How Are We to Pray for Them?

  When the people of Judah were carried away captive to the regions of Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar, they were perplexed as to how to live in the foreign environment they were being thrust into.  It would be a strange people and a strange culture they would have to contend with.  The expectation of most was that their time of captivity would be short, and they would soon be returning to the land of Judea.  But the Lord sent word to them through the Prophet Jeremiah that He had sent them there and there they would stay until the day that He would bring them back.  Not until seventy years had passed would He restore them to their own land (Jer. 29:10).  In the meantime, they were to settle in, build houses, begin farming, and marrying and giving in marriage for the purpose of having children so that the seed of Israel might increase in number and not decrease during this time of captivity (Jer. 29:4-6).  They were also told to pray for the “peace,” or welfare of the place the Lord had caused them to be carried away to.  They were not to rebel against the Babylonians, but to be productive inhabitants of the land while maintaining their integrity and identity as Jews.  They were not to assimilate the Babylonian religion and culture into their lifestyle and worship, but were to live by the Law of Moses as best they could under the circumstances.  God had sent His people into captivity as a chastisement on the nation f ...