1 Kings 20:1-21:29, Acts 12:24-13:15, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 17:16
Today is the 19th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today to take the next step forward on the adventure that we’re on, the epic adventure of a journey through the entire Bible in a year and we are definitely moving along. If you can believe it, about a week and a half and we will have reached the halfway point. I find that hard to believe but I do believe it, it happens every year, But, yeah, we’re nearing the halfway point. So, well done. But we’re not there yet, we’re here and we’ve been reading from the Amplified Bible this week, which is what we’ll continue to do. First Kings chapter 20 and 21 today.
Commentary:
Alright. So, today we read Psalm 137 and it’s, you know, it’s a dark lamenting song about people who have been carried away from their homeland and their homeland has been destroyed and assimilated. And, so, their captors are saying, “sing us some of your songs.” And they’re like, “how can…how can we do that? Like, we’re brokenhearted. How can we…how can we do that?” So, we’ve got a little bit of a time difference here. The ancient Israel we’re reading about in first Kings was divided into two kingdoms, right? We remember that, right, after Solomon’s reign, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Neither of those kingdoms endured. So, like that’s the thing. Often, it’s just kind of in our mindset, not understanding history. We think of Israel and a modern context, as if it’s been a contiguous constant populated place by the Hebrew people since the Bible. That’s not exactly how it how it went. The northern and the southern kingdoms that we’re reading about in the Bible, neither one of them survived. Eventually the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire and we’ve seen the Assyrian, right, Ben-hadad, right, coming and attacking and God pushing them back. But eventually Assyria will conquer the northern kingdom and then later the kingdom of Judah will fall to the Babylonian Empire. And these are all stories that we will encounter because the biblical narrative will take us through that territory. But before we get there just understanding just a few things will be helpful. When empires invaded and conquered new territory, they began a process of basically systematically destroying the underlying culture in these captured lands. So, when we see these captors asking the Hebrew people, “sing us songs of Zion” to amuse them, this is kind of one way of saying, you know, that was, “these are old songs…you are not there…just basically amuse us with your songs of worship for your God, who did not protect you from us.” So, one of the ways of assimilating conquered people into the Empire was exile, right? So, people who had been conquered will be taken from their homeland and resettled somewhere else in other conquered lands where those people had been sent somewhere else, right? Mixing it all up so nobody has anything native. Everyone’s in exile in some way after they’ve been conquered and then in future generations as the people assimilate, as they become a part of the Empire, then they forget over the generations. They’ll forget their history, they’ll forget their allegiances to anything other than the Empire because they won’t remember anything else. That’s the perspective of what we’re reading in Psalm 137, right? “Beside the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem and we hung our harps on branches because our captors were demanding…demanding us to sing.” “Sing…sing one of those songs of Jerusalem.” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?” So, when we read the words of Psalm 137 through the lens of exile then they become profoundly meaningful because we know why they’re being said. The people had been displaced. They had been hauled out of their homes. They had been forcibly resettled in faraway lands. I mean families were torn apart, some going one place, some going another, like and maybe never to ever see each other again. And, of course, you know, most of the conquering happened through war so a lot of people had died and the land was pillaged. So, where there was once a homeland and life and laughter now there was lament. And it helps us just to understand this because this is territory we will go into but also just to consider, have you ever felt like this? Like, have you ever felt like you were in exile? Like the life that you used to have that was familiar to you somehow got tipped upside down and you don’t recognize the world anymore. We’ve all faced these season’s, whether it’s through the death of someone we loved or through the betrayal of someone that we loved or some other way that our soul has been crushed. Psalm 137 lets us know that we’re not alone. We’re not the only ones like Elijah thought when he was in the cave. We’re not the only ones to ever feel this way. And we have to appreciate that this Psalm doesn't…doesn’t end with some sort of nice little bow, like some frosting on top, as were so prone to do it. It just…it just sits there being honest. So, if you’re kinda feeling like I relate, I mean I haven’t been conquered and pulled into new land, but I relate to what exile might feel, then be honest, honest with yourself, honest with God. You may be closer to yourself and to God then you’ve ever been. You just don’t recognize it because it’s not what you’re familiar with, but believe me on this, God is not avoiding your honesty no matter what your honesty looks like. It’s your dishonesty that he would rather do without. That’s the problem. So, exile wasn’t the end of the story for these people. We’re just reading a Psalm from the time that they were in exile. And we’ll get all that. It’s not the end of your story either but hiding and denying what’s really going isn’t gonna help, honest. And feel the honest embrace of your Father.
Prayer:
Father, we come to You needing that embrace. We need that comfort as we consider the many disruptions that can happen on any given day or week or month. And sometimes we’re so disrupted that nothing looks familiar anymore. Its…life as we knew it has come to an end, and now we have to find a new way forward. And we feel so alone when we’re not alone. And, so, we come running to You and we’re honest before You about how bad this hurts. We just can’t put a bow on it right now. We just can’t spin it for the positive right now because it’s not, but You will lead us forward and something good will come from this and we believe that You are good and we believe, in hindsight, things will start making sense. And, so, we cling to You from this place, this place that we don’t really want to be in, this place that feels like exile. We cling to You. You are our only hope. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Song:
Sherri Youngward - Restore My Soul
Lead me beside the water so still
Let me catch my breath
Let me drink my fill
Let me lie in fields of green
Where only gentle breezes blow
I’ll reach out my empty hands
For the cup that over flows
Restore my soul, Restore my soul
Restore my soul, Restore my soul
I’ve stood too long here in these shadows
These valley walls are all I see
I need the skilled eyes of my Shepherd
Now my vision’s failing me
Restore my soul, Restore my soul
Restore my soul, Restore my soul
Then I will run and not be weary
I will walk and not faint
I will soar with wings of eagles
In God alone is my strength
Restore my soul, Restore my soul
Restore my soul, Restore my soul
Surely goodness and mercy
Will find their way to me
And I will live with them forever
I will have no more need
The Lord is my Shepherd
He is my God
I will live with Him forever
I shall not want