“‘I will restore your fortunes.
I will gather you
From all the nations,
From all the places,
Where I have driven you.’
Says Yahweh.
‘I will bring you back
To the place
From which
I sent you into exile.’”
Yahweh is very clear in this letter of Jeremiah that he will restore their fortunes. He will gather them up from all the countries and places that he has driven them into. He was going to bring them back to the exiled places where they started from.
“On that day,
Yahweh will thresh out the grain.
O people of Israel!
You will be gathered
One by one,
From the channel of the Euphrates River
To the brooks of Egypt.
On that day,
A great trumpet will be blown.
Those who were lost
In the land of Assyria,
Those who were driven out
To the land of Egypt,
Will come.
They will worship Yahweh
On the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”
Isaiah has a return to Jerusalem after the exile. Yahweh will be the harvester. The people of Israel will be gathered one at a time from Babylon on the Euphrates River to the brooks of Egypt. On that day, the holy trumpet to call for a solemn convocation will sound. The lost in Assyria and Egypt will come home to worship Yahweh on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
“Then they crossed the Jordan River into the large plain before Beth-shan. Judas Maccabeus kept rallying the laggards. He was encouraging the people all the way until he came to the land of Judah. So they went up to Mount Zion with gladness and joy. They offered burnt offerings, because they returned in safety. Not one of them had fallen.”
Eventually, they crossed the Jordan River into the plain of Beth-shan, about 18 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. Judas Maccabeus kept encouraging the slow movers along the way. When they finally arrived at Jerusalem, they were filled with gladness and joy. The offered a burnt offerings for their safety. Almost incredulously, this author notes that no one on his side had fallen in all these military encounters.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 