord.

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
May you see your children’s children!
Peace be upon Israel!

In these simple, faithful words of worship, he hears the simple, faithfulness of HaShem. As an exile and as an alien, Huran takes comfort in the absolute, unswerving faithfulness of the Lord. His simple life, his family, his dreams are all resting in the Word of Hashem. So Huran lives in the fear of God, in the trust of the God of Israel.

He has no Hebrew heritage, but studying Torah and singing the songs of the people of God, he has learned the way of the Lord. In his small, hidden acts of loving faithfulness in work and in family life, he has been granted the privilege to participate in the grand story that encircles all stories: the story of God’s love poured on and in the people living in darkness. By God’s grace, his life brings glory to the God above all glory.

So he sings. He dreams. And he draws joy from the promise that HaShem will bring His people home to Jerusalem.

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