In the ancient Near East, the survivors of destroyed cities were usually scattered or absorbed into other peoples. But when God rescued Israel’s remnant, those survivors became the beginning of the Lord’s renewed people (Deuteronomy 4:26–31; 30:1–5; 2 Kings 19:31; Isaiah 10:21; Jeremiah 29:10–14; see Ezra 9:8; Nehemiah 1:2).