“Cyrus, King of
Persia, says this:
The Lord, the God of
Heaven, has
given me all the
kingdoms of the earth
and has appointed me
to build Him a
Temple in Jerusalem,
which is in Judah.
Whoever there is
among you of all His
people, may his God
be with him!
Let him go up.”
Let him go up.”
--2nd Chronicles 36: 15
When I started my journey through the Bible, I was trying to
write at least one post on every book, but over the past few months I’ve gotten
off track. Family trials and work and
anniversaries, other writing[1]
and daily life have gotten in the way at times.
I’ve been reading, but not writing as much. And I have felt quite scattered; unfocused.
Out of sorts. And at times like I am
making a mess of everything: starting the laundry, but forgetting to put it in
the dryer; loading the dishwasher, but forgetting to start it –or forgetting to
add soap; feeding the cats but forgetting about their litter box; intending to
pray but allowing distractions to keep me distracted –scattered. As the psalmist says: “...All doers of evil
are scattered...” (92:9), and I certainly feel scattered –ineffectual-- even if
I don’t feel evil (at the moment).
I think my habit of writing and posting meditations broke down
around the time I was finishing 2nd Chronicles. I couldn’t keep up with everything, but I
kept reading. And occasionally I would write in my notebook—little comments and
thoughts. But by the time I was ready to
write a post, I was in the middle of a new book or 3 books on and I wanted to
write about that one instead and... despite everything getting out of sorts, I
went ahead and started writing comments about whatever it was I was reading at
that moment, for instance Nehemiah, or Tobit or Judith but something about 2nd
Chronicles[2]
kept troubling me. And mostly it was the
ending.
In the penultimate chapters (34-35), we meet the heroic
figure of Josiah, a king who restores order and glory to Jerusalem. Under his reign the Book of the Law (probably referring to Deuteronomy) is rediscovered (34:15) while the temple is being repaired.
With the rediscovered law in hand, Josiah rededicates the people and renews the
covenant with God. He is a king of great
zeal, intent on following the Lord. But just as suddenly there is the story of
his odd death (35:19ff). Necho, king of Egypt, is marching across Judah
to advance against an enemy and Josiah goes out with an army to intercept
him. Necho tells Josiah that his quarrel
is not with Judah. He has been commanded by God to march quickly against
another foe; warning Josiah, “Do not
interfere with God who is with me, as otherwise He will destroy you.” (35:21). But Josiah won’t listen. I imagine he couldn’t believe that God would
speak through the mouth of a pagan. And because
he ignores this warning, he suffers the consequences and is badly wounded and dies.
His death is followed by a series of kings who do what is displeasing “in the
eyes of the Lord.” And in less than a
chapter (36) we see the fall of Judah, the Babylonian Exile, and the return of
the Jews to Jerusalem. The final paragraph tells the story of Cyrus, the new
king of Persia, who sets the Jews free and sends them back to Jerusalem with
orders to rebuild their temple. The
final words of the book are a command from Cyrus to set the Jews free. Wow. In
the final pages of this history one pagan king speaks a warning from God, and another
pagan king setting the Jews free and sending them home. And I kept wondering: what is the author
saying? What did the author intend by these two pagan kings?
Then, I came across this interesting detail: 2nd
Chronicles is the final book in the Hebrew scripture (the Tanakh).
Which means that the Hebrew “Bible” ends
with stories of two pagan kings doing the work of God. And again, I wonder: What does that mean? The
last words in the Hebrew scripture are not from Moses or a prophet or a recalling of some piece of wisdom from Solomon or King David, but a proclamation from Cyrus of Persia: “Whoever,
there is among you of all His people, may his God be with
him! Let him go up.”
(36:23) Hmmm. To me, that is interesting.
Regardless of what any human author intended, what does
the REAL author of scripture mean by these two kings? What is God teaching us here? Are they a lesson in tolerance? A lesson in humility? A lesson in trust?
All three? I wonder... (Wait a minute!
There are THREE kings: Cyrus, Necho & Josia...Hmmm. Three kings?
Teaching us something?...sounds familiar... )
One thing is for certain: that the last words of the Hebrew scripture depict a pagan speaking a messianic message is pretty amazing... And definitely something worth contemplating. So, stay focused, Mr. Sutter. Don’t let yourself get distracted... Don’t be scattered... the dishes will still be there in the morning.
One thing is for certain: that the last words of the Hebrew scripture depict a pagan speaking a messianic message is pretty amazing... And definitely something worth contemplating. So, stay focused, Mr. Sutter. Don’t let yourself get distracted... Don’t be scattered... the dishes will still be there in the morning.
Lord,
Open our hearts to your word.
Give us the presence of mind and will
to remain with You in Your word. Teach
me to listen as You speak, and inspire me
to live what You teach.
Amen.
[1]
Working on some poems (3 were accepted for publication); and trying to get back
to my novel... (Poor Dorothy is stranded at MytiBurger on Kempwood )
[2] And
now I have read all the way to Maccabees and feel a need to write a word about...
Aargh. There is so much to contemplate
and so little time to... fold laundry.... let alone sleep.
