Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Prophets & Exile
Exile was covenant discipline, not covenant collapse: after centuries of warnings ignored, Jerusalem fell, the temple burned, and Judah went to Babylon. Yet even there God promised to gather, cleanse, and renew His people, and the return home became another picture of the greater rescue to come.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/why-did-god-send-his-people-into-exile · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
2 Kings 17:7-20
As you read: The historian's verdict: they secretly did things against God, ignored every prophet, and hardened like their fathers.
7It was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
9The children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Yahweh their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
10and they set them up pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill, and under every green tree;
11and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger;
12and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
13Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.
15They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
16They abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
17They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
18Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight.
Jeremiah 29:1-14
As you read: God's letter to the exiles: settle down, seek the city's peace, and wait for Him, because He has plans for you.
1Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,
2(after that Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem),
3by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,
4Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.
6Take wives, and father 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 don’t be diminished.
7Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
8For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Don’t let your prophets who are in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says Yahweh.
10For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
12You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.
14I will be found by you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.
Lamentations 3:19-42
As you read: Raw lament over the catastrophe held together by steady mercies: His compassions do not fail.
19Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.
22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24Yahweh is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
26It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
30Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach.
31For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32For though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
41Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42We have transgressed and have rebelled; you have not pardoned.
Moses had spelled out the terms centuries earlier: covenant blessing for obedience, scattering among the nations for persistent rebellion. The prophets repeated the warning generation after generation. Exile was not God losing His temper; it was the agreed consequence arriving exactly on schedule.
“Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.”Deuteronomy 28:64
“but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.”2 Chronicles 36:16
Second Kings' verdict is patient and devastating: Yahweh testified against Israel and Judah 'by every prophet, and every seer,' but 'they would not listen, but hardened their neck.' Judgment fell 'until there was no remedy.' Persistent refusal of God's voice eventually meets a silence that lets consequences speak.
“Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.”2 Kings 17:13-14
“but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.”2 Chronicles 36:16
Even in the ashes, hope was built in: God promised a new covenant, with His law written on hearts rather than tablets. Lamentations finds the fulcrum mid-catastrophe: 'It is because of Yahweh's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed... his compassion doesn't fail.' Exile proved sin's wages without ever canceling God's faithfulness.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:”Jeremiah 31:33
“It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”Lamentations 3:22-23
“Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God; but I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’””Leviticus 26:44-45
The prophets describe the homecoming with Exodus-scale language: gathering the scattered, opening a highway, pouring out the Spirit. Jesus' ministry reads against that backdrop: forgiveness of sins is the true return from exile, and the new covenant He sealed at supper is Jeremiah's promise coming true.
“Don’t be afraid; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—”Isaiah 43:5-6
““Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and worked redemption for his people;”Luke 1:68
“Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”Luke 22:20