Jeremiah 29:1-20

 “The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon. He sent it after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had been exiled from Jerusalem. He sent it with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah. King Zedekiah of Judah had sent these men to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The letter said: “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says to all those he sent into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem, ‘Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and allow your daughters get married so that they too can have sons and daughters. Grow in number; do not dwindle away. Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.’ “For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream. They are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. But I did not send them. I, the Lord, affirm it!’ “For the Lord says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over will I again take up consideration for you. Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore you to your homeland. For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, I will make myself available to you,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will reverse your plight and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’ “You say, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets of good news for us here in Babylon.’ But just listen to what the Lord has to say about the king who occupies David’s throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem and were not carried off into exile with you. The Lord who rules over all says, ‘I will bring war, starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will chase after them with war, starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them. For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,’ says the Lord. ‘And you exiles have not paid any attention to them either,’ says the Lord. ‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord, have said, all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.’”

— ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭1‬-‭20‬‬

I know this is a long passage. But when I see the verse of the day as 29:11, I think to myself, “Ok, I’ll just post a few surrounding verses for context.” But then the verse beyond that was important, and the verse before that introduced the speech. Then historical background was given. And even now, vv. 21 and on give response to Jeremiah’s letter, so we need to continue reading. 

29:11 may be the top of my least liked verses taken out of context. I’ve written before about God’s generosity, kindness, goodness, mercy. That’s not the issue. Of course, He longs to bless. He is love. But for teachers/pastors/mentors to use passages like this to “promise” blessing is just around the corner is so dangerous. What if it never comes? 

And for high school students? They have a life of blessing ahead? Really? What if it’s not? What a great way to shatter faith, basing hope in a horribly applied verse.

The beauty of this verse is that YHWH is speaking to His people, again whether before or in exile—debatable. But false prophets are giving promises that it will be a short time and they can go home soon. God says, “Not so fast. We have a covenant. I had mercy for a long time, and I am actually being faithful to the covenant by sending you in exile. You will be here 70 years. Get comfortable. Plant vineyards. Build houses. Get to know your neighbors.”

He even tells them to pray for the prosperity of Babylon, because Babylon’s greatness will benefit them.

After this time of discipline, He will return them to their homeland. The relationship between God’s sovereign plan and their repentance (v. 12) is the same discussion as we always love to discuss (me, not so much). But God would allow them to return under Cyrus of Persia in 538 BC. 

We can study the three stages of exile, and each one was more brutal than the last, and there were three returns to the land of Israel after Persia conquered Babylon. Still, not many Jews returned home. This time of exile drastically affected their emotional and spiritual state/relationship with YHWH. They did grow comfortable in Babylon and around the near east. 

Does this verse have any value to us then? Does God have plans for us? Yes. Are they to prosper us? I don’t know. We have to insert this exile story into the larger narrative of Jesus as Messiah. His ministry, death, resurrection conquers all evil and pain. In Him we find all peace and rest. I hesitate to jump to 1 Peter where we are called foreigners and exiles still. Some may. But it may be the best route to say in Jesus we find the fulfillment of God’s covenant, plans of redemption and ultimate restoration.

For another perspective, see Russell Moore: https://www.russellmoore.com/2017/06/28/jeremiah-2911-apply/

Another issue that comes up (practically speaking) in this passage is the relationship between “exiles” and the nation where they live. Again, 1 Peter is the go to “bridge” passage between Jeremiah and the present, but I would need to do more research on the ethnicity of Peter’s audience. If they are primarily Jewish, then the term exile (i.e., the Diaspora, similar to James’ letter) would apply naturally. It could still reach to us by extension.

The issue is how we as Christians are supposed to relate to our geo-political realm. The term Christian nationalism has been thrown around a lot lately, and there’s a whole spectrum of definitions. People have built their whole writing and research platform on it, but before any conversation begins, you have to define terms. I’m not really going to discuss it here so I’m not going to dive in to the issue fully. I can reach my point without getting too deep into it.

Of course, Paul and Peter say to pray for ruling authorities and government. That reflects what Jeremiah says here, and the NT commands seem to apply regardless of the exile context. So do we seek the prosperity and blessing of our nation? Do we pray God’s hand of healing and restoration, since we have become the exiles? Perhaps. I suppose. Many would use Jeremiah 29 as support for this mindset.

