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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 440

"The king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah"

Text: Jeremiah 40:11

NEWS OF THE REMNANT

Some Jews managed to escape the massacre of the Babylonians. They had fled to nearby countries like Moab, Ammon and Edom. They had heard that there were fellow-Jews in Judah.

“Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab,
among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries,
heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah,
and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,
then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven,
and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah,
and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.”
Jeremiah 40:11-12

1. “Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom,
and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah,
and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan”

a) All the Jews who had escaped to:

i) Moab

ii) Ammon

iii) Edom

b) News of the remnant Jews had spread.

i) The king of Babylon had spared a remnant.

ii) Gedaliah was the governor of Judah, appointed by the Babylonians.

2. “Then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the
land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance”

a) The Jews decided to return home to Judah.

b) They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.

c) They did their part to survive:

i) They gathered wine (grapes).

ii) They collected summer fruits in abundance.

d) These were fruits that grew in the wild.

i) It would take a lot of effort to gather the fruits.

ii) This was one way to survive.