Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Chapter one - part two. The Cry of the Oppressed.

Jerusalem
David’s son Solomon comes to power. Solomon is brilliant and wise and wealthy, and Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom begins to gain a global reputation. A queen for the land of Sheba comes to visit Solomon. She’s from far away, from a different land, from a different kind of people, with a different religion. And she wants to know more about these people and their king and their God in Jerusalem.

Wasn’t this what Sinai was all about? God was looking for a body, a nation to show the world just who God is and what God is like. And now it’s happening: foreigners from the corners of the earth are coming to ask questions and learn and just who this God is.

After survey the kingdom, Sheba says “Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.” And what does she mean by “justice and righteousness”? - Freedom, liberation from violence, protection from anything dehumanizing. She understands that God has given all of this wealth and power and influence so that Solomon would use it on behalf of those who are poor, weak, and suffering from injustice. Sheba gets it. Solomon, like us, can use his power and wealth to do something about the cry of the oppressed, or he can turn a deaf ear.

The Bible tells the story: “Here is the account of the forces labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem.”

Solomon had slaves. Slaves who labored to build his temple, palace, and other buildings. Wait. The Lord’s temple? This is the same Lord who sets slaves free correct? The defining event of Solomon’s ancestors was the exodus right? And now Solomon is building a temple for the God who sets slaves free… using slaves? This is a major moment in the Bible. In just a few generations, the oppressed become the oppressors. In a few generations these wandering former slaves who were newly rescued from an oppressive empire have become empire-builders themselves. Solomon isn’t maintaining justice, he’s now perpetuating the very injustice his people once needed redemption from and, in the process, building a kingdom of comfort.

Solomon uses his massive resources and wealth to build military bases to protect his…massive resources and wealth. His empire-building leads him to place a high priority on preservation. Protecting and maintain all that has been accumulated is taking more and more resources.

Moses said (Duet. 17:16-17) that the king “ must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord had told you, ‘You are not to go back the way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”

Solomon breaks covenant with God. Jerusalem is the new Egypt. Solomon is the new Pharaoh. Sinai has been forgotten. This puts God in an awkward place.

Babylon
God is searching for a body, a community of people to care for the things God cares about. God gives power and blessing so that justice and righteousness will be upheld for those who are denied them.

At the height of their power, Israel misconstrued God’s blessing as favoritism and entitlement. They became indifferent to God and to their priestly calling to bring liberation to others. There is a word for this. A word for what happens when you still have the power and the wealth and the influence, and yet in some profound way you’ve blown it because you’ve forgotten why you were given it in the first place. The word is exile. Exile is when you forget your story. Exile isn’t just about location; exile is about the state of your soul. Exile is when you fail to convert your blessing into blessings for others. Exile is when you find yourself a stranger to the purposes of God.

And it’s at this time that we meet the prophets, powerful voices who warned of the inevitable consequences of Israel’s infidelity.

God hates their religious gatherings! When God is on a mission, what is God to do with a religion that legitimizes indifference and worship that inspires indulgence?

God doesn’t have a problem with eating and drinking and owning things. It’s when those things come at the expense of others’ having their basic need met – that’s when the passionate rants of the prophets really kick in.

God want to live among the people in the sacred union of the divine and human, but they aren’t interested. “But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets. Amos gets kicked out of the palace. Jeremiah gets beaten up and put in stocks and thrown in a pit, and the people don’t change. They don’t remember Egypt. They’ve forgotten Sinai. They’re too comfortable. The system works for those with the power and influence to change the system. They can’t hear the cry.

Eventually God has enough. Everything falls apart, the temple is destroyed, many are killed, and those who survive are carried off to a foreign land called Babylon. And in Babylon, the survivors become “servants.” And what is a servant who serves against their will? A slave. The Israelites find themselves slaves in a foreign land. Does that sound familiar? Sounds a lot like Egypt, doesn’t it?