The Lord provided hope all throughout the Babylonian invasion of Israel.

“They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.” – 2 Kings 25:7 NIV

The first instance was when the Babylonians killed the king’s next of kin, blinded him, imprisoned him, but left him alive. In this instance, Israel’s king was kept alive and was eventually even given further hope in being taken care of by another Babylonian king in 2 Kings 25:27-30:

“In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.” – 2 Kings 25:27-30 NIV

The king was treated well by the Babylonian king. The text shows that there wasn’t any animosity or hatred towards the Israelites by their captives otherwise they would’ve killed their king or treated the king really poorly. It shows Israel had no reason to suspect that they would be completely eradicated at that moment. It shows hope for a possible redemption story.

“He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.” – 2 Kings 25:9-12 NIV

The Babylonians set fire to huge chunks of Jerusalem and then killed and exiled so many people from the land of Israel. I’m sure it would have been hard to have hope at that time, but some people were left to work the land. Not all of Israel was gone. The land was still theirs it seems and they still had some people in it. Again there was hope.

This isn’t mentioning that there was a governor appointed to Judah:

“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah.” – 2 Kings 25:22 NIV

The fact that they appointed a governor shows that again they want to continue to let Israel have its own identity even if most of the people are not in the land.

Throughout all of these situations, the sparing and good treatment of Israel’s king, the sparing of Israel’s people and letting some stay in their land, and letting Israel maintain an identity through them having a governor govern the land of Judah, all of this points to God providing hope in the situation for the Israelites. When all hope seems lost in a situation remember that God provides hope in situations that seem hopeless such as the Israelites exile.