. BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON THERE WE SET DOWN AND WEPT (PSALM 137: 1).

'. BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON, WE SAT DOWN AND WEPT, WHEN WE REMEMBERED ZION." PSALM 137 LAYS BARE THE AGONIES OF THE EXILES IN A STRANGE LAND, AS THEY LONG TO RETURN TO JERUSALEM, AND PRAY FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THOSE WHO DESTROYED JERUSALEM (V.8) AND THOSE WHO ASSISTED IN THE PROCESS THE EDOMITES,V 7).  THE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM,ISAAC AND JACOB WERE INDEED IN A "FOREIGN LAND,"MORE CORRECTLY, "LANDS"!  AS A RESULT OF THE BABYLONIAN CAMPAIGN OF 597 AND 587 B.C. MANY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE PATRIARCHS FOUND THEMSELVES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AS WELL. AS WE LOOK, AT THE TERM "JUDAISM" IN EXILE. WILL  OF  THOSE JUDEANS OR JEWS, AMONG WHOM THE COVENANT FAITH TOOK ON A TRANSFORMED EXPRESSION AS A RESULT OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE NATION AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE EXILE.THOUGH THE THESE EVENTS CLOSE ONE CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL'S FAITH, THEY ALSO BEGAN A NEW ONE. LET US LOOK AT  JUDAH AFTER 587 B.C. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CAMPAIGNS LEFT JUDAH CRIPPLED AND DISORGANIZED. HE RAVAGED ITS TERRITORY TO SUCH A DEGREE THAT IT NEEDED MANY YEARS TO RECOVER. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH INDICATES THAT JUDAH'S FORTIFIED TOWNS CONTINUED TO LIE IN RUINS THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD OF THE EXILE. TO COMPLICATE MATTERS TERRITORY WAS DIVIDED. PART OF IT WAS INCORPORATED IN THE NORTHERN PROVINCE OF SAMARIA. THE REMAINDER WAS TAKEN OVER BY THE EDOMITES ( THE LATER EDOMITES ( THE THE LATER IDUMEANS WHO HAD MOVED FROM THEIR HOME TERRITORY  SOUTHEAST OF THE DEAD SEA INTO HEBRON AREA. MANY LEFT BEHIND BY THE BABYLONIANS FOUND ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN JUDAH SO DIFFICULT THAT THY MIGRATED IN INCREASING NUMBERS TO OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD. TO MAKE A FRESH START. A HANDFUL OF JEWS REMAINED IN AND AROUND WHAT WAS LEFT OF JERUSALEM. AS A RESULT OF THE EVENTS OF 597 AND 587 B.C.,  MANY JEWS WERE TAKEN FORCIBLY TO BABYLON AND MANY FLED TO EGYPT. THE EXILES EXPERIENCED AGONY OF SOUL IN BABYLON. THEY MISSED THEIR LAND, THEIR CITY, THEIR TEMPLE AND THEIR WORSHIP RITUALS.  SOME, LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF BABYLONIAN ZIGGURATS, QUERIED WHETHER THE BABYLONIANS god's WERE NOT, AFTER ALL, MORE POWERFUL THAN THE LORD? AND WHAT ABOUT THE DAVIDIC DYNASTY?  HAD IT REALLY COME TO END?  WHILE IN EXILE, SOME APPLIED THEMSELVES WITH ZEAL TO THE STUDY OF THE SACRED WRITINGS WHILE IN EXILE,
 SOME APPLIED TO FIND ANSWERS AS TO WHY THE NATION HAD COLLAPSED AND WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE TO AVOID A REPETITION OF THE CATASTROPHE. ONE EXILE WAS ENOUGH!  THERE MUST BE NO REPETITION OF THE TRAGEDY. SOME RESOLVED THAT WHEN THE EXILED WAS OVER, THEY WOULD MAKE EFFORT TO OBEY THE STIPULATIONS OF THE COVENANT---AND URGE OTHERS TO DO THE SAME AS WELL. IN THIS LATTER RESOLVE THAT WHEN EXILE WAS OVER, THEY WOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO OBEY THE STIPULATIONS OF THE COVENANT--- AND URGE OTHERS DO SO AS WELL. IN THIS LATTER RESOLVE LAY THE DANGER-- THAT TAKEN TO THE EXTREME---LEGAL DETAIL MIGHT BE STRESSED TO THE NEGLECT OF GRACE.
