Jeremiah 29:11-14

4. A word of hope for the captives (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

TRANSLATION

(11) For I know the plans which I am making for you (oracle of the LORD)plans of peace and not calamity, to give to you a future and hope. (12) When you call upon Me and come and pray unto Me I will hearken unto You. (13) When you seek Me you will find Me. When you seek Me with all your heart (14) then I will be found by you (oracle of the LORD). I will reverse your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you (oracle of the LORD), and I will cause you to return unto the place from which I sent you into exile.

COMMENTS

Since the explicit declaration that the exile is to last seventy years probably would have caused discouragement and doubt in the hearts of the captives, Jeremiah quickly adds in Jeremiah 29:11-14 a note of hope. God assures them that His thoughts toward them are for their peace and wellbeing and not their destruction. I know the thoughts that I think toward you! The pronoun in the Hebrew is emphatic. God knows His plan and purpose even when men are unable to comprehend and fathom the circumstances of life. The exiles needed to hear this. They needed to realize that their captivity was not an accident but was part of God's plan for them as a people. No matter how tragic their seventy-year sojourn in Babylon seemed, they must believe that the entire episode was for their ultimate good and well-being.

God assures the people through His prophet that He will give to them a latter end and hope (ASV margin). They do have a future as a people. Though they were at present exiles in a foreign land, though their homeland was yet to be devastated by the hated Babylonians (Jeremiah 29:16-19), God still had a wonderful purpose for His people. Wrapped up in the words -Clatter end and hope are all the blessings of the Messianic salvation.

Genuine conversion of the people will be both a result of the seventy years of captivity and a prerequisite for deliverance from captivity (Jeremiah 29:12-14). The captivity must last seventy years in order to effect the change in the moral and spiritual disposition of the people depicted in these verses. The old rebellious generation would die and a new generation would arise which would turn to God. Return to the homeland would only be possible when they seek the Lord with all of their heart. God would answer their prayer and bring them back to the land of their birth. In other words when the people are restored to God, they will be restored to their homeland. Just as predictions of disaster are conditional upon whether the people persist in their evil, so are the promises of God dependent upon repentance. The dire and dreary circumstances of the captivity gave the Jewish people an opportunity to learn trust and reliance upon God. God often brings His people into difficult places so that they might learn to cast themselves upon Him.