Dr. Kevin DeYoung | The Lord of Lists

0:01 Our Father in heaven, as we come to your word, we ask once again that you would help us to hear. We need ears that we might understand, that we might be open, that we might not be distracted, and that we would, with the eyes of faith, hear just what you mean to speak to us, even surprisingly, to minister to our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Our text this morning is Ezra chapter 2.

0:32 I think I can make this statement confidently. Ezra 2 is no one's favorite chapter in the Bible. No one here thinks, you know what, I love Psalm 23, John 3, Romans 8, and Ezra 2. That's not on anyone's list. In fact, if you're there, all you have to do, and some of you have already done this during the week, good for you, because you've already let me know, hey, good luck. All you have to do is scan your eyes, names, numbers, and you will be tempted to conclude that this is your least favorite chapter in the Bible. Now, here's the assessment I found in one of my commentaries, quote, chapters like Ezra 2 are among the most uninviting portions of the Bible to the modern reader because of their tedious nature and because of their overtones of racial exclusivism and pride.

1:41 However fascinating the chapter may be to the antiquarian, it is unlikely that his enthusiasm will ever be shared by more than a few. And that's written by someone who probably took years of his life to write a commentary on Ezra. That's rather grim. Let me give you a more helpful commentary on the chapter. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, and righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. So I'm going to go with the Apostle Paul's inspired commentary. And though it's true, some passages of Scripture are going to be high mountain peaks, and this is not one of them, yet God has something for us to inspire us and to teach us. I'm going to read through the passage, stopping along the way to explain what we have here, and then we will zero in on a few points.

2:46 So follow along beginning at verse 1. Now, these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Saraiah, Realiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mizpar, Bigvi, Rehum, and Baanan. So what we have here are the people returning from Judah, that is the southern kingdom, Judah and Benjamin. The northern tribes had been carried off to Assyria 150 years earlier, and they're going back to the capital of Jerusalem. You see some names in verse two may be familiar to you zerubbabel and then jeshua who is likely the same person here as joshua the high priest the story about him in the book of zachariah chapter 3.

3:49 and nehemiah this is very likely a different nehemiah than the book of nehemiah very common for people to have the same name across decades and centuries the nehemiah in the bible doesn't come until 445 bc this is a different mordecai than the one we find in esther but here are some of the people and now the author is going to give us the lists of those returning it's a list of the exiles that came back in this first wave roughly 539 bc to 520 bc over these two decades and it's divided into seven lists there's quite a bit more order to these passages than it looks at first so we have the first list verse 2 to verse 20 which are the lay people returning counted by their families yes we'll read them the number of the men of the people of israel the sons of parash 2 172 the sons of shephetiah 372 the sons of arah 775 the sons of pahath moab namely the sons of jeshua and joeb 2812 the sons of elam 1254 the sons of zat 2 945 the sons of zakai 760 the sons of bonnie 642 the sons of babi 623 the sons of asgad 1222 the sons of adonikam 660.

5:17 256, the sons of Bigvi, 2056, the sons of Adin, 454, the sons of Eter, namely of Hezekiah, 98, the sons of Bazi, 323, the sons of Jorah, 112, the sons of Hashim, 223, the sons of Gebar, 95. So those are the lay people returning, counted by their families now, verses 21 through 35. five second list we have the lay people that are counted by city so first counted by family you'll notice a change in verse 21 now it's counted by their city the sons of Bethlehem one two three the men of Netopho Netopha 56 the men of Anathot 128 the sons of Asmaveth 42 the the sons of Kiriath Harim, Sheparah, Be'eroh, 743, the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621, the men of Mikmas, 122, the men of Bethel and Ai, 223, the sons of Nebo, 52, the sons of Megbish, 156, the sons of the other Elam, 1,254, the sons of Harim, 320, the sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725. The sons of Jericho, 345. The sons of Sana'a, 3,630. So, now we come to list number three. So, these were lay people by families, lay people by city. Now, we come to the priests, verse 36.

