Build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Jeremiah writes a letter to the Jews taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, and his first instruction is not resistance but a building project. Two questions sit behind it: who put them there, and how long would they stay?
The order to build assumes a settled address, and the letter names the One who arranged it.
This was no accidental slip by Jeconiah and the people. No power of the king of Babylon explains why the Jews were brought so low. The LORD of hosts had caused them to be carried away to the city of the conqueror. And it was He who now spoke to them through Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt, and to link His name with theirs in their fallen state!
So a house in Babylon is not surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. It is agreement with God about where He has put them.
Houses and orchards take years. Trees planted for fruit say that no one is going home next spring. But a quick return was just what the popular prophets promised:
Hananiah was one of the many false prophets plaguing the people of God at the time. He "took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it." Then he said in front of all the people: "This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two full years." Jeremiah did not take it upon himself to answer this lie. We simply read: "and the prophet Jeremiah went his way." But God spoke... The false prophet was judged for his opposition. He "died in the same year in the seventh month."
Another writer finds the same denial back in Jerusalem. Leaders there answered Jeremiah's call to build in exile by building at home instead.
God points these men out to Ezekiel. They replace Jeremiah's call to the captives to build houses in the place of their captivity, which was to be long (Jer. 29:5), with building in Jerusalem. Judgment is not near, they say.
Building was not resignation. The exile had a stated limit, and the same letter named God's plan for them.
They had to accept the judgment. They also had to bear it patiently, right to the end of the seventy years the Lord had assigned to it... At the appointed time there was to be a restoration. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jer. 29:11).
Captives might have thought sadness was the only reverent response. The command to eat the fruit of their own gardens says otherwise.
There was to be nothing morbid in their habits. They were to take all the circumstances from God. They were happily to trust in the Lord, but to do so as captives to Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed, they were even to seek the good and peace of Babylon.
Settling in a place is not the same as approving of it.
It is instructive to notice how God orders things for the good of His people, even when they are captives in Babylon. That is the place that is to become most hateful to Him, and the place He afterwards calls them to flee... We are to pursue what is good, while avoiding what is evil.
The same writer points to one man in Babylon who shows what this looks like:
To be happy, and to be peacefully pursuing what was good, was God's mind for them then: it is no less His mind for us now. This does not mean that either they or we are to become Babylonish. We see in Daniel, who was one of those at Babylon, the sort of behaviour that pleased God. He said "No" to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him, according to the Word of the Lord.
Those who refused the yoke did not escape it.
If we run away from discipline, the problem that caused it will catch up with us (and the outcome is likely to be even worse). If these people had stayed in Jerusalem and accepted the Babylonian yoke, they could have lived quietly in their own country. But having fled to Egypt, they were still within Nebuchadnezzar's reach and would die.
- Sent — the exile was God's doing, not Babylon's strength. Even in their fallen state, God links His name with theirs.
- Settle — houses and fruit trees are slow. The command to build exposed the prophets who promised a return within two years.
- Serve — settling meant seeking the good and peace of the city where God had placed them.
- Separate — they were to live well in Babylon without becoming Babylonish. Daniel sought the good of those around him and still said "No" to the king's food.
- Sure end — the seventy years had a limit. God's plan for them was welfare, a future and a hope. Those who ran from His discipline met it anyway.
Take wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and be not diminished.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jeremiah wrote to people already deported to Babylon, telling them that their stay would be long. They must even pray for the city that held them captive — but why pray for the place of your punishment?
The verse traces the exile back to God Himself, not to Babylon's army. The writers quoted below used an older translation, which reads "peace" where the ESV has "welfare."
The downfall of the Jews was not an accidental slip by King Jeconiah and the people, and it was not the power of the king of Babylon either. The Lord of hosts had caused them to be carried away to the city of the conqueror, and He was the One who now spoke to them through Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt, and to link His name with theirs in their fallen state! It was worse than useless to hope for a quick return to Palestine. No plots and no resolutions would help. The Lord's word was that they should settle down in the land of their captivity. They were to build and plant, to marry and give in marriage, and so grow in number instead of shrinking. They were also to seek the peace of the city where they lived, and to do this heartily as to the Lord, and not to please men.
The command to seek the city's peace comes attached to houses, gardens, marriages and children. Refusing that ordinary life might look spiritual. In fact it shows a heart that has not bowed to God.
Souls that are not really bowing to God are always gloomy. They murmur in their affliction and avoid the common duties of life. Godly people do not shut their eyes to what is painful, nor are they unfeeling in their adversity. There would be no piety in ignoring the truth of things. They feel the affliction, yet they seek grace from God to take the hardship from His hand with all patience.
Both sides of this prayer look unpromising.
The people who were told to pray were a failing people. The city they were told to pray for was a doomed city. Still, they were to pray. We might think it hardly decent for such people to pray for others, and quite useless to pray for such a city. But no! The Lord fully recognises the shame of His people, and that His hand was upon them in judgment. He says, "I have caused you to be carried away captive." Yet He goes on, "Pray to the Lord for the city," for His mercy is very great.
Seeking a city's welfare is not the same as adopting its character. One of the exiles shows how both fit together in one life.
To be happy, and to be peacefully pursuing what was good, was God's mind for them then; it is no less His mind for us now. This does not mean that either they or we are to become Babylonish. We see in Daniel, who was one of those at Babylon, the sort of behaviour that pleased God. He said "No" to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him, according to the word of the Lord. We do well to grasp this principle and have grace to put it into practice.
One writer carries Jeremiah's letter over to Christians today. The peace we ask for the world comes back to God's own people.
God's mind is clearly that His people should lead a quiet life while passing through this hostile world. They are not to assert themselves as if they were citizens of this world. They are to live in a calm that keeps out of the world's disputes, in a piety that recognises God in every circumstance of life, and in practical seriousness before others. Long ago the prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to God's captive people in Babylon. He urged them to seek the peace of the city that held them in bondage, by praying to the Lord for it. As the prophet says, "in its peace you shall have peace." In the same spirit we are to seek the peace of the world, so that God's people may have peace.
Another writer draws the parallel while marking the difference in situation.
It is true that Christians in this land are not captives to a foreign power. But a new element has come into our lives, making us strangers and pilgrims even in our own country... Meanwhile we are in a world of unrest and sorrow.
Seeking Babylon's peace was not a surrender of hope. The exile had a fixed end, set by God.
Just as it was necessary to accept the judgment, so it was necessary to bear it patiently until the end of the seventy years assigned to it by the Lord... At the appointed time there was to be a restoration.
- Sent, not stranded — the exile came from God's own hand. Babylon was to be accepted, not escaped by scheming.
- Settle — build, plant, marry. Avoiding ordinary duties in hard times marks a heart that murmurs instead of bowing to God.
- Seek — pursue the good of the place you did not choose, as Daniel did, without taking on its character.
- Pray — a failing people may still pray for a doomed city. God's mercy is greater than the shame He fully sees.
- Share the peace — the peace you ask for others comes back to you. Christians pass through this world, and still pray for it.