Learning fidelity

Why did Yahweh send Israel to exile? Appealing to 2 Kings 25 and Ezekiel 17, Jon Levenson suggests that “Subjugation to the Babylonian emperor was indeed punitive, but the purpose of the punishment was to train the vassal in the ways of covenant fidelity. . . . We see here a chastened royal theology” in which Davidic kingship does not involve Davidic superiority but rather “continued vassalage to the Babylonian overlord.” Given Israel’s history, “the best hope of the exiles is that the king of Babylon will confirm the kingship of the Davidic claimant, who will then serve his liege in fidelity.”

Ultimately, “the Babylonian emperor’s treatment of one Davidid would appear to be an adumbration of YHWH’s exaltation of the destined Davidic scion” so that the idea is that “a covenant oath sword to a Babylonian emperor is sacred to YHWH and that the resultant conferral of kingship is symbolic or prototypical of a messianic fulfillment.”