000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

278 Proper 23 [28]/Year C
Proper 23 [28]/Year C
Jeremiah 29:1, 4–7+ (Semicontinuous)
By the time of today’s reading, Babylon had conquered Judah and sent
many of its leading citizens to exile. Jeremiah 27:1–28:17 reports a conflict
that took place among community members who were left in Judah.
The conflict centered on whether the community left behind should organize
a revolt against Babylon (a viewpoint Jeremiah identifies with the
false prophets), or as Jeremiah recommended, the community should submit
patiently to the yoke of Babylon in the confidence that God would
eventually liberate them; revolt, the prophet believed, would lead to the
annihilation of the community. Whereas the false prophet Hananiah
announced that the exiles and the Temple treasures the Babylonians had
taken as booty would be returned to Judah within two years, Jeremiah
countermanded Hananiah. God would keep the leaders of Judah in exile
for a long though indeterminate time (see Proper 8/Year C).
In the lection for today, the prophet writes a letter in the name of
God to the exiles in Babylon (Jer. 29:1–3). God through the prophet
counsels the exiles to settle in Babylon and create a new life there instead
of constantly being on edge by planning revolt or thinking that their
return will be imminent. They should take the time and resources to
build houses and plant gardens. Like the Hebrews in Egypt, they should
marry and have children so that their number will increase rather than
decrease (29:4–6). During this phase of the exile, they should “seek
the welfare of the city where I have sent you . . . , and pray to [God] on
its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”; that is, they should
cooperate with economic, social, and political forces that would help
Babylon be a place of peace and prosperity that provided abundantly for
all (Jer. 29:7).
The preacher needs to speak carefully about this aspect of Jeremiah’s
letter. The prophet does not urge readers to incorporate Babylonian
values and practices into the Judahite community in exile or the Judahites
to assimilate into Babylonian culture. The prophet offers a practical
guide for the survival of the Jewish community as Jewish, given
the political and military realities of Babylon as the international superpower
and Judah as a conquered community that Babylon could utterly
and finally pulverize. Jeremiah advises creating a Jewish community with
the power to sustain itself over a long period as Jewish in identity by building
homes and institutions that foster that identity in the midst of an alien
culture.