In 588 B.C. the Babylonian army took Jerusalem and destroyed
Solomon’s temple. The prophet Jeremiah
lived in a cave nearby and spent many years writing what is known as the Book
of Lamentations. He could see the ruins
of the temple from where he lived and for such a devout man it must have been
an absolutely heartbreaking sight.
There’s no way for me to send a message back to him. But if I could, I'd like to pick up a phone
and have a conversation that went something like this:
“Hey Jerry, it’s Kent. Yes, this is a device which sends messages
from the distant future and translates English into Hebrew, but never mind.
Look Jerry, I understand that you are totally bummed out about the temple being
destroyed. That’s a tough one. But I've got some good news for you, guy: you
are going to live long enough to see that temple rebuilt and it will then stand
as one of the great architectural wonders of the world for the next six
centuries.
“I was afraid you were going to ask
me that. Look, Jerry, the question of
rebuilding a third time is still under discussion today, 2600 years later; but
here’s some consolation for you: even though the stones of that temple have
been destroyed, the people of your tribe have managed to survive for 2600 years
and to spread throughout the world even to lands you never even knew existed. There
are those who speak Hebrew and practice Judaism in Israel even today. Furthermore, they've kept their faith living
in lands 20 times further from Jerusalem than Babylon is, and Babylon is a land
only known through scholars of ancient history.
You see, faith is not about the building.”
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