Topical Bible: Prayer: Answered: from Babylonian Bondage

◄ Prayer: Answered: from Babylonian Bondage ►

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The concept of answered prayer in the context of the Babylonian captivity is a profound testament to God's faithfulness and the power of intercessory prayer. The Babylonian exile, a pivotal event in the history of Israel, was marked by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C., leading to the deportation of the Jewish people to Babylon. This period of captivity lasted approximately 70 years, as prophesied by Jeremiah.

Prophetic Promises and Prayers

The prophet Jeremiah, who ministered during the time leading up to and during the early years of the exile, conveyed God's promise of restoration. In Jeremiah 29:10-14 , the Lord declares, "For this is what the LORD says: 'When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. 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 search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you,' declares the LORD. 'I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.'"

This promise was a beacon of hope for the exiled Israelites, encouraging them to pray and seek God earnestly. The assurance that God would listen to their prayers and restore them was a crucial element of their faith during this challenging period.

Daniel's Intercessory Prayer

The book of Daniel provides a vivid example of intercessory prayer during the Babylonian captivity. Daniel, a devout Jew and a high-ranking official in the Babylonian and Persian empires, understood from the Scriptures, specifically the writings of Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. In response, Daniel set his face toward the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes (Daniel 9:2-3).

Daniel's prayer, recorded in Daniel 9:4-19, is a model of confession and supplication. He acknowledges the sins of Israel and pleads for God's mercy and forgiveness. Daniel 9:18-19 captures the essence of his plea: "Give ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name."

The Fulfillment of God's Promise

The answer to the prayers of Daniel and the exiled community came with the decree of Cyrus the Great, the Persian king, in 538 B.C. Cyrus issued a proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. This event is recorded in Ezra 1:1-4 , where it states, "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing: 'This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem.'"

The return from Babylonian captivity and the subsequent rebuilding of the temple were direct answers to the prayers of the faithful remnant. This restoration was not only a fulfillment of God's promise but also a demonstration of His sovereignty and compassion, affirming that He hears and responds to the prayers of His people.

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Nehemiah 9:27
Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard them from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
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Appendices
... Prayer does not avail thee; even when thy mouth says: "Give food in addition to ... THE
BABYLONIAN EPIC OF THE CREATION. ... [Then] the god Mummu answered [his] father ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/appendices.htm

Enthusiasm.
... longing of the awakened soul to be delivered from that bondage of corruption ... speaks
with thorough distrust of 'the guidance of our own Babylonian reason,' and ...
/.../abbey/the english church in the eighteenth century/chapter vii enthusiasm.htm

Fifthly, as this Revelation, to the Judgment of Right and Sober ...
... Objections answered. ... mountain, and"mine house shall be called an house of prayer
for all ... the (ver.25.26.) Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her ...
/.../xiv proposition xiv fifthly as.htm

Period iv. The Age of the Consolidation of the Church: 200 to 324 ...
... and true priests, who, praying in the spirit, in the spirit sacrifice prayer, proper
and ... that He might draw to liberty those who were in bondage; He underwent ...
/.../ayer/a source book for ancient church history/period iv the age of.htm

Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses.
... and it shall be answered by them that shall have skill to consider his features ... rest
from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/of antichrist and his ruin .htm

Period ii. The Church from the Permanent Division of the Empire ...
... worshippers, from the height of whose Babylonian pride, as ... The letter here answered
was written to Tychonius, a ... say that when in the Lord's Prayer, the saints ...
/.../ayer/a source book for ancient church history/period ii the church from.htm