September 20, 2024 | Be God's Light
A Letter to the Exiles
Scripture: Jeremiah 29:1-23(NIV)
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. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:
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. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
15 You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” 16 but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— 17 yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 19 For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.
20 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 22 Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ 23 For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the Lord.
Devotional
In the previous devotions we have seen that Jews from Judah were deported to Babylon in three waves, and that the exile would last seventy years after the final wave began. Imagine what it would have been like to be forcibly relocated to a foreign nation that had decimated your homeland. How would you feel? What would you do?
Jeremiah, often the purveyor of bad news, sent this upbeat letter to the exiled Jews living in Babylon. He encouraged them to make the most of their new situation. He advised them to build houses, settle down, plant gardens, raise families, build the economy, and get along with their captives. Think about it. Seventy years is a long time. All of the adults who were deported to Babylon would die there.
The famous passage in Jeremiah 29:10-14 was not meant for them. It was meant for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. God promised to their descendants that he would bring them back to Judah, prosper them, and give them hope and a future.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Joel 1:3 puts it plainly, “Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”
Think about seventy years from now. What year will it be? How old might your children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren be? What can you do right now that would impact their lives seven decades away? What kind of spiritual legacy can you leave for future generations?
Poem
How Do We Live?
How do we live on this strange foreign soil?
How do we sing to the LORD?
How do we keep our heartstrings tuned to pure pitch?
How do we live for the LORD?
How do we live in a culture untrue?
How do we shine for the LORD?
How do we season salt covenant vows?
How do we live for the LORD?
How do we speak to the neighbors we meet?
How do we hold to the LORD?
How do we multiply and fruitful be?
How do we live for the LORD?
How do we hold fast to the pathway of Christ?
How do we walk with the LORD?
How do we keep our ways pure ‘midst the filth?
How do we live for the LORD?