6:50 The priests, the sons of Jediah of the house of Jeshua, 973. The sons of Emar, 1,052. The sons of Pashur 1,247, the sons of Harim 1,017. There were 24 divisions of the priests. We know that from 1 Chronicles 24. And what we have here are four. Only four of these divisions are noted as returning. So, the priests now here, verse 40, the fourth list, the Levites. The Levites, the sons of Jeshua and Kadamiel of the sons of Hodevah, 74. The singers, the sons of Asaph, 128. The sons of the gatekeepers, the sons of Shalom, the sons of Atter, the sons of Talman, the sons of Akub, the sons of Hatayta, and the sons of Shobai in all, 139. So, these are the Levites. Singers, gatekeepers, these were people may have been connected to the Levites. The gatekeepers locked and unlocked the doors of the temple, watched over the treasury. So, you think about the people who do that here. We're grateful for them. They were also like security guards. Not the first time in history God's people have needed guards. The singers were temple vocalists and choirs. Just to remember, the priests were all Levites, but the Levites were not all priests, only those descended from Aaron. So, the Levites performed an auxiliary ministry for the priests, carrying out some of the manual labor for the temple and before that for the tabernacle. So, first the priests, then the Levites, then verse 43. Here's the fifth list, the temple servants, the sons of Zihah, the sons of Hasufah, the sons of Tabaoth, the sons of Keros, the sons of Zaiah, the sons of Padon, the sons of Lebanon, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hagab, the sons of Miami, the sons of Hanan, the sons of Gideon, the sons of Gehar, the sons of Raya, the sons of Rezim,

8:56 the sons of Nickodan, the sons of Gossam, the sons of Uzzah, the sons of Pasea, the sons of Pesai, the sons of Asna, the sons of Nefesim, the sons of Bacbuk, the sons of Hakufa, the sons of Harhur, the sons of Baselut, sons of Mahida, sons of Harsha, sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Tima, sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipah. So we've had priests, Levites, these are temple servants. You can think of it as the Levites helped the priests and the temple servants helped the Levites. And then going down the chain of command, it seems that this next group, The sixth list might have been those who helped the temple servants. Here they are called, verse 55, the sons of Solomon's servants, the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hasephareth, the sons of Perudah, sons of Ja'ala, sons of Darkon, sons of Gedel, sons of Shephatiah, sons of Hatil, sons of Pokhareth, Hazabayim, and the sons of Ami.

10:01 All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392. And now we have one final list in verses 59 through 63. And the list is of those who don't have proper identification. Some people didn't have their papers in order. 59. The following were those who came up from Tel-Mela, Tel-Harshah, Herob, Adon, and Emer. though they could not prove their father's houses or their descent, whether they belong to Israel. The sons of Deliah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nakoda, 652. Also the sons of the priests, the sons of Habiah, the sons of Hakaz, the sons of Barzillai, who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name. These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until there should be a priest to consult the Urim and the Thummim. So, we've gone through the seven lists. We're almost there. Now, we have some wrapping up and some adding up.

11:17 Verse 64, the whole assembly together was 42,360 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337. They had 200 male and female singers. Their horses were 736. Their mules were 245. Their camels were 435. And the donkeys, they got a lot of those, 6,720. Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God to erect it on site. According to their ability, they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 derricks of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, 100 priest garments. Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns and all the rest of Israel in their towns. Okay, so we made it.

12:14 Now, why is this here? Some people might wish we would just skip from chapter 2, verse 1. Now, these are the people who came up to chapter 3 when the seventh month came and they were in their towns. Why not just do that? 2-1 to 3-1. The people came, chapter 3, now they're in their towns. Why do we have these other 69 verses? Scholars have speculated it's to establish who had the right to rebuild the temple, or maybe it was a tax list, or maybe it was to restore land rights. Maybe there was a clerk of session who really liked to take good notes. Now, all of those, except for the last, could be possible reasons. But even if it's a tax list or a land list, that doesn't really get to the heart of the matter. What can we learn from Ezra 2 to train us in righteousness and make us competent for every good work? I want to zero in on just three words of these 70 verses. And I think you'll find that these words, when we explain what they're about, will have some surprising relevance for your life. So, I just want you to notice three words. The first word I want you to notice is in verse 23. Go back there. This is the accounting of the people by their towns, and we read in verse 23, the man of Anatoth, 128.

