The World at the Edge of All Worlds

Rebuilding Jerusalem with Word and Spirit

One warning before proceeding. While I hesitate to blame anyone for the words that follow, I also want to give credit to those whose ideas I have mangled into a few thoughts on the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. I don’t credit them for fault, but if there are any good ideas, you can rest assured on of these men probably played a role: Eugen Rosenstock Huessy’s understanding of time and space; James Jordan’s writings on the repeated Biblical patterns of creating a new heavens and a new earth; N.T. Wright’s grand vision of people of God; and Matthew Levering’s commentary on Ezra & Nehemiah.

Before Nehemiah, before Ezra, before the command of Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem, there’s another story. If you miss that story, then the everything is just a tale out of time.

A Nation that precedes all nations
The epic tale of the nation of Israel starts with a pilgrim, leaving everything and everyone behind. Abraham hears the call to “Go Ye Forth.” He leaves the only world he has ever known behind, and enters the wilderness of nothingness on the basis of a calling and promise.

If he will leave the world he knows behind, God will create a new world, a new nation through him. This world, this nation, this tribe will break teh curse of sin and bless every person and every tribe and ultimately the entire cosmos.

This promise is not realized in Abraham’s life, his son’s life or even his grandson’s life. But it is remembered, restated and re-visioned in each of these generations. After hundreds of years, Abraham descendants through the promised son Isaac will follow the pattern of their father Abraham and leave behind an ancient world to go and start a new world.

Much like Abraham, they hear a call. Only now it is developed more fully in the form of Torah, the Law of God, which Israel will follow and understand as the wisdom of God to rule and bring His blessing to the world.

On the basis of this Word and the power of the Spirit, they will build the nation of Israel. Eventually, a king emerges from this nation who is the prince of peace, the Golden Son, the wisdom of God for the world. In the stories of ancient Israel, they will recount Solomon’s wisdom and blessing upon people and leaders throughout the world.

But his glory fades, and his kingdom is not stable. In spite of the blessings he brings to his people, he also plants seeds of idolatry and destruction that lead to the ultimate downfall of his nation.

His son leads the nation into civil war and the splitting of the kingdom into two: the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). These two kingdoms never match the earlier hope of Solomon’s rule and eventually both kingdoms fall.

Collapsing symbols and burning buildings
When Judah falls, the heart of this world of promise is destroyed. All the symbols of their elect status as the blessed nation are destroyed. The king is captured, the temple is destroyed, the land is ruined, and the people are taken away.

No name, no place, no people
In the land of Babylon, they are no longer the chosen nation. They have lost their status, their identity, their name and even their God. They are forsaken, cast aside, humiliated. Their nobles are renamed with the names of Babylonian gods, and they are assimilated into the Babylonian culture. No longer a distinct people, the once chosen children of Abraham face inevitable demise of every assimilated people group, eventually they will cease to exist as a unique people and only the fading memory of them will survive.

The InSpirited Word and the beginning of the world
During this dark night of the grave, a group of prophets begin speaking and writing of their redemption. The old symbols of law and land and king and temple are reshaped, remembered, recreate in new ways. The old images, the old ideas, the old vision are now passed away. But new images, new ideas, new visions are presented.

A new story is told that connects the old story of Abraham’s call and promise with a vision of a new world. The law written in stone will be written on the heart. A new king will emerge who will be more glorious than any of the ancient kings. He will restore the throne of David. He will defeat their enemies and bring true justice and wisdom to the land. The new temple will be a source of healing for all nations.

These songs and visions and tales told by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others inSpire the people with a new hope. This hope sustains some of the captives and gives them a new name for the land of Babylon. It is not their new home but rather it is their temporary exile from a home to which they or their children will one day return.

The men and women who tell and retell these songs and visions and tales are prophets or builders. Instead of building with bricks and mortar, they build with what comes before the brick and before the clay. They build with words, symbols through the power, breath of the Spirit. The symbolic world they build eventually gives birth the world that Ezra and Nehemiah describe.

Personal questions about the new world
As I think about this world shaped by Word and Spirit, I think about my own world. What world do I live in? What about my family? What about my nation? How can I begin to think about the symbols at the center of my world(s)? Here are some ideas. I think could start a list about my own life that includes personal heroes (real or imagined), villains (real or imagined), places that speak to my soul, stories that capture my heart, dreams the drive me forward. And this is just a start.

I might also think about symbols in my own life or nation that have lived and died. Have I suffered the pain of dying dreams? This might help me understand both the end of my world, the end of Israel’s world and the hope of creating a new world.

Notes on each chapter:

Ezra 1 – The Power to Create the World

Ezra 2 - The Resurrection of Israel in a Band of Exiles

Ezra 3 – Rebuilding the Person in the Rhythm of Worship and Community

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