A People, Un-walled (Poem, Part 1)

See the series here

Walls, walls…

With great walls, history is certainly replete.

Problems without or within, they’re built to defeat.

From things without, walls provide a certain deterrent,

But to things within, they may ensure staunch confinement.

As with everything in this life, temporal,

All walls will someday become untenable.

Just before this, they’re breached, climbed over

or dug under.

What’s inside will be freed, and what’s outside will enter. 

Ponder how the walls of Jericho were knocked down, flat; ¹

Jerusalem’s walls dismantled – gold for a fat cat; ²

The fortified walls of Babylon,

wittingly crossed under; ³

The Berlin wall fell as thousands grabbed

…a chisel or hammer. ⁴

In these places and elsewhere where walls were vast,

It was cities that walls have encompassed.

So if you hear of an ‘un-walled people and nation,’

Pray tell, what comes to your mind,

what concept or notion??

In that case, don’t think of some structure that’s physical,

But ponder the notion of a wall, conceptual.

Walls are just things that keep things

in-or-out, functionally,

Things folk may look upon favorably or fearfully.

Walls, walls…

For modern nations, three key components comprise walls,

Essentials that stay on-call, guarding against downfalls:

First is a government, and a military or militia.

Then other nation alliances complete this ‘wall trifecta’.

Without this basic defensive trifecta,

Nations today are un-walled. What a stigma!!!

Yet it is in the world’s not-to-distant future,

That this is what God calls Israel, with fervor!!! ⁵

What??!! Situated in a rowdy ‘hood,

With tough neighbors who her presence withstood,

Israel is now ‘very well walled’ on every hand:

Government, military and friends who with her stand.

In Israel’s ‘former life’, she was also well walled,

Walled cities and villages, enemies to forestall.

Military alliances she then negotiated,

Stirred The Lord’s anger until He was so infuriated! ⁶

Yet The Lord God is He who shapes our history,

And many would say ours is indeed His-story!

So we are only left to imagine,

How Israel’s ‘now’ may morph into her …‘then’.

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¹ This fascinating historical account is summarized in The Bible’s Book of Joshua, chapter 6. Check it out in BibleGateway.

² See: Melted Gold in the Destroyed Temple. Indeed, Jesus predicted the temple’s stones would be dismantled one-by-one. (See: Matthew 24:2)

³ See: The Fall of Babylon. Indeed, The Lord God also predicted so many details of this exceptional story, including calling King Cyrus, of Medo-Persia, by name before his birth, predicting his conquest over Babylon and also his future decision to release the Jewish remnant from their 70-year Babylonian captivity. (See: The Bible’s Books of Isaiah chapters 13, 14; Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51, especially verse 36; and Daniel chapter 5.)

⁴ See: How the Berlin Wall Worked

⁵ See: Ezekiel 38:11. Imagine that!

⁶ See: ‘Out of My Way, USA!’ (Poem)

Pic background courtesy of PaintingGallery.com