14:02 Anatoth or anathot. What's so important about this town? You may recognize other, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, you've heard of this town. What about this? Well, to get the significance of anathot, we need to think about Jeremiah chapter 32. Let me just read you. This is Jeremiah the prophet. He has the unfortunate task of giving a lot of bad news. Some of the false prophets say, this is going to be two years, this is a quick thing. And he says, no, this is going to be 70 years. And Jerusalem is under siege. The Babylonians are there. They're starving the people out. They're attacking. They're carrying them off. They are utterly going to be destroyed. And in the midst of this siege, hear what Jeremiah says. I'm reading from chapter 32 of Jeremiah, but you can just listen.

14:58 Jeremiah said, the word of the Lord came to me. Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shalom, your uncle, will come to you and say, buy my field that it is at Anatoth. For the right of redemption by purchase is yours. Then Hanamel, my cousin, came to me in the court of the garden in accordance with the word of the Lord and said to me, buy my field that is at Anatoth in the land of Benjamin for the right of possession and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. Very strange verse. I mean, just figure, maybe you got a cousin like this. We are under siege. Have I got some land here in Jerusalem for you? Your cousin, my uncle, I want you to buy this land. Now why? You're being destroyed.

15:51 Your people are being carted off. Later in chapter 32, there's a heading, Jeremiah prays for understanding. Because this is a very strange request for him to understand, for the people to understand of all the things to do. When the conquering superpower is in your town, taking you over, wiping you out, now is not the time for land investment. But God said to Jeremiah, and he said, I know this is from the Lord. Why? Why do you buy a land in the midst of a siege? It's to say, we're coming back here. This is not the last time. I mean, even though the people, what are you doing? You're nuts. You're crazy. We're being wiped out. We're being carted off. Our future's over.

16:43 Everything's done. Do not buy a field and anatoph. And that's precisely what Jeremiah does. So I wonder when you go to Ezra 2, reading the list, If these 128 men of Anatoth, if there was a bit of a pause when this was recounted, it was a reminder that the God who led them off was now making good on even the most outlandish promise. What could be more ridiculous than to buy land in Jerusalem and in Judah in the midst of a siege and a hostile takeover? When the people said, yeah, go for it, Jeremiah.

17:38 Fat chance we're ever going to live in that land again. And now they do. It was a testimony. me, if they had ears to hear and eyes to see, to remember that the God who had harmed them justly was also the God who would heal them. Jeremiah bought that field, now he claims it. Houses and fields and vineyards would once again be planted and bought and sold in Anathoth. I wonder if there are extravagant promises in your life that you barely can believe are true, like this one, as you're being led in chains away on a months-long journey to Babylon, and there's the little plaque and the little sign in the field, property of Jeremiah the prophet.

18:42 it, really. Maybe it's the promises from Romans 8. That may be your favorite chapter in the Bible. Maybe you're struggling to really believe that there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Really, absolutely true for you. Or maybe Romans 8, 28, that all things really, really do work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose, or maybe it's the end of chapter 8, that we cannot begin to fathom what God will do for us and that nothing, famine, sword, nakedness, peril, nothing in heaven or earth, principalities or powers can separate you from the love of God that He has in Christ Jesus for you. Those are outlandish promises, even more outlandish than a field that they would come back 70 years later and inhabit. Here's the second word I want you to notice.

