A Silent Witness
Have you ever felt displaced or like you suddenly didn't belong?
2 Kings 24:8, The Inclusive Bible
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he was crowned ruler, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother was Nehushta ben-Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.
Nehushta, the mother of King Jehoiachin, appears in 2 Kings 24 as a silent witness to the unfolding tragedy of exile. Her story, though sparse, speaks to the disorienting experience of displacement, not only physical but spiritual and emotional. As Judah is carried away by Babylon, she too is swept into the current of history, her identity and sense of belonging torn from her. In her brief story, we encounter the grief of those who suffer not just from loss, but from being uprooted, displaced, deported, removed from the places that once gave them identity and meaning.
Nehushta's story is one line, but in her rests a lineage, a legacy, a history of a generation, and of a people.
Do you see yourself in the story of Nehushta? Have you ever felt displaced or like you suddenly didn't belong? What lineage and legacy do you hold in the story of your life?