Posts Tagged: God in exile

“GOD IN EXILE”

On October 20, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“The maggid [preacher] of Mezritch said: ‘Now, in exile, the holy spirit comes upon us more easily than at the time the Temple was still standing.

‘A king was driven from his realm and forced to become a wayfarer.  When, in the course of his wanderings, he came to the house of poor people, where he was given modest food and shelter, but received as a king, his heart grew light and he chatted with his host as intimately as he had done at court with those who were closest to him.

‘Now, that He is in exile, God does the same’” (Tales of the Hasidim, vol. 1, p. 103).

I often feel like an exile.  I have since I was a little kid.  I’ve never felt that I fit in anywhere.  Maybe that’s because I don’t.

I suspect that we all feel that way some of the time, and that some of us feel that way all of the time.  I have no empirical evidence for that, just a hunch.

The hasid, Dov Baer, says that God is also in exile in this world.  God as a wandering king—now that’s an interesting way of thinking about God!

The Bible often refers to God as King.  This is true whether you look in the Old Testament or the New.  While I’m not sure that it ever speaks of God as an exiled king, it frequently comes close.

For example, in the initial visions of Ezekiel (chapters 1-3), who is in exile in Babylon, the prophet sees God’s throne—on wheels no less!  Even though the Temple in Jerusalem was in ruins, God was still king, even in exile.  Ezekiel saw a very portable, dynamic God.

In the New Testament, Jesus is often portrayed in ways that kings were depicted in the Old Testament.  And yet, he was a very strange king, who once said, “The foxes have dens, and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

I think that, deep in the human heart, is a desire for a God who is in control, at least in control of other people and of situations that threaten us.  The problem is that when God wants to change us, we get very balky.   Deeper still, however, is the longing for a God who understands and shares our feeling of exile.

Perhaps God as an exiled king is not so strange after all.  Perhaps God has been an exiled king in our world since the Garden of Eden.  Perhaps God is always the one who shares our individual and collective exile.

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