19:46 I want you to go to verse 62. I want to remind you, or go to 61 rather. I want to remind you of a story. Perhaps it's tucked away somewhere in your brain, and some of you have probably never heard it. The word in 61 is this fellow's name, Barzillai. You can read about Barzillai in 2 Samuel 17, 2 Samuel 19, and 1 Kings 2. I won't go back and read the story. But Barzillai is one of those great unsung heroes in the Bible. His name, it's a great name. it means man of iron. Men, just go home and say, honey, call me Barzillai. He was a Gileadite, which means he was the tribe of Manasseh. That's important because the priests don't come from the tribe of Manasseh. Of course, they come from the tribe of Levi. So hold that.

20:49 Now, who was Barzalot? He was loyal to David when David's son Absalom had rebelled against him. Now, these were dark days for David. He was the king, but his son Absalom, who was so handsome and had all the beautiful flowing hair, which would be his undoing, this Absalom had a palace coup, and things were so bad that Absalom was holding court. The people were cheering for Absalom, and David and his men had to flee. Now, when you are the subject of a military coup and your son is in place and you have to run out of town, things do not look good for your reign. So, if you were a betting man in Israel in those days, you would say, well, I want to cozy up to Absalom. He just displaced his father, David, who's on the run. And that's where this man Barzillai, he was a wealthy man.

21:46 And we read that he supported David and his men, and he gave them food when they were on the run from Absalom. This was a bold act of generosity. Because if Absalom ends up being king, and it sure looks like he's going to be, then who's going to be off with their head? Probably Barzillai. You're a traitorous rebel who's aiding and abetting the enemy, the deposed king. But Barzillai, this wealthy man, goes out of his way, and he feeds David and his men. And so, in 1 Kings, before David dies, when he gathers his son Solomon around him to give him some final instructions, he says, I want you always to deal kindly with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, for he took care of me in all of your days, son. Let his sons sit at the king's table. So, he was a good guy, and he was one of David's favorites.

22:48 Now, what is going on here in Ezra 2 to mention Barzillai? Well, it's a cautionary tale. Look at the parenthetical statement in verse 61. The sons of Barzillai, who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name, these sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogy, but they were not found there and they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. And so the governor has to say, well, I'm not sure what to do with this. we have to wait until the high priest comes. And the high priest had these little stones in his pocket called the Urim and the Thummim. It was one way that God had in this time to give his will, maybe a yes and a no. So the Urim and the Thummim is going to give the answer to this question. But do you see what's happened? These sons, who they claim were of the priestly tribe. At some point in their lives, they married the daughters of Barzillai. And they thought to themselves, man of iron. Well, the descendants of Barzillai, they get to sit at the king's table.

24:07 So, against convention, the parenthetical statement says, cozy up and say, I think from now on, We're going to be of the tribe of Barzillai the Gileadite. So they say, this is going to be good for us. We claim this great man's name. Now we've married into it, and we're sort of going to set aside that other claim we have, and we want to be known as the family of Barzillai the Gileadite. Well, now when these men return, and they're registering and say, right here, priests, say, no, wait a second. says, here, you are from Barzillai the Gileadite, a Manasseh. He's not a Levite. He's not a priest. They say, well, all right, time out. A little complicated. We really are priests, but at one point, because he was such a good dude, we went by his name, but trust us, we're priests. And they say, this is not checking out. We're going to have to check with our superiors before we can make this decision. Now, why do I say this is a cautionary tale?

25:18 It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Take on the name of Barzillai. We will be treated kindly because of him. Maybe we will inherit his wealth. Maybe we too can sit at the king's table, but now, I hope this is not making too much of a spiritual point. I think it's implication from the text, now they are trying to get what they had already passed over. When they claimed to be the descendants of Barzillai, they were going after a blessing in their way instead of God's way. And they must have thought that they could have the best of both worlds that when it was convenient they could say yup barzali the gileadite that's our dad huh huh remember that inherit his wealth have his good name and now when it came to be priests they could go back and they could do both things but you can't you can't have it both ways And so, perhaps this is a fair application, and I'm thinking in particular, of those many, many young people here who've had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home, maybe even in this church, maybe at Covenant Day School, maybe your whole life you've had, what shall we say, a kind of priestly inheritance. And now, as you're growing up, it's nice to have that in reserve somewhere on the shelf. But if another identity comes along, seems to get you the things you want now, whatever that might be, identity as the smartest, the most beautiful, the partier, the progressive, whatever it might be, I claim I like that. And you know what? When it comes time to it, if I need this old identity, I can have that too. I can have it both ways. I can be this

