Exile comes in many forms and manners. To be in exile means to be away from one’s home (city, state or even country), while either being explicitly refused permission to return or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return. It can happen to individuals, e.g. Napoleon’s exile on Saint Helena. It can happen to nations, e.g. after the partitioning of Poland in the 1800s, many Polish people moved to France and the United States. Here is the United States, many Native American peoples were exiled from their land to reservations. In Biblical narrative, exile plays a huge role in the life of the people of Israel.

Some notable events include Adam and Eve exiled from the Garden of Eden. The years of exile in Egypt. And of course, perhaps the most notable: the Babylonian Exile.

Our friends at The Bible Project offer two videos on the topic of exile that provide food for thought about exile historically and for us in our day as a matter of faith.

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Image credit: “The Babylonian Exile” by Fahri Aldin