2Ch 36:20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had
escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until
the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 2Ch 36:21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth
of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay
desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Israel had failed to keep the covenant in pretty much every
area but here the Lord is clear that the length of their captivity is
determined by the number of times they failed to keep the Sabbath years. Apparently they had failed to do this at 70
times and so now the land will get its rest.
We might wonder why the Lord chose this particular sin to determine the
length of their punishment.
For one thing God had told them before they entered the land
that this would happen if they failed to keep the covenant, Lev 26:34
"Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies
desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and
enjoy its Sabbaths. Lev 26:35 As long as
it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your
Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.
And I think that one reason he uses this particular sin is because it is
a sin that attacks his very person in a very “in your face” kind of way. And I say that knowing that all sin is a
personal attack on the Lord.
Briefly this law was a command to be blessed by the Lord as
all commands are but this one is so obvious that it is good to remind ourselves
of it. Every seventh year they were not
to plant anything. They were told to
take the year off, let the land rest and just enjoy the Lord. In Lev. 25 when he gives the particulars of
the law he says that on the sixth year they shall get such a large crop that
they will have enough for three years.
In other words, they would have enough for the next year, and since they
were not to plant anything the next year, they would have enough for that
second year and even though they would plant on the second year the Lord was
giving them an extra year to boot so they could be generous to those in need. You see why this was such a wonderful
Law. They were given every seventh year
off from having to work the farm and make a living.
And so think of the sin here. On the sixth year everyone got a triple
harvest and yet it seems the majority of the people either wouldn’t trust the
Lord to take care of them through the next two years and even worse even though
they had all they needed in their hand they still wanted more and went ahead
and planted anyway. Either way they were
not content and satisfied with the Lord neither would they commit themselves to
his care. It seems the Lord took it
pretty personally and we wouldn’t expect anything less. I would add to this that if they lived this
way every seventh year we can pretty much assume they lived like this the other
six years. God was being very gracious
to hold just the Sabbath years against them when they were failing to trust him
pretty much nonstop.
Their actions were the opposite of living by faith which isn’t
just trusting the Lord but living for him and being satisfied in knowing and
having him. This is a good lesson for us
to remember. The Lord has promised to
supply all that we need and I think of Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we
ask or think, according to the power at work within us. As a rule he does and gives us more than we
actually need. And yet, like Israel of
old, we often fail to look back on his years of blessings and provisions
neither do we look forward in faith based on his promises and keep on working
and worrying like all that matters is making as much money as we can. We act like if we don’t take care of
ourselves no one will. And we live as if
taking the time to enjoy and serve the Lord isn’t as important as securing our
place in this world. Like Israel we
forget that our “crops” are given to us to serve him and we come to believe
that our life is ours to live as we want.
No wonder the Lord picks this epic failure as the key point
in the length of the Babylonian Captivity.
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