No. 32. >> Okay. That's helpful. Let's continue this. When the exile happened, what were its circumstances? >>DR. DANIEL L. GARD: I'm glad you asked that. Because the idea of exile is one that perhaps is misunderstood. Remember, there were at least four deportations. The major one, of course, being the deportation of 586-587. What happened, though, is that the people who were deported -- and indeed, not all the nation was deported. The primary people who were taken into captivity were those who were the ruling classes, the wealthy, the nobles, the priestly cast. Those who were influential in society. Many people, in fact, did remain in the land. However, the whole social structure was intentionally disrupted by the Babylonians in their exile. Babylonians were not the only ones to do this. The Assyrians had done it. In fact, it was common practice in ancient Near East times that if you conquered a nation, you would simply take captive many of the leading people. In that way you could subjugate those who remained because they did not have a, so to speak, chain of command that anymore existed among them. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and began these major deportations, the people who were deported were brought into settlements. We read, for example, in the book of Ezekiel of the River Chebar and Tel Aviv as two areas in which many of the deportees were settled. They began to spread, though, throughout the Babylonian empire as the exile continued on. We see sites, for example, Tel Melah and Tel Harsha, ***Vella, ***Casepha, ***Narida, ***Nacebius. Some of those mentioned in biblical texts: Nehemiah, Ezra. As well as some of the ancient non-biblical texts such as Josephus, the great ancient historian. Throughout this period of exile, it can best be described as a painful longing for the homeland. There were, in fact, some who incited insurgency among those who were in exile. We'll read about this in Ezekiel 13. But while in exile, the people of God basically settled into an agricultural life. And in fact, that life did not seem to have been be too bad. They were allowed even to organize their own religious communities. For example, in Jeremiah 29 we read about the elders of the captivity. In other words, there was some sort of a social structure that existed within the nation even in exile. In Ezekiel 8:1 about the elders of the house of Judah we see people like Daniel. Remember, who was taken in that first captivity who is trained in the Babylonian court. And ultimately is entrusted with a very responsible position within that court. We know from II Kings 25 that Jehoiachin and his sons, that is the royal house of David that had been taken captive, had been given very kind treatment. So in many ways the captivity was not so much of physical suffering and enslavement as it was one of profound loss and pain over what had once been. One can only imagine what it would have been like to have your nation destroyed. And to be sitting now in the farms and cities of the one who had conquered you. Without the freedom to return. And to think back about the glorious past that Israel had once enjoyed under kings like David and Solomon. And to mourn that. In the Lutheran hymnals over the centuries we have always had a psalter, that is psalms, that is prayed within the liturgy of the church. There's a notable set of songs, though, that have not been included within the psalter. Are not included in any of the current hymn books. And they are called imprecatory psalms. And they are called that because they speak of things -- of pain -- of even calling God's visitation of wrath upon the enemies of God. And these have not been deemed to be a part of the usual worship of the church. Let me read one of those to you. This is Psalm 137. And as I read this psalm, I want you to listen not just to the words. But to the pain, the emotion that is expressed. This is a psalm that comes from the Babylonian captivity. Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our hearts. For there our captors asked us for songs. Our tormenters demanded songs of joy. They said. Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget it's skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you. If I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. Remember, O, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. Tear it down, they cried. Tear it down to its foundations. Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us. He who ceases your infants and dashes them against the rocks. With those words the psalm ends. The pain, the pathos, of knowing what was lost. By the rivers of Babylon.