The Lord is separating the people and those that listen to him through Jeremiah go into captivity. How can this be for their good? But to those that go and trust him, he says in Jeremiah 29:7 ‘in its (Babylons) prosperity you will have prosperity’. And to those that rebel and flee and seek their own way, there is famine and the sword, and destruction. There is a command for the exiles in Jeremiah 29:6 ‘seek the prosperity of the city where I have deported you, and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh”. They are to be intercessors in the midst of a foreign land until, at the end of their exile, when in Jeremiah 29:14 “I will let myself be found by you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will restore your fortunes, and I will gather you from all the nations”. In our own lives, we have a short time to intercede and “pray on behalf of it (our generation) to Yahweh” that all might be saved.
Break the Jar Before the Eyes of the Men
There Were Two Baskets of Figs
Jeremiah 24:1–10
The Lord uses an object lesson to explain to Jeremiah the condition of the people. In this lesson, there is no in between. In fact, this is an example of extremes where one basket was very good and one was very bad as it says in
Jeremiah 24:2 The one basket had very good figs, like early figs, and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten because of their bad quality.
This lesson is to describe two groups of people, and we know that if we line people up, we will find only a very few at each extreme and many more near the middle. So as we read this, it doesn’t fit our understanding of people and what they might believe and how they might behave. We might say most people are sometimes good and sometimes bad and some we might say are a little good and some a little bad.
There is a dividing line between the two groups, but not one that is easy for us to see. The first group gave themselves up and went into captivity according to the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and of them, the Lord says, “I will regard as good the exiles” in
Jeremiah 24:5 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles of Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans”.
But the other group resisted and fled and rebelled from the word of the Lord through Jeremiah so the Lord says of them in
Jeremiah 24:8 But like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality—for thus says Yahweh—so I will treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.
Seek the Prosperity of the City Where I Have Deported You
Jeremiah 29:1-11
The Lord had carried the exiles to Babylon, a place where he now tells them that they can prosper in these well known verses in
Jeremiah 29:5–7 ‘Build houses and live in them … And seek the prosperity of the city where I have deported you, and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh, for in its prosperity you will have prosperity.’
and I believe that this word through Jeremiah is true for all time. Wherever we are, whatever situation, we are to be intercessors “And seek the prosperity of the city … and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh” as in Jeremiah 18:20 “Remember my standing before you to speak good for them, to avert your wrath from them”. And we should pray for them even if they are our enemies until the Lord says, as he did in Jeremiah 14:11 “You must not pray for this people”.
But Babylon isn’t to be their home forever, because the Lord also tells them in these widely quoted verses in
Jeremiah 29:10–11 “… ‘As soon as the time has passed, seventy years … I will … bring you back … 11 For I know the plans that I am planning concerning you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for prosperity and not for harm, to give to you a future and a hope.
There is though, in this exile, a truth for all time, that, as it says in
Romans 13:3–4 For rulers are not a cause of terror for a good deed, but for bad conduct. So do you want not to be afraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it, 4 for it is God’s servant to you for what is good. But if you do what is bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God’s servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does what is bad.
If you read carefully through the history leading up to the exile, you will find the rebellious, those that did evil in the eyes of the Lord, were brought into judgement. Many though, were taken to Babylon and prospered, although they had their trials as Daniel in the lions den and his friends in the fiery furnace, but the Lord was with them.
When You Search for Me, Then You Will Find Me
Jeremiah 29:12–23
Here is another widely quoted verse in
Jeremiah 29:13 “When you search for me, then you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart”.
But few people read the context that begins in Jeremiah 29:10 “As soon as the time has passed, seventy years for Babylon” and in Jeremiah 29:12 “Then when you call on me …”.
This seventy years is a trying time for everyone, a time of purging of false prophets, a time where they are away from the temple, a time of disruption in their relationship with the Lord as a nation. And after the seventy years, “Then when you call”, then the nation will be restored and the people returned in
Jeremiah 29:14 “And I will let myself be found by you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will restore your fortunes, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have driven you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from which I deported you.’
But this doesn’t mean the Lord is not with them during their captivity. In fact, the Lord worked miracles in the lives of Daniel and his friends, in the lives of Ezra and Nehemiah and others that called on the name of the Lord.
He Has Made You Trust in a Lie
Jeremiah 29:24–32
Zedekiah Did Evil in the Eyes of Yahweh
2 Kings 24:18–20
All … Likewise Increased in Unfaithfulness
2 Chronicles 36:11–14
Study Verses
- Jeremiah 24:1–10 There Were Two Baskets of Figs
- Jeremiah 29:1-11 Seek the Prosperity of the City Where I Have Deported You
- Jeremiah 29:12–23 When You Search for Me, Then You Will Find Me
Today’s Reading
- Jeremiah 19:1-13
- Jeremiah 24:1-10
- Jeremiah 29:1-32
- 2 Kings 24:18-20
- 2 Chronicles 36:11-14