LOOKING AT THE DISPERSION. WE ARE REFERRED TO THE ASSASSINATION OF GEDALIAH BY ISMAEL, A NATIONALIST. AND DAVIDIC PATRIOT. AS A RESULT OF THIS AND OTHER ACCOMPANYING MURDERS, JUDAH'S MILITARY LEADERS, FEARING BABYLONIAN REPRISALS, FLED TO EGYPT. EVENTUALLY EGYPT WAS TO BE ONE OF THE MAJOR CENTERS OF THE JEWISH DISPERSION. ABOUT A HUNDRED AFTER JEREMIAH AND HIS CAPTORS FLED TO EGYPT, SOME OF DESCENDANTS OF THIS GROUP SETTLED AT THE FIRST CATARACT OF THE NILE ON THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE, NOW KNOWN AS ASWAN. A TEMPLE WAS BUILT THERE, IN WHICH THE LORD WAS WORSHIPPED TOGETHER WITH THE WITH THE GODDESS ANATH. DESPITE THIS STRANGE PERVERSION OFF THE FAITH OF THEIR FATHERS, THE EGYPTIAN JEWS CONTINUED TO MAINTAIN A CONNECTION WITH THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE, WHICH BY THIS TIME HAD BEEN REBUILT IN LATER YEARS IN LATER YEARS. JEWISH SETTLEMENTS WERE ALSO SETUP IN ALEXANDRIA AND OTHER CENTERS. BY THE TIME OF THE GREEK PERIOD (333 B.C. AND BEYOND), EGYPT HAD BECOME A WORLD CENTER JEWRY. MANY MIGRATED TO OTHER PARTS MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AS WELL. EVENTUALLY THE NUMBER LIVING EXCEEDED THE NUMBER LIVING IN THE PROMISED LAND ITSELF! JEWISH COMMUNITIES WOULD ONE DAY BE SCATTERED ALL OVER THE KNOWN WORLD.  FOR MOST WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THIS (DIASPORA), THERE  WAS NO GOING BACK. THOSE WHO WERE TAKEN TO BABYLON DID NOT FIND LIFE IN THAT GREAT CITY IMPOSSIBLE. ON THE CONTRARY THEY WERE PERMITTED TO SET UP RESIDENCES THERE, AND PERPETUATE SOME DEGREE OF COMMUNITY LIFE,  WITH THE LOCAL POPULATION AND ESTABLISH THEMSELVES IN BUSINESS. ANTI-SEMITISM WAS UNKNOWN.  TH EXILES FOUND THEMSELVES SURROUNDED BY A CULTURE SUPERIOR TO THAT WHICH THEY HAD LEFT BEHIND. LIFE IN JUDAH HAD BY AND LARGE, BEEN SIMPLE. THE NATION'S ECONOMY HAD BEEN BASED ON PURSUITS LIKE GRAZING AND FARMING. IN AND AROUND BABYLON, THE SCENE WAS ONE OF INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE AND THRIVING INDUSTRY. IT IS THOUGHT THAT DURING THE BABYLONIAN PERIOD, MANY OF THE EXILES GATHERED TOGETHER FOR WORSHIP AND STUDY. SOME TRACE TO THIS PERIOD. THE TERM COMES FROM A GREEK WORD MEANING " TO GATHER TOGETHER." POSSIBLY THE SYNAGOGUES ESTABLISHED BY THE JEWS IN THOSE MANY LANDS TO WHICH THEY WERE SCATTERED, CAME INTO BEING AS A RESULT OF A NEED FIRST FELT IN BABYLON. LET'S LOOK AT THE THEOLOGICAL ACTIVITY, DURING THE EXILE FOR CENTURIES, THE FAITH OF ISRAEL HAD A GEOGRAPHICAL FOCAL POINT, THE "THE PROMISED LAND."  THE SONS OF THE PATRIARCHS BELIEVED THAT THE LORD HAD GIVEN THEM THAT LAND, AND THAT HE HIMSELF DWELT IN THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE. THE EVENTS 597 AND 587 B.C. DEALT THESE POPULAR NOTIONS A DEVASTATING BLOW. THE BABYLONIANS HAD RAVAGED THE  LAND AND DESTROYED JERUSALEM, FLATTENED THE TEMPLE, AND NOW THE CHOSEN PEOPLE ARE NOW IN EXILE IN A STRANGE LAND., SURROUNDED BY A CULTURE OBVIOUSLY SUPERIOR TO THAT WHICH THEY HAD LEFT BEHIND. THE NEW ENVIRONMENT MADE A CONSIDERABLE IMPRESSION ON MANY OF THE EXILES.
