70 years Babylon Captivity of the Southern Kingdom 513 - 1 - 1

Two questions, why was there a captivity and why was it 70 years?

Through his prophets God warned the people of the southern kingdom of Judah to turn from their evil ways. Jeremiah 25:4, "And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear."

Jeremiah 25:5-7 deals with God again telling the people of Judah to turn from their evil ways and not to serve other gods. God brought out the fact of the land that he given to them and their fathers was for ever and ever. If the people remain faithful to God he would not be provoked to anger.

The people did not obey God and provoked Him to anger and paid a price for it. Jeremiah 25:11, "And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

This is part of the why, idolatry, however, God had another issue with the people of Judah.

Through Moses God spoke to His people. Leviticus 25:2, "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord."

The people failed to give the land a Sabbath So after 490 years, God called the debt, the people owed God 70 years to offset the years they had dishonored His laws with respect to His land. They failed to honor the land and God took the land away from them for 70 years.

2 Chronicles 36:21, “To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.”

God means what he says and says what he means. The Israelis were told not to worship other gods and to let the land rest for one year in seven. The people failed both so into Babylonian Captivity, 606 B.C. for 70 years.

As an aside, in Exodus 23:12 God also commands that we are to have a Sabbath rest. Further, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

I was bought with a very high price, the torture and crucifixion of our Lord. I certainly don’t treat my body with respect that I should. I get myself so involved in what I’m doing that I let myself get run down. Not only do I not obey God, I ignore the first rule of polio survivor 101, not to get overly tired. So into several days of personal captivity. After five days of a combination of bronchitis and asthma I am on the mend. I’ve always consider getting sick to be a nuisance and a waste time. Perhaps this discussion question hits a little too close to home.