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HAT a gracious message God sent
from Jeremiah to the captive Jews in Babylon! "Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the
fruit of them; take wives, and beget sons and daughters… that you may be
increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I
have caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the LORD for it: for
in the peace thereof shall you have peace (Jeremiah 29:5-7). There was an
edge on that prophecy, yes. It was hardly just subliminal that they were in
this for the long haul. Yet, despite that grim reminder, there was a lot of
kindness communicated in these words as well.
Plain and simple, 70 years is a
long time. That's how long these captives were destined to stay in Babylon
(Jeremiah 29:10). Most of those people would die there. Still, even in this
judgment; in this punishment for generations of disobedience; in this
humiliating defeat of Jerusalem, it was evident that God had good intentions;
kind and generous ideas. Just read Jeremiah 29:11 & 13). 0, He intended to bring some of them back to Jerusalem in 7 decades (Jeremiah
29:14), but He didn't want them to wait that long to be blessed. He desired to do
them much kindness in the meantime; kindness, that is, to those who were humble
before Him (vs. 32).
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