We ran
we scattered
like wayward children we darted off
Like frightened sheep we bolted
to try to find our own way
to try to find our own safety
Immediately we were lost
Immediately we were cold and dirty
and tangled in briars
How could we ever find the way?
We startled with fearÂ
and darted between demonic shadows
We wandered along wild and disappearing trails
in dim moonlit forests
While seven thunders broke apart the skies
While all the shades around us told us lies
Our soul was cut from root to leaf
Our tree was cut throughÂ
We were felled and dying
There was no one there to look for us
There was no one close or far to blame
We ran
We scattered
It was our choiceÂ
We prayed at the wind
We prayed at the sun
We prayed at the moon and at the stars
We tried to entice the visible powers to rescue us
We tried to move the powers to pity us
No one came
No one mothered us
No one whispered our name
We turned against our home
home after home
We stampeded like nightmare sheep
We cared nothing for our world
until finally the shadow of death blackened our sky
until its coldness took ownership of our bones
and fear became a star of ice in the lonely sky
And on earth our fear was a mountain of fire
in our crying breath
and we could run no longer
We could not even move our eyelids
Then the soft voice of God was heard
by one lamb alone
Only one lamb heard
the voice of God’s whisper
One lamb who was called his weakest lamb
and God drew him apart
The warm voice of God encircled him
and set him in the midst of Jerusalem
and called him Israel
He made that lamb his servant
How kind and glorious God’s servant was
to stand in the midst of Jerusalem our mother
The city of scattered sheep
became the sheepfold of lost sheep
when Israel was lifted up in her midst
How kind and glorious Israel was
to stand in the midst of such a city
as Jerusalem was
when God found her in the wilderness
lying in her blood
How kind and glorious Israel was
to be God's kind and righteous hand
reaching out to her and to us
her scattered sheep
her wayward children
One day God’s servant will be praised
in the Supreme Torah Court.
Israel will be honoured above all people
for he accepted responsibility for our actions.
The servant claimed guardianship for the world
when we turned away from God
when we made ourselves nothing
but the prey of demons
Israel suffered with us the shame of what we did
He suffered so much humiliation and punishment
that he could not be recognized
neither at the first when God called him
and separated him from the nations
so that he was humiliated among his own kind
nor in the generations to come
when he was punished for Jerusalem’s sake
and for our sake
As severe as Israel's punishment was
to that very degree
he will bring free flowing love and blessings
between the hearts of all God's creatures
great and small
He will bring Jerusalem again
into the joy of her motherhood
Multitudes of lost and broken families
will be found and healed in her
The rulers of the world
will be utterly confused by God's servant
They will stand with their mouths wide open
unable to think or speak
They will hear the homeless speak
and little children speak
They will hear them say wondrous things
about Israel
that they never could have imagined
Deep truths of creation
that they never could have dreamed of
will be taught to them
by children
Who can believe a story like this?
Who can believe that it is not a fiction?
Only the poorest spirit
can be made to uncover her face
and see the suffering King of Israel
who makes Jacob to be called Israel
and Leah to be called understanding
who makes Rachel to be called Jerusalem
Only the poorest spirit can be made a believer
Come and see the King of Israel
Come and see Israel
Do not hide your face because of his scars,
Come and see Israel
standing in the midst of Jerusalem
The King of Israel
sits at the right hand of the Almighty
He arises from the dead
to walk in the midst of his family
He arises from the dead
that Jacob may arise from the dead as Israel
Abraham was just a toddler
and he walked around
all the Land of Israel
under his Creator's fatherly eye
no one believed
he would become the salvation of the world
For Jerusalem’s heart was broken
when her children did not save her
when they turned back toward the wilderness
to the place from where she had come
Jerusalem saw Israel
her beloved
standing in the midst of her
and spread out her wings to us
but we turned away
and went back to our familiar ways of life
The King's heart was pierced
for our sakes
It was bewildering to us
God has his reasons
we said
and continued on our way
Jerusalem's heart was shattered
Her tears do not cease
We found our own paths of life
and fought to bring our offspring joy
but our paths were only paths in dreams
For in truth
we were ourselves still-born infants
Some miracle had incubated us
and our bodies grew
into the bodies of warriors
but our souls were lost
and we immediately wandered off
into the cursed forest of the tree of death
Now the servant of God
has agreed to take custody of us
Israel has agreed to be responsible for us
Israel is a shepherd to Jerusalem
and to all the nations
who become her sons and daughters
The king of Israel
is a shepherd of shepherds
a servant of servants
the gentle gatherer of lost and lonely
rebellious children
The king of Israel
makes Jacob to be Israel
and Israel to be God's blessing
to multitudes
For Jerusalem's sake
and for our sake
his soul suffered a great wound
He was cut off from trust
and from intimacy with God
Jerusalem's heart was shattered
when her king's mind and soul and body
were battered
and beaten by death
Had God destroyed her hope?
