“1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
It said: 4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 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. 7 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.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. ”
Studies show that six percent of Americans over the age of twelve have tried meth. It’s a highly addictive drug. I want you to imagine a woman who is addicted to it. She was a lawyer. She lost that job and was also disbarred for unethical behavior. Selling confidential information about clients is frowned upon but, of course, people on meth do all sorts of strange stuff for money. She had a studio apartment. She lost that as well. Meth takes everything from you.
Largely against her will she wound up in rehab. She was difficult in group meetings. She kept talking about the various high-profile cases that she had tried as a lawyer and reminded everyone that she was in the paper for being one of the state’s top 40 women under 40. She talked about her ivory bathroom vanity constantly. She said that she couldn’t wait to get out of this place to get back to her real life. She didn’t yet realize that it would be no simple matter for her to return to her old life. She didn’t realize that she wasn’t a lawyer anymore and might never be again. She didn’t realize that that ivory bathroom vanity was long gone.
It was easier for her, however, to live by false dreams than it was to face up to reality. That’s not just true for that woman. That’s true for all of us. We find it easier to live by false dreams than to face up to reality. We find it easier to imagine what could have been rather than to work on what is. That was true for the exiles in Babylon. They were living by false dreams. They imagined that they were returning home soon. They refused to put down roots in Babylon because they thought that any day now they were going home.
They needed the same stiff wisdom as that woman in treatment; “weep deeply over the life that you hoped would be. Grieve the losses. Feel the pain. Then wash your face, trust God, and embrace the life that He’s given you.” That’s John Piper’s wisdom; “weep deeply over the life that you hoped would be. Grieve the losses. Feel the pain. Then wash your face, trust God, and embrace the life that He’s given you.” That woman in treatment needs to realize that it is God’s will that she is still alive and that she is in treatment. She needs to embrace the life that God has given her. Israel in exile needed to realize that it was God’s will that they were still alive and that they were in exile. They needed to embrace the life that God had given them. That’s the claim of this sermon: embrace the life that God has given you.
We will study this in two points. First: sending a letter. Second: bloom where you’re planted. We see Jeremiah send a letter in verses 1-3. We see the call to Israel to bloom where they are planted in verses 4-9.
First: sending a letter. Our text for this evening and for next week is the contents of a letter; verse 1, “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”
This letter was sent to the exiles. The first group of exiles mentioned is the surviving elders. That implies that many of the elders didn’t survive the journey. Some were killed. Some just died along the way. Look at the back of the bulletin and notice the name of our elders; this letter would have been to those among these men who survived.
The letter was also directed to the priests and the prophets. This letter was to be taught. This was a word from God for their time and circumstance and the people were to live accordingly. That makes it similar to the epistles of the New Testament. Each of them was written for, “such a time as this,” to quote the famous line from Esther.
We must learn how to read different genres of the Bible, which is why we studied this in Adult Ed. A letter isn’t meant to be read like law. “Do not murder,” means, “don’t murder”; verse 5’s, “build houses,” doesn’t mean that apartment dwellers need to build houses. When we read a letter like this, we need to understand what it meant to the exiles before we can see what it means us.
This letter was sent by royal post; verse 3, “He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.”
It seems that Elasah and Gemariah were on a mission from Zedekiah, the king Nebuchadnezzar had installed over Judea. Most likely they were delivering Zedekiah’s report of how he was carrying out Nebuchadnezzar’s directions. Elasah was part of an influential scribal family. Two of his brothers had held important positions in the previous king’s administration. One of his brothers had protected Jeremiah as recorded in a passage we didn’t study. Jeremiah had connections with this family, which may have been the reason that Elasah was willing to bring this letter which, as we will see, was not complimentary of king Zedekiah. Zedekiah could also have been so powerless that Elasah didn’t worry about the king’s response to its message.
So, Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles from the Lord. He sent it as the Lord’s ambassador just as Elasah was Zedekiah’s ambassador. Elasah spoke for Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah spoke for the Lord to the exiles. Paul spoke for Jesus to the church in Galatia, “Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.” That’s what the apostles were all about. They spoke what Jesus would have said. That’s what makes red letter Bibles so misleading—as if Jesus’ words and Paul’s words were somehow on different levels. As we will see in our study after Jeremiah, this is all the word of God.
We aren’t studying this letter because Jeremiah had a word for these exiles in a difficult situation. We are studying this letter because the Lord had a word for these exiles in a difficult situation and he spoke it through Jeremiah. That’s why we study any part of Scripture. That’s why we study all of Scripture. That’s what lies behind sending this letter.
We see the first portion of this letter in our second point: bloom where you’re planted. “Bloom where you’re planted,” is the title that commentator Jack Lundbom gave to this entire letter to the exiles. That is the main point of the letter so it’s not surprising that Jeremiah put it first.
The letter begins by making clear that it was the Lord who sent the exiles away; verse 4, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” The Lord wanted the exiles to know that they weren’t just there because of political mismanagement on the previous king’s part. They were in exile because the Lord had sent them into exile. They needed to recognize that this was the will of the Lord. I had initially phrased the claim of this sermon as: “humble yourself under the mighty hand of the Lord,” because that’s what the exiles needed to do in their new situation. That’s what that woman in rehab for meth needs to do in her new situation. That’s what we all need to do. We need to humble ourselves under God’s providential dealings. That’s how we embrace the life God has given us.
As we’ve seen, the exiles thought they would return home soon. They had prophets telling them that they would return home soon. The Lord didn’t want them to believe those lies; verse 5, “Build houses and settle down.”
Bethany and I have been watching the show Alone. Has anyone seen that? The show is about surviving in the wilderness. Ten survival experts are placed in the same difficult climate but miles apart. Each chooses ten items they think would help them survive. They can use a satellite phone to call to get pulled out in case they are injured or malnourished or simply don’t think they can go on. The one who lasts the longest wins. The two seasons we’ve watched have taken place in the Arctic. The contestants arrive in mid-September. What do you think they got busy doing? They built shelters. They built houses because winter was coming. They built houses because they planned on staying. They were planning on being there for a long time; that’s verse 5, “Build houses and settle down.” The message to the exiles was, “you are going to be here for a long time. Live that way.”
The exiles had hoped that the Lord was going to overthrow Babylon so they could go home. There was political unrest in the empire at that time so that’s not a completely far-fetched idea. This letter told them that the Lord had no such plans. The Lord’s plans didn’t necessitate the fall of Babylon despite the people’s desire that they would. The same was true with the coming of Jesus. The Lord’s plans didn’t necessitate the fall of Rome despite the people’s desire that they would. “Bloom where you are planted in the Roman Empire,” is a fair part of the New Testament and especially the book of Revelation.
The exiles were to make a life for themselves in Babylon. The effort they were to put in was something of a reversal to their entry into the Promised Land. When they entered the Promised Land, the Lord told them, “[you will receive] “houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant,” as Deuteronomy 6:11 puts it. In exile, they would need to build their houses. They would need to plant their vineyards. The Promised Land was all gift. They exiles would learn the cost of rejecting the Lord’s provision by the sweat of their brow.
They could and should, however, flourish in exile; verse 6, “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.” This is a sign that the Lord hasn’t given up on them. He still wanted them to carry out what He said at creation, “Be fruitful and increase in number.” They were to increase as they increased while in slavery in Egypt; that’s part of the opening of the book of Exodus, “the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” The God of the Exodus was still the God of these exiles.
These exiles weren’t simply to settle down. They were to be productive citizens of Babylon; verse 7, “also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.” This would be difficult. The exiles hated Babylon. It’s easy to understand why. Babylon forcibly ripped them from their homes. Babylon mocked them. As Psalm 137 recalls, ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”’ This is mockery. “Sing us one of those songs about the power of the Lord. How about How Great Is Our God? Sing it for us and then tell us if He’s so great, why are you here?” You can understand why the exiles wanted to go home. You can understand why they wanted Babylon to fall. The Lord told them to make this their home for the time being and be productive citizens of Babylon
Rather than escaping into their own Jewish ghettos, they were to involve themselves in Babylonian society to do good. They were not to assimilate themselves to Babylon, but they were to live as if they were part of Babylon. The book of Daniel is the best picture of what this could look like.
