But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. [Jeremiah 29:7 (ESV)]
Jeremiah told the exiles to work and pray for their captors. He explained that it was the shalom (well-being, peace, health, success, safety, and welfare) of their captors that they would ensure Judah’s shalom. For a people who’d been torn from their homeland and Temple, I expect it was difficult to understand how seeking Babylon’s prosperity would help them; but, it did!
While Daniel and his three friends diligently looked out for Babylon’s interests, I suspect they used their high government positions to protect the interests of their countrymen at the same time. We know that Daniel encouraged Nebuchadnezzar to show mercy to the oppressed. After seeing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerge unscorched from the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed that anyone who spoke against their God “would be torn limb from limb” and their houses turned into “heaps of rubble.” It probably was Daniel who precipitated the exiles’ return by showing Cyrus Isaiah’s 150-year-old prophecy naming him as the one who would make possible the Jews’ return to Jerusalem. By serving their captors, they also served their people.
When the first exiles returned to Judah, Cyrus stipulated that the financing for rebuilding the Temple would come from the royal treasury! In addition, he returned all the silver and gold that Nebuchadnezzar plundered from the Temple. Cyrus not only allowed the returnees to take their accumulated wealth with them but he also encouraged donations from those who remained. That Jewish wealth was substantial because the total of their gifts to the Temple was 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 robes for their priests! A nation that hadn’t prospered wouldn’t have financed the Temple or allowed nearly 50,000 people, over 8,000 head of livestock, Nebuchadnezzar’s plunder, and that amount of personal wealth to leave! As their captors thrived, so did the exiles.
20 years later, Ezra returned to Judah with the second group of exiles. King Artaxerxes authorized and financed that trip by giving Ezra everything he needed along with silver and gold for an offering to Israel’s God. Like Cyrus, Artaxerxes allowed those returning to take their personal wealth and any donations with them to Judah. Moreover, the king instructed his provincial treasurers to supply Ezra with supplies (7,500 pounds of silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of both wine and olive oil, and an unlimited supply of salt)!
When a neighboring provincial governor opposed the rebuilding of the Temple, Persia’s King Darius prohibited their interference and decreed that additional financial support for the exiles would come from the taxes collected in that province—money originally destined for the royal treasury. A nation in financial straits never would have foregone tax revenue; as Persia thrived, so did Judah!
Nehemiah’s job was to ensure the health and safety of King Artaxerxes. When he asked to return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, the king granted his trusted servant’s request and provided him with the necessary lumber from the royal forests. It was the wealth and well-being of the Persian Empire that allowed for the restoration and well-being of Judah.
In the story of Esther, we see the nation’s well-being tied to that of the Jews in a different way. Had Mordecai not foiled the plot to murder Xerxes, Esther would have been a dead king’s widow and completely powerless. Her position as queen is what enabled the two Jews to foil Haman’s evil plot of Jewish genocide. That royal edict to kill all the Jews was not limited to the province of Babylon. It extended throughout the Persian Empire—all the way into Judah where the first exiles had settled. Had Esther not intervened, David’s line could have ended. After Haman was impaled on a pole, it was Mordecai who took his position as prime minister. Esther and her uncle used their positions “for the good of his people” and spoke up “for the welfare of all their descendants.” Again, the shalom of the Jews was closely linked to the shalom of their captors and pagan king!
While Jeremiah 29:7 was a specific command for a specific situation, we see a similar principle voiced in the New Testament. Jesus told us to pray for our persecutors and oppressors. Even in adverse circumstance, we are to be agents of peace and good will. We are to contribute positively to the society in which we live. Wherever God has placed us, as His people, we are to seek the peace and welfare of those around us. Whoever they may be, we are to love our neighbors; it is in their shalom, that we will find ours!
Jeremiah’s instructions to work and pray for the welfare of Babylon was a unique and completely unprecedented concept in the ancient world. Rather than praying for retaliation and Babylon’s collapse, God commanded them to pray for their Babylonian captors and work for the peace and prosperity of the land! Rather than rebels and a source of trouble and insurrection, the exiles were to become reliable and valuable members of the community. It seems they took God’s command to heart.
Jeremiah 29 consists of two letters written by the prophet to the exiles in Babylon. The first (29:1-28) was sent to the recently deported elders, priests, and prophets as well as to King Jehoiachin, his mother, and the officials, craftsmen, and artisans who’d been taken as Nebuchadnezzar’s captives several years earlier. Countering the message of the false prophets promising a quick return to Jerusalem from Babylon, Jeremiah bluntly told the exiles that Israel’s captivity would last seventy years. This was unwelcome news and, preferring to believe comforting lies rather than the painful truth, people accused Jeremiah of being crazy and a false prophet. The second letter in this chapter addresses one of his accusers.
When writing about the Annunciation of our Lord, I came upon some articles by women who take offense at the story of Jesus’ conception. Interpreting Mary’s response as involuntary, they picture the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary as some weird sort of supernatural rape. This is inconsistent both with Scripture and God as we know Him. The Archangel didn’t say, “Surprise, you’re pregnant!” and leave nor did he physically impregnate her. Read the words as reported by Luke; Gabriel told Mary what would happen, not what had already occurred. It was only after Mary asked how the angel’s words would be fulfilled and Gabriel explained that the Holy Spirit would make it possible that she accepted God’s invitation to motherhood. It was then that the miraculous power of God—the “Most High”—came upon her.
In a cartoon drawn by Paul Noth, an enormous political billboard overlooks a pasture inhabited by a flock of sheep. Looking up at the picture of a grinning wolf in coat and tie saying, “I am going to eat you!” one sheep tells another, “He tells it like it is.” Would that all politicians were so forthright!
“How was work today?” asked the wife in the Born Loser comic strip (drawn by Chip Sansom). Her husband answered, “Horrendous!” adding, “It feels so good that it’s over, I’m almost glad it happened!” Having had times when my prayer was simply, “Lord, just get me through this!” I understand. Sometimes, life seems so challenging and exhausting that we’re willing to settle for merely getting through it. That, dear friend, is setting the bar far too low. God has better plans for us than just getting by and none of us are born losers.
Devotions of the Heart 