Exile and homecoming. This is one of the major themes of Isaiah. The sin and disobedience of Israel ends them up in exile. They are in exile because they have removed themselves from communion with God by their idolatry and disobedience and sin. And they are in exile because of the hand of God using the treacherous nations surrounding them to carry them off into a foriegn place. Both spiritually and physically they are in a foreign place–a place they were not designed to be in.
This one chapter echoes the despair and hope, the judgment and reconciliation, the exile and homecoming of the experience of the Israelites and the prophet Isaiah’s message from God to them. The chapter begins with the promise of “in that day” again. It is a day when God will destroy every source of evil and harm and will plant his people is such a way that they will “bud and blossom and filol all the world with fruit.” (27:6). But it is also the Lord who has “struck her down” along with those who struck her (27:7-8). He has done this by exile.
In exile the people gain perspective because they can see the “promised land” from a distance. They can see how God’s mighty arm has been with them more clearly when it is removed! It is so clear when we read these stories that the Israelites were like small children in their behavior. They acted out of immediate needs and desires and they did not have a view of the larger context. It seems so strange, since God’s presence, from our perspective seemed so clear. But alas, this is our story, too! We too, if we are honest, often act like small children. We want our way. We think we know better than God. We think he is mean when thing do not go our way or we are not allowed to do what we want without consequences. We can only see the little play room in front of us and cannot see the vast expanse of the universe God has laid out for us!
I am reflecting on my own periods of exile this week. Where are the places and times in my life when I have, by my actions, separated myself from the Father? And when can I identify times when I know that the loving Father put me in a foreign place to help me come to the place to want to come home? Exile and home…where are you?