If These Walls Could Talk.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Louvre in Paris. It did not disappoint. After a quick walk past the Mona Lisa, I spent the rest of my time in the Near Eastern Antiquities section. Iran. The Levant. Arabia. I know. Shocker.
And it was incredible.
At one point I was standing in front of clay tablets from the ancient city of Ur. Abram’s likely hometown according to Genesis 11:31. These tablets date to the same general time period Abram would have lived. Standing there looking at them left me in awe. So much history sitting in one place.
Lament on the Ruin of Ur
A poem of lament recounting the tragedy of the fall of the Ur empire.
- 2000 BC
There were also remnants from the palace of King Darius. Yes. That Darius. The one mentioned in Ezra, Daniel, Zechariah, and Haggai. The king who issued orders allowing the Yahwists in Judah to continue rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem after the work had stalled.
What struck me was how interesting that feels when you think about our current political climate. In the biblical story it was Persia, what we would call Iran today, that supported the rebuilding of Israel’s most sacred site. They backed it militarily and financially.
Sit with that for a second.
At one point I was staring at a section of wall from the palace and had the thought that someone like Ezra may very well have seen something like this. Touched it. Leaned against it. Moments like that make history feel less distant.
Standing there had me wondering. If these walls could talk, what would they say? What stories would they tell?
Because the stories we read in the Bible, especially in the Hebrew Scriptures, are not abstract theological ideas. They are about real people, living in real places, at real moments in history. People trying to make sense of what God was up to with them and with the world around them.
The next time you read the Bible, try to picture them. What it must have been like to walk those roads. To pass those city walls. To sit down for lunch. To laugh. To love. To cry. To pray. To serve.
We often make the mistake of approaching the Bible only as a theological conversation. But theology was formed by real people living real lives. And just like God was working through them then, he is still working through people now.
Including you.
So here is a question worth asking. What part are you playing in the story that will be told centuries from now?
And just for fun, here is my goofy face standing in front of the Mona Lisa.
I’m Just Saying is a weekly email where I share a thought I’m wrestling with in real time. It is an invitation to pause, reflect, and reconsider the way we think about faith, the Bible, Jesus, and the Church. No pressure. Just an honest thought, once a week.
