Jeremiah 40 Devotional

Summer Fruit Among the Ruins

“and now the LORD has fulfilled it; He has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, this thing has happened to you.”Jeremiah 40:3 (BSB)

At Ramah the Babylonian captain Nebuzaradan finds Jeremiah in chains and frees him (40:1, 4). First, though, he tells Jeremiah that the LORD announced this disaster and then carried it out just as he said, because the people sinned against him and would not listen (40:2-3). A foreigner reads Judah's ruin more truly than its own kings did. Given a choice, Jeremiah stays with the poor who are left in the land (40:4-6).

Then something gentle happens. Gedaliah, the new governor, tells the survivors not to be afraid but to settle down and gather the harvest (40:9-10). Jews scattered in Moab, Ammon, and Edom come home, and they bring in an abundance of grapes and summer fruit (40:11-12). In a land so recently burned, the vines still bear. Judgment had been real, but it was not the end of God's kindness. The chapter closes with a warning Gedaliah refuses to believe (40:13-16), and the calm will not last. Even after a season of loss, God's good gifts can be gathered again.

To think about: After a hard season, what good gift from God is in front of you to gather and receive with thanks?