I would use it in the opposite sense. Not that we shouldn’t pray for government. Not that we should hate our nation. But do we forget that the Jewish exiles lived—in Babylon. Centuries before, the northern tribes were captured by Assyria—you know, all those sermons you hear about ruthless Ninevites. Then Greece, Persia, and Rome? Rulers like Nero, Caligula, Domitian. We want them to prosper—and the motivation of the passage—so we benefit, too?

This is why I focus more on the global church in passages like this. What if I were a Christian (probably facing severe persecution) in a country that wasn’t too friendly with America? Would I be able to pray for its prosperity? 

Or would I focus on the kingdom of God and allow a passage to live in its context? Certainly applicable to me, but can be illogical and dangerous if I don’t have a broad enough view.

Proverbs 3:5-12

 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own estimation; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will bring healing to your body, and refreshment to your inner self. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled completely, and your vats will overflow with new wine. My child, do not despise discipline from the Lord, and do not loathe his rebuke. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.”

— ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭12‬‬

NET breaks this early part of chapter into 1-4 (admonition) and 5-12 (obedience to Lord). 

First two verses are some of the most recognizable in Proverbs. NET does word studies on most of the major words, but there really isn’t much to dig into here. Trust and rely are synonyms, and basically mean to put confidence in/ use as support. The contrast is whether we use the Lord or our own understanding. God’s wisdom vs. human wisdom. It really doesn’t take much research to see how that goes. The problem is that humans are always necessary to interpret the divine wisdom. There’s the rub and source for even more debate.

As with all Proverbs passages, the key here is going to be genre/wisdom literature. Straight paths? Healing? Financial freedom? This is straight prosperity gospel, but this is contrasting way of wisdom vs fools. I love using the word “skill” or being “clever” when discussing wisdom literature.

This is the type of verses that would speak to a wider audience bc everyone can apply these things.

Not the time to debate discipline or types of discipline. How does God discipline? Are we meant to discern discipline from God vs. bad things in life? Some probably doubt that God even disciplines, but for Proverbs, discipline of some sort = love. 

This is a tough issue to understand all the nuances from a practical standpoint. Theologically it may be easy. We have the verses to nail it down. But how does it actually work? And how does it affect our view (and others who may have a different background from us) of God?

And how can these verses contribute to not only my understanding of God but my wise approach to becoming more clever?

Psalm 34

“I will praise the Lord at all times; my mouth will continually praise him. I will boast in the Lord; let the oppressed hear and rejoice! Magnify the Lord with me! Let’s praise his name together! I sought the Lord’s help and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help are happy; their faces are not ashamed.”

— ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭1‬-‭5‬‬

 “The godly cry out and the Lord hears; he saves them from all their troubles. The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he delivers those who are discouraged. The godly face many dangers, but the Lord saves them from each one of them. He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil people self-destruct; those who hate the godly are punished. The Lord rescues his servants; all who take shelter in him escape punishment.”

— ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭17‬-‭22‬‬

Though the headings at the beginning of psalms are not inspired or part of the original text (i.e., inserted by tradition), in this case it at least reminds us that these words had/have a context. That is, they belong in both a literary and historical context. If I were to read this in many churches today, I would either be praised or critiqued for promoting prosperity theology. It’s right here in the verses. 

But ASSUMING, the tradition of when it was written is anywhere close, let’s say I had experienced anything close to David. Captured by foreign king. About to die. Deserve to die in that culture. Hunted for years. Fake insanity. Released. I could write words/poetry that reflect something about God’s abundant goodness and faithfulness to His covenant and how His enemies always fail.

Psalm of thanksgiving/ praise. Genre is key when studying psalms. Have distinct structure

V 5 has translation options based on Hebrew forms. Read NET note, but could be statement or imperative in light of how God has acted on behalf of others.

Always good to reflect on how God has worked for us, and praise Him for His might. The knee jerk is to question why this doesn’t happen all the time or how do we know it was God or if good things would happen anyway? (Because God would want good things all the time) 

And is it really for me or is it for Him? Different sides of same coin. God really does love those who follow Him and wants good things for them. His ultimate goal is His glory. This is not a false dichotomy.

Vv. 17-22 Notice how NET translates all verbs whether imperfect or perfect as present tenses. Gives it a general feel. Certainly evil people prevail. And righteous people suffer. We could disprove this text in a heartbeat, but we would miss the point. 

Statements are still true but not promises. General statements that apply throughout time. And David is celebrating a major victory. No, we don’t escape everything. The point is not that we are evil at the time. The point is we need a broader view of the passage and God’s workings on our behalf. 

All doesn’t always mean all in poetry. I wish it weren’t so.