The following is a
Meditation written by Doug Hood’s son,
Nathanael Hood, MA,
New York University.
“But now, says the LORD — the one who created you, Jacob, the one who
formed you, Israel: Don't fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by
name; you are mine. When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you; when through the rivers, they won't
sweep over you. When you walk through
the fire, you won't be scorched and flame won't burn you. I am the Lord your God, the holy one of
Israel, your savior. I have given Egypt
as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious in my eyes, you are
honored, and I love you. I give people
in your place, and nations in exchange for your life. Don't fear, I am with you. From the east I'll bring your children; from
the west I'll gather you. I'll say to
the north, ‘Give them back!’ and to the south, ‘Don't detain them.’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters
from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name and whom I created
for my glory, whom I have formed and made.”
Isaiah 43:1-7 (Common
English Bible)
The fall
of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE was the literal end of the world for the
Jewish people. This is no turn of phrase—for the ancient Judeans it was an
eschatological cataclysm. They were the Chosen People of the one true God, the
God who led them out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land. This God was no
abstract, metaphorical force, but a God physically present with them in their
wanderings through the wilderness, physically present in his direct
communications with his prophets and kings, and physically present within their
sacred temple, a temple built to his specific measurements and design. Yet
despite his presence, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had laid waste to the
city, looted their temple, and dragged the survivors into slavery. Even their
kings, descendants of the divinely appointed line of David and Solomon, were
humiliated and destroyed: Jehoiakim died during Jerusalem’s besiegement,
Jeconiah was driven into exile, and Zedekiah was blinded, taken to Babylon, and
imprisoned until his death.
The
world had ended. And yet God had not abandoned them. It is here in the Book of
Isaiah that we encounter this passage, one of the purest messages of hope and
love in the entire Old Testament. You have been broken, God says, but I have
created you. You have sinned and been punished, but I shall redeem you. You have
been enslaved, yet you are mine. You have been cursed and spat upon, beaten and
destroyed, yet you are precious in my eyes. You have been scattered to the
winds, but I shall bring you home.
It is
important to remember that the Book of Isaiah was not written all at once by
the same authors. Scholars believe that only the first half—roughly chapters
1-39—can be directly attributed to the ancient prophet, a man who’d predicted
the fall of Jerusalem about a hundred years earlier. Scholars believe that this
passage of hope and restoration was added by an anonymous author written during
the Jewish captivity in Babylon. For this author, the disbelieving horror of
Jerusalem’s destruction was still fresh and powerful. We cannot imagine the
surreality of having one’s entire worldview and culture shattered by a
conquering army. And yet, even in this time, the writer felt hope.
If it
took a century for Isaiah’s prophecy of destruction to come true, it would take
another sixty for his prophecy of restoration. In 539 BCE, the Persian king
Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to return to their homeland. Two years
later, under the instruction of the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews
rebuilt the walls and sacred temple of Jerusalem. And for another half
millennium they stood tall and mighty until falling before a new conqueror:
Imperial Rome. Once more the Jews despaired. And once more God responded that he
had not abandoned them. For this time he would send the greatest gift of hope
mankind would ever know: a Son. A Son who would announce the destruction of
death, a Son who would preach a life everlasting, a Son who would reveal a new
world without end. And even in our darkest hour, this Son would remind us that
we need not despair. The victory has been won. The world might fall, but God
will not.
