Exile

To experience exile was far from taking a trip to an exotic destination. If you experienced exile, it meant you were the victim of a successful military conquest and now faced deportation from your home and marked changes in your life that would carry you far from anything you had previously known as normal.

Here we consider the concept of exile from the perspective of both the empire and the exiled citizen. For the ancient empires, exile became a tool with which to disrupt the potential for revolt in far-away conquered territories. The goal was not to empty the land of its population entirely but to selectively and strategically remove the political leaders, nobles, soldiers, religious leaders, craftsmen, and artisans who gave the conquered country its identity (2 Kings 24:14; 1 Chron. 6:15; Jer. 20:6; 27:20). A small number of impoverished families were left behind to tend the agricultural fields and vineyards. These inconsequential citizens were considered too small in number to create a risk of revolt and too culturally unsophisticated to preserve the old national identity. Those deported were expected to make contributions to the health and well-being of their new homeland, whether as promising leaders, artisans, or part of the general labor force that produced goods and commodities.

This Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish provides evidence of the powerful force that defeated this city and exiled its citizens.

From the perspective of the exile, this was anything but an advantageous event. While a few of the best and brightest were selected for advanced education and eventual leadership positions in the new country (Dan. 1:3–5), most functioned in less dignified ways.[79] It is hard for us to imagine just how devastating and disorienting the experience of exile was. The descriptions offered by the biblical authors give us some sense of what exiled people faced (Deut. 28:63–68; Isa. 20:4; Ezek. 12:18–19). After being conquered, they were uprooted from their homes, stripped naked, and marched in the direction of an unknown land and an uncertain future. There were no moments of rest and repose but rather days and nights filled with fear. Anxiety was never softened by hope; it was only complicated by growing feelings of hopelessness. “In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see” (Deut. 28:67).

When the biblical authors write about exile, it is almost exclusively in regard to the tens of thousands of Israelites who experienced exile at the hands of the conquering Assyrians or Babylonians. The repeated mention of these exiles is disturbing because of the theological tension that it creates. The God who had promised the Israelites that they would occupy and hold the Promised Land in connection with their role of bringing the Messiah into the world became the God who sponsored their removal from that land. People like Habakkuk were genuinely puzzled over what this could mean (Hab. 1:12–17). For it was not political happenstance but divine instigation that brought about these exiles—a point confirmed repeatedly in the Bible (1 Chron. 6:15; Jer. 27:6; Ezek. 39:28; Amos 5:27).

This Assyrian relief depicts Israelites forced from their homes as they are driven into exile.

It is not that the Lord was incapable of keeping them in their homeland; he sponsored their departure because they had failed to hold up their end of the covenant. The promise of a national homeland was conditioned on the Israelites’ obedience to divine law. And among all the life-disrupting consequences of disobedience, the most earthshaking was God’s promise to remove the Israelites from the Promised Land (Deut. 28:36, 63–64; 2 Kings 17:7–23; 18:9–12). This was among the most devastating messages delivered by the prophets, and it was the most traumatic theological experience endured by God’s Old Testament people.[80] The event of the exile was so significant that it continued to be a way of marking the passage of time even at the dawn of the New Testament era (Matt. 1:11–12, 17).

But ultimately the Lord used the exile of the Israelites as a tool to reshape them. The harsh realities of exile took their toll both physically and emotionally on God’s people, breaking down their prideful resistance and leading them to acknowledge the spiritual damage caused by their sin. The voice of Ezekiel, an exile himself, echoed throughout Babylon calling God’s people to repentance (Ezek. 1:1; 3:11; 11:15; 39:23). And the voice of God also came from outside Babylon with words of encouragement and direction. The prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles in Babylon telling them how they ought to live in order to maximize their time of displacement (Jer. 29:1–14). Rather than scheming ways to disrupt the government or seeking ways to escape, the exiles were directed to build houses, plant gardens, marry, and have families. “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jer. 29:7). As the hardship of the exile and God’s words of encouragement softened and changed the Israelites’ hearts, a new kind of people began to take shape—so that the ones who would return to the Promised Land would not be like those who left. Those returning exiles would have a rehabilitated faith and exhibit a renewed faithfulness that would advance the plan of God (Jer. 24:5–7).