Theme · narrative
Exile and Return
The first exile is from Eden — humanity cast out from God's presence with a flaming sword barring the way back. Abraham is called out of his homeland, and Israel descends into Egypt. The exodus is the great return, but the cycle repeats: judges deliver, the people rebel, and deliverance comes again. The Babylonian exile is the definitive displacement, and the prophets frame the return as a new exodus. Jesus's own journey — leaving glory, entering the 'far country' of human existence, dying outside the city, and returning in resurrection — recapitulates and resolves the exile-and-return pattern for all humanity.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Kgs 9:7 — Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all
- 1Sam 26:19 — Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be t
- 2Chr 36:17 — Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that s
- 2Kgs 15:29 — In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and c
- 2Kgs 17:6 — In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 2Kgs 17:23 — Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
- 2Kgs 25:21 — And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.
- Amos 9:14 — And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make g
- Dan 1:2 — And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into
- Dan 9:2 — In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation
- Deut 4:27 — And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
- Deut 17:16 — But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no
- Deut 28:49 — The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
- Deut 28:64 — And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and
- Deut 30:3 — That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
- Deut 30:4 — If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
- Exod 13:3 — And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leaven
- Exod 22:21 — Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- Ezek 1:1 — Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of Go
- Ezek 5:12 — A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third p
- Ezek 11:16 — Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the
- Ezek 34:13 — And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited
- Ezek 36:24 — For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
- Ezek 37:11 — Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
- Ezek 37:12 — Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
The Church Fathers on Exile and Return
After he went abroad, he who departed from the church squandered his inheritance. "After," it says, "leaving his home and country, he went abroad into a distant country." What is farther away than to depart from oneself, and not from a place?… Surely whoever separates himself from Christ is an exile from his…
"Return, you transgressors, to the heart." Return to the heart! Why do you go away from yourselves and perish from yourselves?… You go astray by wandering about. Return. Where? To the Lord. It is quickly done! First, return to your heart. You are wandering away. You are an exile from yourself. You do not know…
1. "Return," she says (Song 2:17). It is clear that he whom she calls back is not present; yet that he had been present, and that not long before: inasmuch as he who is still going away seems to be called back. An untimely calling-back, a sign of great love on the one part, and of great loveliness on the other. Who…
(Vers. 2.). For when they themselves, namely the Egyptians, had returned, namely to their heart, according to what Isaiah admonishes, saying: "Return to your heart, you transgressors," Isaiah forty-six. Had returned, I say, to their heart, outside of which they had been on account of fear: in the Psalm: "My heart…
(Verse 6 onwards) Return, as you have deeply strayed, O children of Israel. For on that day a man will cast away the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold, which your own hands have made for yourselves to sin. And Assur will fall by the sword, not of a man; and a sword, not of a human, will devour him. He…
How can he be said to go out and to come in, whom no space can enclose? What country can be his, who made, and who possesses, the whole universe? In truth, Christ goes out and comes in not of himself, nor for himself, but in you, and on behalf of you, until he recovers you from your exile, and calls you home from…