27:28 new person. I can leave this other priestly inheritance behind, and when it comes to it, I can always say, oh yeah, well wait a minute, that's really me. I grew up in the church, and my parents were Christians, and my grandparents were Christians. See, here it is. might it be that the man at the registration says, something is not adding up here. I thought you didn't want that inheritance. I thought you wanted this new identity. Because you can't have them both. You can't be a son of Barzillai from Manasseh and a priest from the tribe of Levi. And you may think, well, of course, I'll just be one person for this crowd, and I'll be another person when my parents are around, when I'm in church, when I come home for the weekend, and I can have both and no one will be the wiser. Well, at some point, someone will.

28:26 You cannot embrace another identity and then just come back and claim the old one whenever you want, holding the two together. There is a cautionary tale for these men who thought it was a good idea to squander their priestly inheritance, even for someone as noble as Barzillai the Gileadite. Now, here's the final word I want you to notice. It's a number. It's in verse 64. The whole assembly together was 42,360. That's a pretty precise number. Now, you can add up all the numbers, and they don't equal the numbers given here, exactly 42,360, so it may be including women and children, even though it makes sense that these would be mostly men who are the people that are going to make the 1,000-mile, four-month trip back.

29:25 It's probably mostly single men. but 42,360. Why is that significant? Because you need to know you are a particular people, a known people. In Christ, you are a loved people, an accounted people.

29:49 Abraham Lincoln famously said, God must love the common man because he made so many of them. Well, God must love lists because there's so many of them in the Bible. There's lists of nations. There are genealogies. There's a census multiple times. There's a list of returning exiles. There is, for crying out loud, a whole book called, math teachers, Numbers.

30:16 God keeps track of us. He knows our family. He likes to keep lists. It's not just, well, God loves people. You're a people. He loves you. 4,000, 42,360. That's at least one of the things you ought to think whenever you come to those many passages, land allotments, genealogies, so-and-so begat so-and-so. I remember years ago, and let me just add a caveat. I have not watched The Simpsons in 25 years. I'm not telling you to go out and watch The Simpsons. but back before i was more sanctified and in college i watched a lot there was there's one i remember one of the first episodes homer has a bad piece of fish at a sushi restaurant or something and he thinks that he's going to die and so he makes amends with his father and he he tucks in his children and tries to have a man talk with bart and then he thinks he's going to die and say Say what you will.

31:21 Simpson is a pretty irreverent, but it does have, they're a church-going family. And because he thinks he's going to die in the night, he puts on headphones and he listens to the Bible on tape, tapes back there in season two. And it's Larry King reading the Bible. That's how long ago it was. And the joke is that they show Homer falling asleep, and every time he listens to more and more of the Bible, every part is simply a begatts. is a genealogy, as if the whole Bible, everything he listened to all night was only names and lists and numbers until finally the batteries ran out and his wife comes down. He was asleep, not dead. Show goes on for infinity. It can seem like there's a lot of names, and there are, but you ever thought the God who inspired this book must like lists? You know when you go to a graduation, especially if it's a big school, and you see, really, are we going to do all of these names except you're there because there's one name. You would be happy if they just said, all the graduates stand up, and now my daughter, granddaughter, come on, let's give her a round of applause. And they always start by saying, hold your applause to the end, and then the poor people go first, get no applause, and by the end, everyone's breaking the rules and whooping and hollering before the end. You go to a graduation, and it's a lot of names, and it's a little tedious, except that you're there and you really want to hear that one name, your child, your name, your grandchild. The lists matter when you are numbered in that list.

