Day Fifty-Six -- "But you did not listen to me," declares the LORD

Jeremiah 23:9 to Jeremiah 33:22

As Jeremiah speaks the LORD's prophecies at the gates of the city and the Temple, he continues to be either ignored or threatened.  The false prophets, the ones who "speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD", receive particular condemnation from Jeremiah.  As a result, the prophets and priests once again band together and attempted to stir up the people to put him to death.  As it turned out, Jeremiah had his defenders people and the elders and for the meantime the once again escapes any harm.  The situation for Judah and Jerusalem, however, is getting more and more tentative and the threat of the Babylonians has everyone on edge.

But Jeremiah is not letting up and delivers the bad news that Judah and the surrounding nations will be conquered by Babylon and will be forced to serve its king for seventy years.  The sounds of celebration and joy will be gone from their lives and the whole country will be a resolute wasteland.  Although Jeremiah says that after seventy years the LORD will punish the king of Babylon and the people will be gathered back to the land, these words could not have been much comfort to those to whom he spoke them.  Seventy years?!?  They won't be around to see it, or to once again dwell in the land the LORD had given them by promise.  What are they to do in the meantime?  Jeremiah tells them what the LORD says to those who are carried into exile:

"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 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.  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." (29:5-7)

I wonder how much comfort, if any, it gave to the people to know that they could have a decent life while in exile but that they would never again see their native land.  Could they find any joy in being assured that perhaps their grandchildren or great-grandchildren might live to see the day when Judah and Jerusalem would once again rejoice?