Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"There shall again be a dwelling place"
Text: Jeremiah 33:12
THE PLANS OF GOD FOR ISRAEL REVEALED IV
The LORD kept assuring Jeremiah that He would cause the Captives in Babylon to return to their homeland after the 70-Year Captivity. Promise after promise was given to assure a worried group of exiled people in Babylon.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts:
‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South,
in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah,
the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’
says the LORD.”
Jeremiah 33:12-13
1. “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities,
there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down'”
a) This word of assurance came from the LORD of hosts Himself.
b) The land of Judah was indeed desolate after the Babylonians ransacked Judah.
i) No man or beast was found.
ii) In all its cities.
c) But God would bring them back.
d) Even the shepherds would come back and dwell in the land with their flocks.
2. “‘In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South,
in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah,
the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the LORD”
a) The people who return will rebuild their cities:
i) In the mountains.
ii) In the lowlands.
iii) In the cities of the South.
iv) In the land of Benjamin (This was where Anathoth was located).
v) In the vicinity of Jerusalem.
vi) In the cities of Judah as in former times.
b) Flocks
i) Sheep
ii) Goats
iii) They would be led by faithful shepherds who would count them
in their going out and their coming in.
c) Specifics were stated to reinforce a sense of assurance
concerning the future of the nation.