In The Folds of Your Robe

Day 64:  1 Kings 6–10; Ezekiel 1–6; Colossians 3–4

My daughter Amanda lost her beloved Patches, a cat she had as a companion and friend for 15 years.  Patches saw her through 2nd grade until the day she graduated from college. She was with us in every parsonage where we lived from the beginning of my ministry in United Methodist churches as clergy until now.  For such an animal we felt we needed a dignified way to honor her life.  She was cremated and her remains placed in a polished wooden urn.  The funeral home surprised us by cutting off some of her hair and placing it in a bag as a remembrance of this beloved cat.

God instructed Ezekiel to cut off his hair and beard with a sword. A third was burned, a third was scattered about by the sword hacking away at the locks, and a third was thrown to the wind to be carried away.  But God told Ezekiel to place a small tuft of hair in the folds of his robe.  There is no commentary explaining this act, but we know enough about Yahweh to catch His meaning.  The hair is a remnant, a reminder before the Lord of His chosen people and His covenant promises to them.  His anger will not last forever. God will restore Israel.

King Solomon is the glory of the Middle East.  Nations pay him tribute and recognize how the God of Israel has blessed him and all the people.  There is peace and great wealth. All the people are happy and eating and drinking.  It is party time!  God has fulfilled all His promises to them through Moses, just as He had fulfilled all His promises through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob during the days of Joshua. 

Solomon decides to fulfill David's desire to build a glorious temple for the Name of Yahweh.  It is a vast project taking seven years and much gold, cedar and cypress, bronze, and skillfully cut stone.  It takes many slaves. It takes trade with the Sidonian king and his craftsman.  And when the temple is completed, it takes away the breath of the Queen of Sheba.

But what truly makes the temple is the presence of God.  Solomon holds a 14 day festival to consecrate the temple.  It takes the blood of many sacrifices and much prayer and celebration.  And God's majesty fills the temple with thick darkness and great glory falls on all rose gathered. 

If the story stopped there all would live happily ever after. But we know it doesn't.  Solomon is lead into idolatry in his old age by his many wives...700!
Brings a whole new meaning to the 700 club! In addition Solomon had 300 concubines.  His love for these women weakened his devotion to Yahweh.  They came from the descendants of peoples God had commanded to drive completely from the land and utterly destroy: Amorites, Jebusites, Hittites, and others.  They each were raised in the customs surrounding pagan idol worship. So to please his wives, Solomon built shrines for their gods and was eventually drawn into idol worship and their detestable practices...prostitution, cutting the body, drunken orgies, human and child sacrifice.  Whether Solomon did these things, I do not know, but it paves the way for the Judeans to do all these things by the time Yahweh sends Babylon against Jerusalem.

The exile to Babylon came in a series of three deportations before the city of Jerusalem was destroyed.  The son of Jehoiakim, King Jehoiachin was taken away in the first deportation and imprisoned in Babylon while Nebuchadnezzar ruled.  It was during this time that Ezekiel was called as prophet in Babylon to speak oracles and prophecies to Jerusalem for their continued rebellion.

Ezekiel's instructions from God are urgent and demanding.  Ezekiel's mystical experiences bring wild visions, leaving him filled with anger and stunned.  Is his anger the result of an angry God who had filled him with His Spirit?  Was he angry because God called him as a prophet to speak to a people who will not listen to him? Is it both?  In any event Ezekiel has little choice in the matter.  If God tells him to warn Israel's sinners and he does not speak to them, then God will hold Ezekiel responsible for their lives when their sins lead to destruction.  If you see someone stepping into traffic, would you not shout to stop them from injury or death?  In the same way, the prophet sees the danger ahead for unrepentant Israel.  He must speak what God has revealed to him in hope of saving lives...even if it is only a remnant.

They do not listen to Ezekiel, but a remnant is preserved including the imprisoned Jehoiachin who has sons of David and heirs to the throne in Jerusalem. In 60 some years a surviving remnant will return with Zerubbabel, a son of David leading them.

The fall of Jerusalem and the return of the exiles near the end of Old Testament history save stories from the exile and the story of Queen Esther during the Persian years.  But history continues. The Greeks will take control of Jerusalem under the Selucids and Ptolemies.  The Maccabees revolt and establish Hebrew rule again.  There are more occupations and revolts until the rule of Rome.  It is under Roman rule that Jesus of Nazareth appears. Always a remnant survives as if hidden away in the folds of God's robe.

Scholars disagree on when Paul writes his letters whether it is before or after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple built by Herod the Great.  Most believe his writings precede the event.  It is for certain, however, that the early church saw itself as a remnant surviving the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. 

In the latter part of Paul's letter to the Colossians he tells them,

"Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.  When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory (Col. 3:2-4)."

God's mysterious plan through all His ups and owns with Israel is that through the cross of the Messiah Jesus all people might have life in Him.  No longer separated by race or class, but in Christ the is a unity of all believers. There is no Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free, Barbarian or Scythian. Christ is all in all. And those who come to the knowledge of God through Christ are kept alive, even in death (literally and figuratively) in the protection of God and His great mercy.

If all the bloodshed and wrath we have waded through (and will continue to wade through) in the prophets has taught us anything, it is that sin has deadly consequences.  God takes sin seriously.  Justice dictates the debt of sin must be paid.  The death of Jesus is modeled after the slaying of sheep for forgiveness of sins, the canceling of debt.  But Jesus' death is a once for all victory. The cross is not simply a washing away of guilt. It is the conquering of evil powers that drive us to behave sinfully.  God reveals in Christ the ultimate battle between good and evil, order and chaos, life and death. 

Life wins.

Those who die with Christ to the old life ruled by sinful desires, now live in Christ and through His victory on the cross.  And when the day comes for the culmination of all things, the One who is all in all will unfold His beautiful robe and reveal a remnant from all the nations, a countless multitude who love Him and sing His praise.  He will unfold His robe and our hidden eternal life will be ours.

Hallelujah! Life reigns in the folds of Your robe! Praise You Lord for remembering Your mighty promises and fulfilling every one. We are blessed. Amen.