The Peace of Babylon

Jeremiah 29: 1-14

A Letter to the Exiles
29 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[a] and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers 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.

10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Jeremiah 29:1-14
I think this is one of those cases where it is necessary to talk about the history of this passage first to understand what is going on here.
Throughout the 10th through the 7th centuries BC, Assyria was the bully of the ancient Near East world. Assyria’s capital was at Nineveh, which is in the far north of modern day Iraq. It was Assyria that defeated the ten northern tribes, called Israel, and took them off into exile. It was Assyria that almost did the same to Judah.
But, at the end of the 7th century BC, the tables turned. Babylon, in the center of modern day Iraq, roughly the same place as Baghdad, rose to prominence. They allied with the Medes, who lived in modern day Iran, and rebelled against Assyria. In 612 BC, they succeeded in destroying Nineveh, and over the next several years wiped out the remnants of the Assyrian Empire.
In 605 BC, they gained control over Judah and the other nations of the Levant, which was basically the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, modern day Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. Jehoiachin rose to the throne of Jerusalem at about this time. He rebelled against Babylonian rule, and it didn’t go very well. He was defeated in 597 BC, and along with the Queen Mother, Nehushta, his court officials, the elders of Judah, and the skilled artisans of Jerusalem, he was taken away into exile in Babylon. The skilled artisans represented some of the wealthiest people of Jerusalem, but they also were well educated and had valuable skills the king of Babylon could use to his advantage. Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, was installed as king in his place by the Babylonians. He was a puppet king. But he too would rebel a decade later.
This event in 597 BC was the first of the two times when the people of Judah were taken into exile. This first group of exiles included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The second happened in 586 BC when Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the Temple, as well.
This was a traumatic experience. In their way of thinking, they are cut off from God. The Temple is in Jerusalem and they are a thousand miles away in Babylon. They can’t have access to God anymore. They are in a strange land of strange customs.
In times of trauma, we always hope for a quick return to normalcy. And there were some prophets who said just that. There were prophets who said what people wanted to hear. “This will all be over soon. God will rescue us. We’ll be back in Jerusalem before Passover.” Or something like that.
Jeremiah had a very different message: Dig in. Build a home. Plant a garden. Get married. Have children. Find spouses for your grandchildren. You are there for the long haul.
Traumatic experiences are an inevitable part of life. Someone close to us will die. We might lose our home. We might lose our job. We might be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. These things are inevitable. One or another will happen to all of us at some point. But in the midst of traumatic experiences, we still have to go on with the business of life. We still have to work and eat. We still need to take care of our family. Sitting on the banks of the Euphrates and wishing it was all over wasn’t going to do anyone any good, Jeremiah is saying.
“And pray for the peace of Babylon.” Peace in Hebrew is SHALOM. It means more than just an absence of conflict. Peace is well being. If you wish someone peace, it’s not just that you hope that they don’t get into a fight today. It means you wish them all that is good and necessary for the fullness of life. “Pray for the SHALOM of Babylon, for its SHALOM is yours.”
This is a rather treasonous thing to say. “You should pray for the downfall of Babylon, not its peace!” people would say. And sure enough, Jeremiah was accused of being a traitor. He was arrested and imprisoned for it. He had to be a man of great courage to say the things God was telling him to say. Prophets must always be people of courage.
False prophets don’t have to be courageous because they say what people want to hear. “It will all be over soon!” “God wants you to be happy, healthy, and wealthy!” It doesn’t take courage to say what people want to hear.
But the truth is they would be there for 70 years of exile. Now Bible scholars get into a tizzy trying to figure out how those 70 years work. Some said the 70 years of exile 605 to 538, which was when the first exiles returned from Babylon. Others said 586 to 515, the time from the destruction of the Temple to its rebuilding. Still others said it was just meant to mean “a lifetime.” Some argue 70 years was a standard time of divine judgment. It’s not worth getting worked up about. It was a long time.
Eventually, this time of exile would end. “I will bring you home,” God promises. “If you seek me, you will find me,” even in exile in Babylon. And “I know the plans I have for you, plans for a future and a hope.” Difficulty and trauma are inevitable, but they do not last forever. Only God’s love and salvation last forever.
What is the relevance of this text for us? Well, we are exiles in Babylon, too. The imagery of exile and Babylon reappear in the Book of the Revelation. Babylon is a picture of this world. The New Jerusalem is the New Creation, the New Heavens and New Earth. That is our Promised Land, but for now we live in Babylon.
What should we do in exile? Some people seek an immediate end to exile.
Dispensationalist theology arose in the early years of the 19th century, and it came to popularity during the suffering and trauma of the American Civil War. One of the key tenets of Dispensationalism is a belief in a rapture, Christ taking the faithful Church out of the world before the world undergoes tribulation. There is an element of escapism there. “Don’t worry about the troubles of this world. God will take us away from it soon.” Kind of like, “Don’t worry, God will take us out of Babylon and back to Jerusalem soon.” I think it’s important to note that no Christian believed in a rapture before the 19th century. And if you get outside the United States and places that have been influenced by American theology, no one else believes in it today.
Escapism is not what we are called to. We are called to be salt and light. We are called to renew and transform the world, not escape from it. So we too should “settle in; build homes, plant gardens, and start families.” And we should pray for the SHALOM of Babylon. Its SHALOM is our SHALOM.
I always think it’s important to point out that the biblical idea of peace is always connected to right relationships. When people have a right relationship with God, with self, with neighbor, with the created world around them, then there is peace. Without right relationships, peace is impossible.
We should work to make this world a place of SHALOM. How do we do that? Well, I think here of the vows made in the Baptismal Covenant: Renounce sin and the spiritual forces of wickedness. Resist evil, injustice, and oppression in all forms. Trust in Christ, lead a Christian life, and profess your faith. Faithfully participate in the ministry of the Church through your prayers, presence, Spirit gifts, service, and witness. Those are the kinds of things we should do to “settle in” and work for the SHALOM of this world, this Babylon in which we live out exile while we wait for the coming of the New Creation.