It was for our souls
that Israel was made accountable
It was for our sakes
that he suffered the bitterness of God's curse
and Jerusalem was left desolate
Israel was inseparable form Jerusalem
in all her actions
he stood with her
He called all of her children his own
From the consequences of their actions
he did not escape
and from his peace
she will not be cut off
He took death by the collar
and made it a beast of burden
to carry all the weight of life
He fell ill
with our diseases
took our medicine
and we are being healed
The servant of God's servant
a most gentle and humble man
was taken like a lamb
to the knife
Silently he walked from the court
convicted
A violator of the law of God
a worshipper of demonic idols
It was Jacob's transgression
Jerusalem's fall from grace
But he called Jacob his kingdom
his partner in suffering for Adam
and Jerusalem was his princess
He was a convicted murderer
a convicted thief and adulterer
He was charged with the folly of every
child of Jerusalem
He was held accountable for every crime
condemned for our arrogance
It was we who were guilty
and it was Israel who suffered
He was placed in the earthen grip of prison
beneath execution skies
He was arrested for loving Jacob too much
and for pitying the world without compromise
He risked the reputation of God
and took the fall for sinners
and gave up his life
He was meant for a criminal's grave
but in the end was buried with the rich
In fact
he broke no law
of humans or of God
He had only truth
in his mouth
only love between his words
every day of his life
Yet Israel's God
was willing that he should give up his life
like an elevated offering
in order to create peace
for Jerusalem
As soon as Your servant was willing
for his soul
the soul of Israel
to remain one in death
with Jerusalem
You accepted his offering
Oh God of Israel
You accepted his suffering
as a gift of life
for his beloved
You accepted his prayer
as a way of transforming sin
into obedience
correcting wrong
creating from it what is right
As soon as Your servant was willing
for his soul
the soul of Israel
to remain one in death
with Jerusalem
You accepted his offering
Oh God of Israel
You accepted his suffering
as a gift of life
for his beloved
You accepted his prayer
as a way of transforming sin
into obedience
correcting wrong
creating from it what is right
Suddenly he saw the offspring of his soul
He saw the children of his eternal life
filling the earth
as the waters fill the beds of the seas
It was for their sakes
that Israel suffered
for the sake of seeing
Jerusalem's joy
when she beheld as her raiment
a new creation
of heaven and earth
her tears of joy
seeing her children
full of eternal light
Israel saw
and was satisfied
He will hold the children of his soul in his arms
They will rest forever their heads
upon his chest
He will hold the answer to his prayer
in his hands
and his heart will create
Sabbath peace
From all that he learns
he will bring understanding
to the judgement of God
He will announce the mercy and justice of God
from his own experience
For God has made Israel
the servant of all
God's true and eternal servant
Through her labor pains
Jerusalem will pronounce multitudes righteous
in his name
Therefore
God enthrones him
amidst the adulation of angels
and gives him a name
that is above every name
because he gave up his soul
that it might be the soul of Israel
that it might be the peace of Jerusalem
He stood in the courtroom
in the place of criminals
that he might rescue the poorest spirit
All the weight of creation
was poured into sin
It hung from his shoulders
when he prayed to be counted one with Israel
a sacrifice for Jerusalem
a salvation for Adam's lost soul
Father forgive them
for they do not know what they are doing
We were little children wandering away
He made Jacob one soul with him
He made Israel one servant with him
He made Israel the home of all creation
He made Israel a house
without limit or end
And Jerusalem He made
the living room of the king