“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
God was determined that His people would reveal Him by being His presence; He was not about to let their captivity stop Him. Since the entirety of the Mosaic Law was too difficult for the people to keep, God would distill it down to a few basic commands.
Build a house. Plant a garden. Start a family. Eat what you grow. Live your life-“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone”. Above all, pray for the peace of your community. If it prospers you will too-the peace and prosperity of captives and captors is linked by Divine Fiat.
“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
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