33:13 And one of the reasons Ezra 2 is here is to show us that God knows us intimately, not just an unidentifiable mass of humanity. He knew there were 945 sons of Zatu and 112 sons of Jorah. He keeps detailed records. It's one of the reasons we take church membership seriously. God makes lists, and so do we. of all the lists that might be important to you, the dean's list, award list, income brackets, sports standing, there's only one list that truly matters. Because there's another story of exiles returning to Jerusalem. You remember it? It's at the very end of the Bible. When the holy city, the new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven having the glory of God, radiant like a most rare jewel, clear as crystal, 12 gates protected by 12 angels. There's no temple there because the Lord God Almighty is the temple and the glory of God gives it light.

34:17 And we read there, not simply the redeemed of Israel, but nations and kings will stream to this city. They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations, this heavenly city. And this is the list that matters most, a record of those, what shall we call them, exiles, strangers and aliens in the world who know that this is not your home. Revelation 21, 27, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. It's a list of the exiles who finally come home. Is your name in that book? Because God will not let you in just because your grandma's name is there.

35:16 Here's the good news. You have a personal invitation. The Lamb Himself has made a way. The Lamb Himself says, I will give you the garments to wear. I will give you the forgiveness you need. I will be your way, your truth, your life, your entrance. I am the gate that you might enter into this holy city.

35:44 Did you notice at the beginning of Ezra 2, the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles, of those exiles. We read in chapter 1 that the Lord stirred in some to go, which means many, many did not return. We ought to look on these exiles as being worthy of particular commendation. Matthew Henry, the Puritan commentator said, an account was kept in writing of the families that came out of captivity and the number of each family. This was done for their honor, as part of their recompense for their faith and courage and their affection to their own land and to stir up others to follow their good example. It is a picture of the Christian life. God calls you to a new land.

36:39 He offers you deliverance. He promises you an inheritance. He promises to make you a new people. He will set you free. Sounds wonderful. Who wouldn't want that? Well, you have to get up and you have to leave this earthly citizenship and set out on a a journey to the celestial city, and that takes courage. It took courage for these returning exiles. They had to leave the land that they knew, by that point the land that they loved. They had to leave an old world behind. They had to set out on a hard and dangerous journey. It was a promised land after all, not a land that came with brochures they could see or drone footage they could look at. They had to say goodbye to some family and friends. They had to let goods and kindred go. And it may be the call in your life that you have to leave behind an old way of living. Even leave behind some friends and family who will not understand and will say, what are you doing? Why are you leaving Babylon? Why did you get up and go?

37:47 And the question is whether you believe that God has a better possession for you and an abiding one. Don't delay if He is stirring in your heart, a la Ezra 1, to go. Talk to someone. Talk to a pastor. Talk to an elder. Talk to a friend. Maybe there's a stirring to go into full-time ministry, men, or maybe a stirring, men and women, to go to far-off places with the gospel. maybe a stirring to be more generous with your wealth, maybe a stirring to commit your business to the glory of God, or maybe a stirring to really come honestly to Jesus Christ for the first time. Will you have the courage to get up and go? The sheep will know His voice. They will have ears to hear. And note that though it takes courage, and though it may mean leaving goods and kindred behind, even family and friends perhaps who will not understand why you are doing this, why you are so serious now, why you're on fire for Jesus, isn't it enough to just go through some of the motions? They may not understand. But look, this is not simply a call to suffer.

39:06 it is above all the Lord's summons and invitation to come home. Isn't that what he was calling the exiles? Yes, there's a cost. Yes, there's a cross. But I'm inviting you to come back home to the place where you really belong, to that city whose foundations are eternal and whose light will never go out and whose days are filled with unending joy if you will but heed the Lord Jesus when He calls. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, you have prepared an anathoth for us, an unbelievable promise that can be ours if we will but go and leave and travel and make the journey home.

40:07 Perhaps even in this crowd, people, many of whom have been in church hundreds, maybe thousands of times, yet now you want to call them. Now you are speaking to them and they cannot deny that it is your voice. So may they not harden their hearts, but may today be the day of salvation and the day for leaving exile and making their way.