"Goin' home, goin' home, I'm a' goin' home." These words from the spiritual song sound the plaintive, universal longing for homecoming. We all resonate warmly to the idea of going home to "see the folks," to return to our roots, to recapture memories. In poetry and in song, homecoming has been celebrated.

This text speaks of Israel's homecoming, but it is not an ordinary homecoming. It is not the return of the conquering hero or the prodigal, the soldier or the servant. It is not a return from a self-directed journey. It is a return from exile, from a forced expulsion, from a punishment.

It was God who had sent Israel into exile, who had given them up to their sins, who had become their enemy, fighting against them, driving them out. But now, after many years of exile, it is time for hom…