Hope in Exile: When You Have Hope, You Can Survive

Ezra retells of the story of the return from exile. After 70 long years of exile and having been stretched and formed by it, the Israelite community is sent home to rebuild their demolished temple and city. Most of the first generation have died off so those who return are a primarily second generation. For them, the only home they have ever known is Babylon. Returning home would not be a return to normalcy but the beginning of a new chapter, a new future, a new way of being and worshipping the God of their mothers and fathers. Things were going to be much different then they anticipated or hoped. They came back to what amounted to an empty lot, a pile of rubble, while carrying their gold basins that would be stored until the temple was completed (20 years later, Ezra 1:9-11). The first day of the 7th month the foundation of them temple was laid and there was singing. V. 11, “and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” They wept and sang together. Our coming hope will also look different for us but