Thoughts going in, Sunday Oct 10th

Jer 29:1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." 8 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD. 10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (TNIV)


This passage constitutes part 7, the final part, of our series on Jeremiah the prophet of perseverance, prophet of hope.
Ten years prior to THE catastrophe of Jerusalem—the sacking of the city, the burning of the temple, and the exile of so many of its inhabitants—there was a first exile. Somewhere around 597BC Nebuchadnezzar had flexed his muscle over Jerusalem. He took at least 3,000 prominent captives including the royal family, and placed a ‘puppet’ king on the throne. Chapter 29 of Jeremiah preserves some of the written dialog between the prophet and those exiles.

Even before digging into the content of the letter, it could be said that one reason Jeremiah is writing to them is because they NEED to hear from him. Even though under divine judgment, God is gracious and God cares enough for His people that God makes it possible for His Word to reach them in the land of exile. We learn from other passages that while true prophetic voices such as Daniel and Ezekiel also went into exile, there were also false prophets. One of the messages propagated by the false prophets was that the period of exile would not last long—that they’d all be back in beautiful downtown Jerusalem in no-time. With that in mind, we can see why it is that Jeremiah felt compelled to write.

Vss 4-7: Build houses, settle down, plant gardens, reap the harvest, marry and increase. It’s almost a ‘shades of Genesis’ sort of thing as the prophet tells the exiles “be fruitful and multiply.” I’m not sure how this went down with those people, but frequently today we hear sentiments like: “how could anyone bring a child into a world as violent, cruel, and unstable as this?” I’ve seen pictures of modern-day refugee “villages”….row after row of one-room shacks. I can’t imagine that the refugee villages that grew up around Babylon were any better. On one hand it seems that Jeremiah’s instructions are counter-intuitive. More kids means more mouths to feed, cramped quarters, etc. Perhaps another way to look at it is that Jeremiah wants the people to ‘invest’ in their future; to see that God has a future in mind for them that will include their children and gran-children, and so they should begin trying to see it from the “God’s eye view.”

Vs 7: Pray for the peace of…..Babylon?? This sounds strangely like a psalm gone awry. Psalm 122 says: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”…but now Jeremiah has the nerve to suggest that the exiles pray for their captors. I’ve seen my share of WWII p.o.w. movies. You’re only supposed to give them your name, rank and serial number. Above all else, it is the prisoner’s duty to try to escape; and if not escape, then to hound, harass, and confound the enemy as much as possible. But everything Jeremiah has said so far is completely opposite. Does he know whose side he’s on? Oh, yeah, that’s right…..he’s speaking on behalf of God. At the very least we see shades of Jesus here, who encouraged his followers to pray for their enemies.

Vss 9-10: This probably seemed like pretty bad news—at least if the people *believed Jeremiah; seventy years! Yikes. Obviously that means some people will die in captivity. It’s the wilderness wanderings all over again.

Vs 11: PLANS FOR HOPE. This was my father-inlaw’s verse. He was diagnosed with cancer in the early 80s. My mother inlaw posted this verse all over the house. I think the intention was to give my father inlaw *hope that he would fully recover. As a matter of fact, he did end up being a 20yr survivor of his cancer…but we all know it doesn’t always work like this. The point is, these words from Jeremiah can apply to ALL who love God. God has a plan of FUTURE HOPE both for the 20yr cancer survivor AND the one who only has 6 months. And the point is this….being *in that plan and being a *part of that plan is the true meaning of life. It is easy enough to imagine that there were those listening to Jeremiah’s letter being read who would be dead within 6 months—and yet, they could die in peace because they had heard God’s word; heard God’s plan for the future; and been reassured that his people were still the apple of his eye.

Cheers,

TM