Jeremiah 29:10

29:8-19 Let men beware how they call those prophets whom they choose after their own fancies, and how they consider their fancies and dreams to be revelations from God. False prophets flatter people in their sins, because they love to be flattered; and they speak smoothly to their prophets, that their prophets may speak smoothly to them. God promises that they should return after seventy years were accomplished. By this it appears, that the seventy years of the captivity are not to be reckoned from the last captivity, but the first. It will be the bringing to pass of God's good word to them. This shall form God's purposes. We often do not know our own minds, but the Lord is never at an uncertainty. We are sometimes ready to fear that God's designs are all against us; but as to his own people, even that which seems evil, is for good. He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, or the expectations of their fancies, but the expectations of their faith; the end he has promised, which will be the best for them. When the Lord pours out an especial spirit of prayer, it is a good sign that he is coming toward us in mercy. Promises are given to quicken and encourage prayer. He never said, Seek ye me in vain. Those who remained at Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed, notwithstanding what the false prophets said to the contrary.

For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon,.... These seventy years are not to be reckoned from the last captivity under Zedekiah; nor from the precise present time; nor from the first of Jeconiah's captivity; but the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar, when he first came up against Jerusalem; see Jeremiah 25:1 ; I will visit you; in a way of mercy, by stirring up Cyrus king of Persia to grant them their liberty: and perform my good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place; meaning the promise of return from their captivity to their own land; which was a good word of promise, a promise of good things; which was good news to them, and of which there was no doubt of its performance, since God is faithful who has promised, and is able also to perform. It was from hence, and Jeremiah 25:11; that Daniel learned the time of the captivity, and the return from it, Daniel 9:2.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 . After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon — Hebrews, לפי מלאת שׁבעים שׁנה , literally, At the mouth of the accomplishment of seventy years. “And as the mouth of a river, metaphorically, denotes the extremity of its course, where it discharges its waters into the sea; so, by a farther metaphor drawn from hence, לפי seems to denote being at the full end of a certain period or limited course of time, where it is just going to lose itself in, and mix with, the ocean of eternity. Here therefore we are to understand that, ‘at the very instant of, or immediately upon, the completion of seventy years,’ the restoration of the Jews should take place.” — Blaney. These seventy years of the captivity, it appears, are to be computed from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which, in the Scripture account, is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign: see note on Jeremiah 25:1 . I will visit you and perform my good word — My promise, in causing, rather, of causing you to return, &c. — There were but few, comparatively speaking, of those captives that returned in person into their own country, Ezra 3:12 . Therefore, this promise was chiefly fulfilled in their posterity; and it is common in Scripture to speak of blessings bestowed upon the children, as if they had been actually fulfilled to their progenitors. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you — And God’s works agree exactly with his thoughts; for he doeth all things according to the counsel of his own will.

Thoughts of peace, or good, and not of evil — Even that which seems evil is designed for good, and will at last appear to have actually wrought for good: to give you an expected end — Hebrew, אחרית ותקוה , literally, to give you an end and expectation, or, as Blaney translates it, to make your latter end even an object of hope: see chap. Jeremiah 31:17 . Then shall ye call upon me — That is, when you place your hope in me only, and that with assurance, and not wavering; and I will hearken unto you — A sure token of God’s favour Jeremiah 33:3 , as his rejecting men, and casting them off, is expressed by his hiding his face and refusing to hear their prayers, Jeremiah 14:12 ; Lamentations 3:8 ; Lamentations 3:44 . And ye shall seek me and find me — According to my promises made Leviticus 26:40-45 ; Deuteronomy 30:2-3 ; Psalm 32:6 .

10 . After seventy years ] See on Jeremiah 25:11 . for Babylon ] The announcement has respect to the duration of the empire of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, and only secondarily to the consequent limitation of the captivity. my good word ] My gracious promise. See Jeremiah 24:4-7 . 10–14 . Not till after seventy years shall they return.

Verse 10. - Seventy years (see on Jeremiah 25:11). At Babylon ; rather, for Babylon. A long period, such as seventy years, is appointed for Babylon "to enjoy" the fruits of her ambition; when this is over (comp. Genesis 15:13-16 ), God will pay heed to his people. Visit you . To "visit" frequently has the sense of "taking notice of," or "paying heed to" (e.g. Jeremiah 23:2 ). My good word . "Word," equivalent to "pro-raise;" the allusion is to Jeremiah 24:6 . Jeremiah 29:10

From this text appears that the seventy years’ captivity was to be accounted from the first carrying into captivity in the time of Jehoiachin, so that eleven years of it were elapsed before Zedekiah was carried away. Whatever, saith the prophet, these dreamers tell you, you must abide seventy years in Babylon, accounted from your first going thither; it is therefore your wisdom to acquiesce in the will of God, and to compose yourselves; and, to encourage you, the Lord by me assureth you, that after those seventy years shall be expired, as he hath now visited you with evil, so he will visit you for good, and fulfill the promise he hath made to you, and you shall return again to Jerusalem. We have the fulfilling of this recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:21,22 Ezr 1:1 . The promise was before, Jeremiah 25:12 27:22 . Daniel understood it from the words of this prophecy, Daniel 9:2 , which put him upon prayer at the expiration of that time.

10. (See on [935]Jer 25:11; Jer 25:12; Da 9:2). This proves that the seventy years date from Jeconiah's captivity, not from the last captivity. The specification of time was to curb the impatience of the Jews lest they should hasten before God's time. good word—promise of a return.