When we think of letters in the Bible, we tend to instantly think of the letters of Paul, the Epistles, in the New Testament. However, we find in Jeremiah 29 that he penned a letter to the leaders who were exiled in Babylon, along with the priests, the prophets, and the people of Jerusalem. As I read this letter, I began to see so many points to apply to myself, so I read it again putting myself in the place of an exile. Maybe you are in a place where you feel you are in exile, away from Adonai and struggling to maintain your walk. The points in Jeremiah’s letter are things you can apply to your spiritual life, and you will find yourself growing in Him, even in exile.
[4] “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says to all those in exile, whom I have caused to be carried off captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel: [5] Build yourselves houses, and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Jeremiah 29:4-5
“Build yourselves houses and live in them.” This statement indicates that the people were going to be in Babylon for a while, seventy years to be exact, so they were to settle into this land and live. Regardless of our location, the promised land or the wilderness, the mountain, or the valley, we are to live, and we are to build. But what exactly are we supposed to build? We are to continue building the Kingdom of Adonai here on earth. We are to build our faith. Jude 20-21 reads, “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in unison with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). Thus, keep yourselves in God’s love, as you wait for our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to give you the mercy that leads to eternal life.” How do we build our faith? By digging deeper into the Word and acting on it. Romans 10:17 says, “So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah.” Faith begins with Messiah. “So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment – that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement – and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us, looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua – who in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scoring the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 The more time we spend in the Word and in prayer, the stronger our faith will be, but we must build it, we have to work on it because faith isn’t a magic pill or a wish, and it doesn’t come by just hoping for it.
Building doesn’t just stop with the individual person; we are also called to build up the body of Messiah. [11] Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. [12] Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service the builds the body of the Messiah, [13] until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah’s perfection. Ephesians 4:11-13 If you are saved, you are supposed to be a proclaimer of the Good News, telling people about Jesus. Johnathan Cahn made a great comment concerning missionaries, and that if we are people of Heaven, and this earth is not our home, then this world IS our mission field, and we are sent forth to spread the Gospel of Yeshua. (paraphrased) We are called to build up other believers, praying with and for them, encouraging them in the Word. We are laborers in the Lord, for His glory.
“Plant gardens and eat what they produce.” The people were not just to build a home and live in Babylon, they were to be productive and get their hands dirty. They were to plant gardens. I have done a lot of planting this year and have fall crops in the ground as well as in my indoor greenhouse right now. Planting takes work, it takes patience, it involves getting your hands a little dirty, but at the end of it all you are rewarded with a harvest that you and others can enjoy. There is one key element with planting a garden, and that is the seed. Seeds come in a variety of sizes, have different germination periods, and will produce plants of various sizes all depending on the design of that particular seed. When Adonai created Adam, he was put in the garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it. (Genesis 2:15) We are gardeners and caretakers of seeds, not just in the natural, but in the spiritual as well, and as in this world various types of seed are sown, so it is in the spirit. Yeshua used the seed as a teaching lesson in his parables. [3] “A farmer went out to sow his field. [4] As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. [5] Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; [6] but when the sun had risen, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. [7] Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plant. [8] But others fell into rich soil and produced grain, a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as had been sown. Matthew 13:3-8 He explained this parable to His disciples saying, [18] “So listen to what the parable of the sower means. [19] Whoever hears the message about the Kingdom, but doesn’t understand it, is like the seed sown along the path – the Evil One comes and seizes what was sown in his heart. [20] The seed sown on rocky ground is like a person who hears the message and accepts it with joy at once, [21] but has no root in himself. So he stays on for a while, but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, he immediately falls away. [22] Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth, so that it produces nothing. [23] However, what was sown on rich soil is the one who hears the message and understands it; such a person will surely bear fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:18-23 He used the imagery of the mustard seed in different ways, as the mustard plant is one that is readily found throughout Israel. [30] Yeshua also said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? What illustration should we use to describe it? [31] It is like a mustard seed, which when planted is the smallest of all the seeds in the field; [32] but after it has been planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the plants, with such big branches that the birds flying about can build nests in its shade.” Mark 4:30-32 He also used this tiny seed as an illustration for faith. The Lord replied, “If you had trust as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this fig tree, ‘Be uprooted and replanted in the sea!’ and it would obey you.” Luke 16:6
What then are we to learn about planting seeds while in exile? That we are of course supposed to plant seeds, to be gardeners for the Kingdom of God. We must be careful however with the seeds in our possession. Everything that we do plants a seed, and the law of sowing and reaping is a very real thing, not just a concept. The Bible warns of this in Galatians 6:7-10 [7] “Don’t delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows. [8] Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. [9] So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest. [10] Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful. We must be responsible gardeners. Our words; seed. Our actions; seed. Our attitude: seed. We live a life of sowing seed everywhere we go, and with everyone we come in contact with. Let me pose a hypothetical question. When you wake up in the morning and you are in just one of those moods, you know the one I mean, where nothing is going to go right that day, you just know it. Both sides of the bed are the wrong side of the bed. Do you water that seed, or do you dig it up and refuse to allow it to take root? To dig it up, you have to turn your focus to Adonai and away from what you are feeling. You have to declare the Word, command your soul to bless the Lord, to offer up praise and thanksgiving. When that happens that old, dreary seed is dug up and replaced with the seed of worship. It sounds easy to do, and it is easy to put down on paper, but a little more difficult sometimes when the rubber meets the road, and you find yourself in that situation. Been there, done that. Galatians 5:19-25 discusses the type of fruit that one will produce. [19] And it is perfectly evident what that old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity, and indecency; [20] involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue [21] and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God! [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] humility, self-control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things. [24] Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires. [25] Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.
The exiles were not only commanded to plant gardens, but to eat of its yield. The Brown, Driver Briggs, Lexicon not only defines eat as to devour or consume, but to eagerly receive. David displayed this in Psalm 63: 2(1) when he said, “O God, you are my God; I will seek you eagerly. My heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a land parched and exhausted, where no water can be found. We are to eagerly receive, consume, and partake of the things of Messiah. After His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, His disciples brought Him food, but His reply was, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about,” and they asked each other who had brought Him food. He said, “My food is to do what the One who sent me wants and to bring his work to completion.” (John 4:31-34) So it should be with us; as Yeshua quoted the Torah,” Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of Adonai.” (Matthew 4:4, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3)
We must build, we must plant, we must eat, and in doing so, we will strengthen our inner man, our spirit. When we are established, rooted, and bearing fruit, we will see increase not just in our life, but in the lives of those around us. People we meet will begin to want to taste and see that the Lord is indeed good.
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