Jeremiah 29:10-14
For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NRSVUE)
In the passage above, Jeremiah, writing from Jerusalem and long known as a purveyor of doom and gloom about Israel’s future, seeks to reassure his readers in Babylon that while God has willed Israel’s exile, he has not forsaken them. The verses that precede this passage warn “the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths” that their sojourn in Babylon will not be brief, and they are not to let the prophets and the diviners who are among them deceive them, and they are not to listen to their dreams for it is a lie that they are prophesying in the Lord’s name. And, indeed, the words Jeremiah attributes to the Lord appear to predict fairly accurately the length of Israel’s exile (seventy years) and the certainty of return (“I will bring you back”). The accuracy of Jeremiah’s “predictions” seems to validate his claim to be a true prophet and to justify the popular notion that prophets are all about knowing the future, I.e., the difference between true and false prophets can be discerned by whose predictions come true.
But such an interpretation misleads us. Prophets are inherently no better prognosticators than you or me. They often write from hindsight or benefit from friendly editors making after-the-fact redactions. In this case it was probably the latter. The passage’s use of the future tense might divert us into focusing on its predictive accuracy about the Babylonian exile when, instead, we should place greater emphasis on alienation and the restoration of trust and relationship with God.
The Lord says
- call on me and pray; I will hear you
- search for me; you will find me
- seek me with your heart; I will let you find me
- [do all these things]; I will reunite you as a people and return you from exile.
The message of reassurance (the Lord has plans for your welfare, will hear you, will let you find him) reinforced by “prediction” (will restore your fortunes, will gather you together, will return you from exile) reflects God’s plan. But God’s plans are just that, plans. They are contingent. They take a lifetime (seventy years- the biblical three-score-and ten). They can be thwarted.
We are God’s children, but he wants us to be adults--to do what is right--to call on him and pray, to search for him and seek him with our hearts, to return from exile and be reunited with him. It is in our trusting in that promise that will enable us to discern the true prophet from the false.
Questions for Reflection:
- Merriam-Webster offers several definitions of prophet, among them “one who utters divinely inspired revelations” and “one who foretells future events : predictor.” How does preferring the first one over the second help us better understand the meanings of scripture?
- Israel’s defeat and consequent exile resulted from ignoring the warnings of Jeremiah and listening instead to false prophets who assured them that God would enable their triumph over the Babylonians. Like the ancient Israelites we find ourselves in the midst of prophets and prophecies claiming the mantle of God’s authority. How do you differentiate true prophecy and false?
- How do you understand the tension between free will and Jeremiah’s claim that God makes plans for us? What are our responsibilities in discerning and responding to what might be God’s plans, especially in light of our having and maintaining a relationship with God?
Prayer
Lord,
We often pray that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Open our hearts to hear your words of love for you and our neighbor. Return us from our self-imposed exile from you and our neighbor. In the words of David restore our soul and renew a right spirit within us. Let your love lead us to act in the light of your way. Amen.
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