We find ourselves in the same situation. We are not to retreat into our own Christian ghettos. We are to involve ourselves in the world to do good. We are not to assimilate ourselves to this world but we are to live as if we were part of this world. If the exiles followed the Lord’s word, the Babylonians would find them a beneficial people. If we follow the Lord’s word, the world should find us a beneficial people. Yes, the world will certainly oppose and hate us for other reasons, but they won’t be able to deny that we “seek the peace and prosperity of the city.”
As we studied last week in the morning, that is half of what it means to be rightly religious, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” You see both in Jesus. You don’t simply see avoidance of sin. You see him pursuing what’s good for others. That’s our call in this world. In other words, Inwood ought to be better off because we are here. The world ought to be a bit better off because we are here just as Babylon was to be a bit better off because the exiles were there.
The exiles were to work for Babylon’s good and to pray for it; “Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” The language is clear that they were to pray to Israel’s God for Babylon—not just Elohim but YHWH. They were to pray to the God of the land which Babylon would destroy. In other words, they were praying for enemies. There is no victim mentality here. There are other parts of Scripture that call upon the Lord to hold Babylon accountable and the Lord would hold Babylon accountable because vengeance is the Lord’s. He is the judge. The message here is that the people were to pray for their enemies.
Notice that praying for your enemies leaves them in the category of enemies. Praying for Babylon didn’t make Babylon their friend. You can do good to your enemy while he is still your enemy. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,” doesn’t mean that this other person whom you consider an enemy is really a friend. It means they are an enemy, but that you should treat this enemy as God treated you when you were his enemy. Remember, you were still God’s enemy when Christ died for you.
“Settle down. Seek to do good to your new homeland. Do good to these people who took you captive and pray for them.” That’s what it would mean for those exiles to embrace the life that God has given them. It would be easier to listen to lies; verse 8, ‘“Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.’
The prophets and diviners told the people they were heading home soon. In other words, they didn’t need to settle down in Babylon. They didn’t need to figure out how to live in this society. They didn’t need to decide how they were going to treat the Babylonians. They were going to leave all these problems behind, Babylon would fall, and they would go home. None of that was true. They were living by false dreams. They were pressuring their religious leaders to give them these false dreams. Never underestimate the desire to live in fantasyland. Remember our woman in meth rehab. That is so easy for all of us. False dreams are far more popular than reality.
Anyone ever have Funyuns? They are those onion rings in a chip bag—Funyuns. Years ago, a satire magazine ran an article entitled Funyuns Still Outselling Responsibilityuns. ‘“I just don’t understand what went wrong,” said James Connell, CEO of Delayed Gratification Foods, the Dallas-based maker of [Responsibilityuns]. Everybody knows that responsibility and self-reliance are virtues which, with patience and persistence, bring rewards far greater than the fleeting pleasure of instant gratification. And, frankly, that is all our competitor has to offer. We felt sure that customers would respond to our product’s image of hard work and long-term stability.” And yet Funyuns still outsell Responsibilityuns.
That was true in the exiles as well. False dreams outsold reality. False dreams stood in the way of the exiles blooming where they were planted, or as Eugene Peterson said about this passage, “false dreams get in the way of honest living.” That was true for the exiles. That is true for that young woman in rehab. That’s true for us. The last place we want to obey is the situation in which we now find ourselves. We’d rather dream and listen to false dreams. The way forward for the exiles and for all of us requires the bubble bursting of this passage; “weep deeply over the life that you hoped would be,” as Piper put it. “Grieve the losses. Feel the pain. Then wash your face, trust God, and embrace the life that He’s given you.” Amen.