Serving the Lord with Gladness I

This is the wonder and beauty of this great chapter. Israel could rejoice in the bare promise of God, the historical details they would not see with their eyes, nor would even the next generation, and only the third generation would begin to see the barest beginning.

Their temple was destroyed; their holy land defiled; their priests laughtered and the noblemen slain. The land was devastated; the vines demolished; the farms ruined. But in Babylon, Israel would learn to worship again.

When they had the temple and priests and a prosperous nation, they transgressed the law and bitterly raged against God; In Babylon, they would find rest and learn to rejoice in God alone.