Daily Prophets
Day 148
“The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem…he took one of the royal seed and made a covenant with him…but that prince rebelled against him…Shall he break a covenant and escape? He broke a covenant…he shall not escape. So too, said God, I will pay him back for flouting My pact and breaking My covenant…I will pluck a tender twig from the tip of its crown…I will plant it in Israel’s lofty highlands…(Ezekiel 17:12,13,15,18,19,22,23)
The king of Babylon, as Ezekiel is recounting, did not want to destroy the city of Jerusalem nor the kingdom of Judah. There was a deal, a covenant as Ezekiel calls it, and it was the prince that was put in charge that caused the destruction that followed. Evidently, the prince made a political deal to save his life and did so with the full intention of breaking it as soon as possible. The question posed by God through Ezekiel is ringing in my ears:”Shall he break a covenant and escape?”. How often do any of us make a deal and break it? How often do we make a deal and know we are going to use a loophole, find a way out after we get what we want? How often do we break a deal and then blame the other party for “making us do it”?
In today’s world, our word is no longer our bond, the relationships we make are mostly transactional and God, through Ezekiel, is telling us that we cannot escape the consequences of transactional living. The hubris of humankind is that we believe we can make and break covenants with impunity. We believe we can make a promise to our constituents and not fulfill them and still get re-elected (which does happen often). We believe that we can use people for our needs and then throw them away when it becomes too bothersome to stand up for what is right, after this person stood up for us.
Ezekiel is telling us that the king of Babylon did not let the prince escape and the city and kingdom were destroyed. He is also telling us that God is not letting us escape unscathed either. “I will pay him back for flouting my pact and breaking my covenant” is the wish of every oppressed person, every person who has been devastated by this transactional way of being. We want to see God ‘punish’ the evildoer and dance when it happens. Yet, this is us at a very ugly level of living. This is us being part of the “rebellious breed” as well. While the momentary satisfaction of seeing karma happen is exhilarating, it also is doing what is hateful to us to another. It is not what God is trying to teach us.
God’s “payback” is to teach us to keep our covenants and our pacts with each other and with God. It is a purifying and teaching experience rather than a ‘get back’ experience. God cries when God has to teach us in this manner, I believe, because God keeps begging us to return through God’s prophets, God keeps calling to us each and every day to return, and God gave us T’Shuvah so we can have a way back. Yet, as the prince did with both the king of Babylon and God, we continue to “make deals” with each other and with God and break them with alarming speed and contempt. This is true in business relationships, in personal relationships, and it is tearing at the fabric of society.
Yet, God’s promise is that from the people who return, the people who were sent into exile through no fault of their own, a new nation will arise, a new Israel/Judah will be born from this twig of people who keep their pacts and have kept their covenants with God. This remnant will produce a people, who one day, will again be the light unto the nations that reminds us of our first loyalty and our first covenant is with God and we are responsible for keeping our covenants and our pacts.
Recovering people are these returning people. We return to a way of being that is compatible with God, compatible with our soul’s calling and our most joyous moments are when we are in I/Thou relationships with people. In recovery, we keep our pacts and our covenants, we continue to grow our relationships and our word is our bond, again. We no longer do things with bad intentions, we enter into relationships with open hearts and connecting souls. In recovery, God is dear to us and we relish the opportunity to be of service to another(s) and to God.
I have, of course, broken pacts and covenants in my past. I do now, however, enter into relationships with people with an open heart and committed to honor the pact and covenant. I am sad at the latest covenant and pact that I made was broken by the other parties to it and no mention is made of their treachery, only my inappropriate response to the breaking of the pact and covenant. While it seems that they will not ‘pay not price’; I realize that it is not mine to exact, I have to learn and move forward from the experience. This is the learning from God through Ezekiel for me. I pray that my “friends” will also learn and enter into relationships that are not just transactional, as I am committed to doing. While relationships may not be forever, the covenantal ones need to be honored, nurtured and grown. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark