20He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.
COMMENTARY
20–21 Following the destruction of the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the city wall in August 586 BC (v.19; cf. 2Ki 25:8–10), deportation to Babylon ensued for the survivors (“the remnant,” v.20). In the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem, the Chronicler offers a brief biblical-theological reflection of the exilic period. In a sense, while the exilic period is one of destruction and judgment, it is also a time of restoration and rest. Note that the Chronicler’s words closely echo the aftermath of covenantal unfaithfulness spelled out by God in Leviticus 26:
I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. (Lev 26:33–35)
Yet within this same covenantal document the image of restoration, rest, and hope is also seen:
“‘For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’” (Lev 26:43–45)
Likewise, the ultimate hope following the restoration of the seventy-year exile (the time frame of the Chronicler’s audience) is vividly summarized by the prophet Jeremiah:
This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jer 29:10–14)
The beginning point and ending point of this seventy-year period (Jer 25:8–11; 29:10) is not exactly specified within the biblical material. The most likely possibility is that the destruction of the temple in 586 BC started the seventy-year period, which comes to a close with the dedication of the Second Temple (ca. 516 BC). Another possibility is that the end of the seventy-year period is connected with the Decree of Cyrus (539 BC; cf. 2Ch 36:22), which would imply a beginning point around the death of Josiah (609 BC), after which Judah became a pawn to the geopolitical interests of Egypt and Babylonia.
NOTE
21 Some prefer to see the “seventy” of Jeremiah’s prophecy as signifying the completeness of God’s judgment on his land, his temple, and his people. In this view it is unnecessary to seek an exact seventy-year stretch to see the fulfillment of this prophecy (see Japhet, 1074–76; Selman, 550–51). Also, the statement that the land could now enjoy its Sabbath rests might imply that the land had not been given the prescribed rests (one year for each seven years; cf. Lev 25:1–7) since Israel’s inception as a nation. The seventy-year “Sabbath rest” period would equate to 490 years, a period corresponding to the start of the Israelite monarchy in about 1040 BC.