It was to be 70 years of exile. No amount of false prophecy or wishful thinking would change it.

Therefore, Jeremiah wrote a letter of instruction containing verses we like to claim:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

• Build houses and live in them;
• plant gardens and eat their produce.
• Take wives and have sons and daughters;
• take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters;
• multiply there, and do not decrease.
• 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 29.4 – 7, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

The instructions were given to a people in exile: “build houses….have children…” In other words, live life where you are, not where you’d like to be.

And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. (1 Corinthians 7.17, MSG)

Instead of complaining and wishing evil, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile…”

It’s tempting for us who may have grown up in climates that appeared favorable to our faith, when we find ourselves in today’s climate, to forget that “Israel in exile” is a better model for us than, say, “Israel in the promised land.”

For Israel, there was a promised end:

For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29.10, 11, ESV)

“I know the plans I have for you…welfare…a future and a hope.” This promise was given when they were in exile! The words sound nice to us. The words didn’t sound nice to them! One false prophet said Jeremiah should be rebuked for what was perceived as heresy:

Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.” (Jeremiah 29.27, 28, ESV)

Israel’s exile would be long, and our New Testament marching orders are also in the context of exile:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2.11, 12, ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life… (Philippians 2.14 – 16, ESV)