After Jerusalem fell and their Temple was destroyed, Israel’s faith in a nationalistic God who would unconditionally protect them also disintegrated. The Jews succumbed to what could be described as a nervous-breakdown. Their spiritual identity was inseparably linked to the Temple. Many lost their faith entirely during this traumatic period of time.
For many survivors, the “victorious” Babylonian gods seemed more appealing than the vanquished God of the Jews. Others became enamored with the new opportunities to become prosperous in a new land, as they quickly forgot about their spiritual heritage. Undoubtedly, among the faithful were others who expected a new king who would apocalyptically appear and restore the Temple along with its sacrifices. Others felt helpless and sad that the Jewish people were doomed to disappear like other nations of history.
Just as wandering in the wilderness served to restructure the spiritual development of the children of Israel, so too did Babylonian captivity. What emerged from this historical period was a restatement of an old paradigm—God can introduce something novel out of the chaos of destruction. The Babylonian exile thus served to help purge the Jewish people of their misconceptions, and renew their faith in God. However, before this moment of redemption was to occur, Israel had to first lose its parochial view of the universe, and choose to become the instruments of God’s plan of salvation. Norman Cohn, in his book on the origin of ancient eschatology, points out:
“The collapse of the kingdom of Judah, the capture of Jerusalem, the exile itself—these very things represented a victory of chaos over cosmos. Only a god who in the beginning had converted primordial chaos into the ordered world could reestablish such a world. But in that case YHWH could certainly do more than merely restore Israel to its former status. Second Isaiah was positive: the love which YHWH bore to his chosen people was about to be manifested in the most impressive manner conceivable. By an act as wondrous as its original creation, the world was about to be transformed—and the people of Israel were about to be given a glorious position in the transformed world.”[1] Continue reading “A Pagan “Messiah”!? (Revised)”