In the Bible, sojourners were more refugees than tourists. Like Naomi or Jacob and his family, they were where they were
because their own nation was experiencing famine, drought or invasion. Or, like
David, Moses, Jacob (again) or Joseph and Mary, they were on the run because their king, their own people or even their family members would have been happy to see
them dead.
The Christian, too, is far from home. All believers are.
There Is No Abiding
David, who had sojourned more than once, nailed it perfectly when he said, “We are strangers before you and
sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and
there is no abiding.”
If devout Israelites living in splendor in their
own land during the greatest period in its history could self-identify as
homeless wanderers, then maybe we can identify just a little with the psalmist
who complains:
“Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!”
This particular psalmist is out of sorts.
He’s tired of liars and their lies. Spiritually speaking, Meshech and Kedar were not fun places to live.
Bad Seed of the Patriarchy
They were also people groups with a fair bit in common. Both Meshech and Kedar were grandchildren of patriarchs with whom God had significant personal dealings,
Noah and Abraham respectively. Meshech was a Japhethite whose people populated modern day of Armenia and far to its north, maybe all the way to Russia and beyond; Kedar was a Semite, a forefather of the “people of the east”.
Neither ethnic group sounds particularly winsome or appealing, at least not in the days of the
prophets. They were probably the black sheep of their respective families. Meshech’s
descendants were hard men, miners and people of the sword, who traded slaves and bronze to Tyre for its merchandise. As Ezekiel aptly puts it, “They spread their terror in the land of the living. And they do not lie with the mighty … whose iniquities are upon their bones.”
Woe Is Me
The sons of Kedar were not exactly sweethearts either. Kedar’s descendants were nomadic, known for their dark tents and flocks of sheep and goats. When they headed into new territory, they were probably as welcome as the 12 million Romani wandering through Europe, which is to say not very welcome at all. Isaiah also implies Kedar was
an ally of the Babylonians, defeated with them by the Medes and Persians. Not good
company to be keeping. Jeremiah complains that his people “have changed their glory for that which does not profit,” compounding the insult by pointing out that even the people of Kedar would never have heard of such a thing. There’s a backhanded compliment for you!
In short, it’s highly likely the psalmist was not complaining unreasonably about sojourning in either Meshech or Kedar. “Woe is me” sounds about right.
Meshech and Kedar in Prophecy
Another thing Meshech and Kedar have in common is that they are both subjects of prophecy; often in the very same chapters, and
generally not in a good way. Gog (he of Magog fame), is associated with Meshech’s
descendants. He is “the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal”, who will treacherously attack Israel during the coming Tribulation period when God’s covenant people are dwelling in peace and safety. Meshech will be utterly destroyed by pestilence, torrential rains, hailstones,
fire and sulfur, so that God can show his greatness to the nations.
As for the children of the other patriarchal grandson, Isaiah prophesied: “Within a year, the glory of
Kedar would come to an end,” and so it did. Isaiah says that as part of the
natural service of defeated enemies, the sons of Kedar will bring tribute to
Israel during the millennial reign of Christ, just like so many nations did
during the reign of Solomon: “All the flocks of Kedar
shall be gathered to you.” This may or may not be to Kedar’s benefit, depending on the attitude they adopt to their new Monarch.
They Are For War
Enough history and futurity. Here’s something maybe you can relate to about living in “Meshech” or “Kedar”. The psalmist finishes with this:
“Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!”
The perennial burden of the believer in a
faithless, self-interested, predatory and relentlessly aggressive world is that he simply does not fit in, no
matter how hard he or she may try. If our hearts are truly in the process of
being remade in the likeness of the Lord Jesus, we are bound to find ourselves emotionally at
odds with our co-workers, neighbors and especially the power structures of the
societies in which we live. How can we not? We are of a completely different
disposition, and it goes right down to our spiritual genetics.
When Lot’s neighbors in Sodom besieged his door and found him unsympathetic to their expressions of sexual desire, this
was their reaction:
“This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.”
Get that little bit at the end? It has a
familiar ring to it. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that our Leftist neighbors and
fellow-citizens seem to think they would be happier surrounded by third worlders
with any religion, culture, and worldview AT ALL … than surrounded by
those judgmental Christians.
Feeling Like An Alien
Note that Lot was not exactly judgmental. He simply drew the line at becoming personally involved in enabling homosexual
rape. That’s a pretty low bar, actually, but it’s way too high for the Meshechs
and Kedars of his day, or of ours. In their eyes, the
slightest disinclination on your part to embrace and endorse depravity is
enough to make you a “judge”, deserving of deplatforming, social ostracism, career loss and worse.
Why? Because at the root, today’s “Meshech and Kedar” hates peace. It loathes any worldview that presents even the slightest
challenge to its self-image, and is ready to go to war over anything that threatens it.
If you sometimes feel like an alien here, it’s because you are.
If you don’t, maybe you’re not really a sojourner. Maybe you’re a citizen.
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