Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Although I have cast them far off among the heathen ... yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary - anticipating the objection of the priests at Jerusalem, that the exiles were 'cast far off.' Though this be so, and they are far from the outer temple at Jerusalem, I will be their asylum or sanctuary instead (Psalms 90:1; Psalms 91:9; Isaiah 8:14). My shrine is the humble heart: a preparation for Gospel catholicity, when the local and material temple should give place to the spiritual (Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:1; Malachi 1:11; John 4:21-24; Acts 7:48-49). The trying discipline of the exile was to chasten the outcasts so as to be meet recipients of God's grace, which the carnal confidence of the priests disqualified them for. The dispersion served the end of spiritualizing and enlarging the views even of the better Jews, so as to be able to worship God everywhere, without a material temple; and, at the same time, it diffused some knowledge of God among the greatest Gentile nations, thus providing materials for the gathering in of the Christian Church among the Gentiles; so marvelously did God overrule a present evil for an ultimate good. Still more does all this hold good in the present much-longer dispersion of the Jews, which is preparing for their more perfect and universal restoration (Isaiah 2:2-4; Jeremiah 3:16-18). Their long privation of the temple will prepare them for appreciating the more, but without Jewish narrowness, the temple that is to be, (Ezekiel 40:1-49; Ezekiel 41:1-26; Ezekiel 42:1-20; Ezekiel 43:1-27; Ezekiel 44:1-31.)
A little х mª`at (H4592)] - rather, 'for a little season,' for the comparatively short period of the Babylonian captivity: how long soever the captivity be, yet the 70 years will be but as a little season compared with their long subsequent settlement in their land. This holds true only partially in the case of the first, restoration; because as in a few centuries they were dispersed again, the full and permanent restoration is yet future (Jer because as in a few centuries they were dispersed again, the full and permanent restoration is yet future (Jeremiah 24:6).