BABYLON AND THE SURROUNDINGS MADE A CONSIDERABLE IMPRESSION ON MANY OF THE EXILES. THE  TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM  HAD BEEN INSIGNIFICANT IN COMPARISON WITH ITS MANY GRAND TEMPLES. WERE THE BABYLONIAN GOD'S AFTER ALL SUPERIOR TO THE GOD OF ISRAEL?  THE TEMPTATION TO GIVE UP THE ANCESTRAL FAITH WAS STRONG. IT WAS AN ATTRACTIVE THOUGHT MERELY TO MERGE INTO THE LOCAL SCENE AND BE DONE WITH IT. WAS THE LORD ONLY PRESENT ONLY IN JERUSALEM?   COULD HE BE WORSHIPPED THERE? IT WAS A ATTRACTIVE THOUGHT ISRAEL'S TRAGEDY. IT WAS ESSENTIAL FOR HER TO EXPAND HER WORLD. THE PRESENT FAITH HAD TO PROVE ITSELF BIG ENOUGH TO COPE WITH THE PAST TRAGEDY AND THE PRESENT WORLD--- OR PERISH. ISRAEL'S FAITH ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE. MANY DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO AN INVOLVEMENT IN THE FAITH OF THE FATHER'S AND TO THE PURIFICATION OF THE FAITH. THE GREAT PROPHETS HAD LONG INSISTED THAT THE LORD WAS NOT CONFINED TO THE LIMITS OF THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE. TRUE WORSHIP DID NOT CONSIST IN RITUALS PERFORMED IN SPECIFIED PLACES, BUT IN KINDNESS FAITHFULNESS, IN A HUMBLE
WALK WITH GOD. THE PRACTICE OF THESE THINGS WAS NOT DEPENDENT ON FACTORS OF GEOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE OR RITUAL. THE KINGDOM OF GOD WAS SOMETHING OF THE HEART! ACCORDINGLY THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD DID NOT COME TO AN END IN BABYLON. INSTEAD, A PEOPLE EMERGED FROM THE EXILIC EXPERIENCE WITH A FLOURISHING, TRANSFORMED FAITH. THOUGH THE EXILES IN BABYLON NO LONGER HAD A LAND AND A TEMPLE TO SERVE AS FOCAL POINTS THEY DID HAVE A COMMON HISTORY AND A COMMON TRADITION, THE SENSE OF BELONGING TO A COVENANT COMMUNITY. THE FAITHFUL SIFTED THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES TO LAY BARE THEIR MEANING AND ENSURE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS ( 2 KINGS 25:27-30. DURING THE EXILIC PERIOD, A VITAL
INTEREST IN THE LAW DEVELOPED. IT WAS EXAMINED MINUTTTTELY, CODIFIED AND LAID ON THE HEARTS OF THE FAITHFUL. WHAT BETTER WAY TO SHOW ONE WAS "DIFFERENT?"  SOME HOPED THAT CONCENTRATION ON THE KEEPING OF THE LAW MIGHT HELP ISRAEL BECOME WHAT GOD HAD ALWAYS INTENDED HER TO BE, A HOLY PEOPLE SET APART FOR HIMSELF, EXODUS 19:5,6.