Juneteenth is the newest official holiday on our calendar. It’s always on June 19th, which this year falls on a Sunday. Ultimately it goes back to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, enacted on New Year’s Day of 1863 as a Civil War strategy. Though it officially freed every enslaved person in the Confederate States at the time, not a lot changed when it was enacted. Its impact wasn’t clear immediately. And so a celebration erupted much later – on June 19, 1865, when group of slaves heard the Union General Gordon Granger read the military order officially announcing their freedom in Galveston, Texas. It’s a significant event in U.S. history, and it’s well-deserving of a holiday.
Whenever I study the Bible, it’s interesting to me how Israelite history runs parallel to U.S. history. A lot of major events for both nations evolved around slavery. A Bible text that’s been called “the Emancipation Proclamation of the Old Testament” is the Edict of Cyrus, which is in Ezra 1:1-4. (There’s also a similar version right before it in II Chronicles 36:22-23, and slightly more-detailed version in Ezra 6:2-5.) It’s landmark document from Bible history that allowed the Israelites who were enslaved in Babylon (now Iraq) to return to Jerusalem. It came when Cyrus, the Persian emperor, assumed control over Babylon in 539 B.C. This was nearly five decades after the Israelites had first been taken captive when their exile began in 587 B.C. This edict is important not just for ancient history but for our history as well. There are at least three things we can think about for our Christian life today…
One other thing interested me: Cyrus’ edict appears twice, back-to-back in the Bible, in two different books. II Chronicles 36:22-23 (the very end of one book) is nearly identical to Ezra 1:1-4 (which is the beginning of another). This tells us something important: Every ending is also a beginning. You don’t have to be a freed slave to know what I’m talking about here. The cross of Jesus signified His death, but it also pointed a way forward to His resurrection, and to His ascension, and then to the first Pentecost with the ongoing experience of the Holy Spirit. This is something that persists in the work of the church today. God bless you, Andrew McHenry, Pastor First Congregational Church of Oroville
1 Comment
Susan Holm
6/3/2022 06:34:38 pm
Although I read the entire Bible, front to back, when I was 14/15, I always learn from you so much about those old books (Chronicles: Ezra) I read so long ago. Thank you!
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Andrew McHenryI am a husband, a Congregational pastor, and a native Kansan currently living in Thermalito, California. In the past I have also been a prison chaplain and a youth pastor. Interests include reading, railroads, prog rock, KU, and the KC Royals. Archives
March 2024
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