Jer 50:7 | KingComments | STEP | After the conquest “in those days and at that time”, Israelites from the twelve tribes, “the sons of Israel … they and the sons of Judah as well”, will set out to seek the LORD their God ( ). This happens as soon as the Medes and Persians are in power. Then in the first year of his reign, Cyrus gives the command that anyone who wants to go back to Jerusalem may go ( ). All who take advantage of that opportunity will go to Zion ( ). That is where their heart is, that is their destination, that is where they set their faces, for there is the temple. They will come there and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be broken again or forgotten. There will be no new covenant breaking because this covenant depends only on the faithfulness of the LORD. And He is the everlasting faithful One. The LORD sees His people as “lost sheep” (cf. ) who have fallen victim to false shepherds ( ). These shepherds have fed themselves and left the sheep to their fate. They have not given them a place to rest, but have hounded them to keep their self-made commandments. These erring sheep have become easy prey for their adversaries ( ). Added to that, those opponents also boast that they are innocent of this exploitation because God’s people have sinned and they are executing God’s judgment. They even manage to use beautiful and telling names for the LORD. He is “the habitation of righteousness”. Because the Israelites have sinned against it, they devour them. He is also “the hope of their fathers”. In that hope they did not follow their fathers, but sinned. That devouring by adversaries has come to an end. God’s people are now called to flee from Babylon, back to Israel, to Jerusalem, to the LORD ( ). Those who go are a first ‘batch’; the rest of “the flock” will follow at another time.

‏ Jeremiah 50:7

Return of Israel

After the conquest “in those days and at that time”, Israelites from the twelve tribes, “the sons of Israel … they and the sons of Judah as well”, will set out to seek the LORD their God (Jer 50:4). This happens as soon as the Medes and Persians are in power. Then in the first year of his reign, Cyrus gives the command that anyone who wants to go back to Jerusalem may go (Ezra 1:2-3).

All who take advantage of that opportunity will go to Zion (Jer 50:5). That is where their heart is, that is their destination, that is where they set their faces, for there is the temple. They will come there and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be broken again or forgotten. There will be no new covenant breaking because this covenant depends only on the faithfulness of the LORD. And He is the everlasting faithful One.

The LORD sees His people as “lost sheep” (cf. Mt 9:36) who have fallen victim to false shepherds (Jer 50:6). These shepherds have fed themselves and left the sheep to their fate. They have not given them a place to rest, but have hounded them to keep their self-made commandments. These erring sheep have become easy prey for their adversaries (Jer 50:7).

Added to that, those opponents also boast that they are innocent of this exploitation because God’s people have sinned and they are executing God’s judgment. They even manage to use beautiful and telling names for the LORD. He is “the habitation of righteousness”. Because the Israelites have sinned against it, they devour them. He is also “the hope of their fathers”. In that hope they did not follow their fathers, but sinned.

That devouring by adversaries has come to an end. God’s people are now called to flee from Babylon, back to Israel, to Jerusalem, to the LORD (Jer 50:8). Those who go are a first ‘batch’; the rest of “the flock” will follow at another time.