The letter we’re about to read was read by Daniel. He realised that they would return after seventy years if they prayed, so he prayed and even as he was praying, the angel appeared to tell him that God had heard his prayer and they would be returning, Daniel 9:20-23.
Jeremiah wrote this letter to the exiles in Babylon. In Jeremiah 28, we were introduced to another prophet, whose name was Hananiah. Remember, the city was still standing when Jeremiah wrote this letter.
The temple was still there, and that’s why this false prophet could say, with some credibility, that in two years’ time everybody is going home, Jeremiah 28:2-11. Okay, Jerusalem is still there, Jerusalem is still filled with people, and the temple is still there. And the false prophet says you will be going back to all of this in two years’ time.
Many of the people believed him. Why? Because they wanted to believe him. They wanted everything to be just as it had been. But God had already said, through Jeremiah, You are going into Babylon, and you are not coming home for seventy years.
Hananiah was saying to the people that this captivity is only going to last for about two years. By then, it will all be over, and we will be going home. So, don’t worry about it; everything is going to be fine.
Believe me, you are going back to Jerusalem within two years. But God said, through Jeremiah, Hananiah is not My prophet. Within a year, he is going to die. And two months later, he was dead. It’s no small matter to trifle with the words that come from God.
Nebuchadnezzar had taken those who could later pose a threat of rebellion, Jeremiah 29:1, and without craftsmen, they could not make weapons. It was always the policy of Nebuchadnezzar and other foreign leaders to leave the sick and poor in the land under the ruler of the king’s choice, Jeremiah 29:2.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The queen-mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan, 2 Kings 24:8, and in the Jewish system she was a very important person who seems to have worn a crown and occupied a throne adjacent to that of the king.’
So, this message is sent by these two priests to the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah 29:3-4.
1. The first thing that God tells them is to resume life, Jeremiah 29:5.
Being captives could very easily cause life to lose its meaning, and a ‘don’t care’ attitude could fall on them. God says, Don’t let that happen and they are encouraged to live normal lives.
God is saying, He called them to be there; this was no accident. This didn’t just happen by chance; it’s God who has done it. And the reason that He did it was that they forgot Him. In other words, do the best you can while you are there. Plant gardens, in other words, be productive. You are in a place that you don’t want to be.
You are with people that you don’t want to be with, but do the best that you can where you are. Be productive while you are there. Don’t be sorry for yourselves, don’t keep complaining. Just do something worthwhile, build houses, and plant gardens.
2. Replenish life, Jeremiah 29:6.
God had told Jeremiah not to get married because of the problems that would arise, Jeremiah 16:2. At that time, marriage was an unhappy thing, but now God says, Build up your numbers. You have lost many people through drought, pestilence, and war, so there is a need to reproduce, Jeremiah 16:6.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The wives Jeremiah encouraged them to marry were Jewish wives, not foreign, Deuteronomy 7:3.’
Have families while you are down there, and keep looking to the future, prepare for the future because it’s not over yet. Some of those in Babylon would live long enough to go back home.
True, they would have had to be young men when they went, and so they are going to be old when they go back, but some are going to live through the captivity.
It’s also true that a lot will die in Babylon, but that doesn’t mean that their faith should die. That doesn’t mean that their cause should die; that doesn’t mean that the purpose of God is going to die, so look to the future.
Wycliffe, Bible Commentary, says the following.
‘The Hebrew exiles in Babylon were not slaves but deportees, and free to leave about as they pleased. Some became wealthy, and some, like Daniel, attained high places in government and the commandments of Jeremiah 29:7, were made out of regard for the welfare of Israel.’
Here we have a message of respect for their captors and if they do so, everything will be okay with them, Jeremiah 29:7. God sent them there, Jeremiah 29:7, and there is a reward for this, they will have peace, Jeremiah 29:7.
Pray to the Lord and respect your Creator, Jeremiah 29:7, and pray for the city’s good and your own good, Jeremiah 29:7 / Matthew 5:44 / 1 Timothy 2:1-4. So pray and find God’s peace in His purpose because God is working something out.
So, fall into the rhythm of God’s purpose and be prayerful. Why does he say, pray for Babylon? So that you can have peace, and so, if Babylon has peace, you will have peace.
Isn’t it right to pray for the country that you are in, whether or not it’s your home country or some far-off country? Whether or not it is where you want to be or where you don’t want to be? Whether or not you are with people you don’t want to be with? Don’t we want to experience peace, wherever we may be?
Jeremiah 29:8 is speaking about false prophets, and note that some translations say, ‘seducers’. They were seducing people into believing lies, Jeremiah 29:9.
God still cares for His people even in exile, and if they do these things, all will be well. They are to make the most of the seventy years in captivity because God hasn’t changed His mind, it will be seventy years, Jeremiah 29:10.
God will fulfil His promise to bring them back, Jeremiah 29:10. God has plans for His people, plans to prosper them, not harm them, plans to give them hope and a future, Jeremiah 29:11.
God is punishing His people by sending them into Babylon but here He is already promising that they will return, they have a future. And they have to have a future to fulfil the prophecy because the Messiah is going to come through the tribe of Judah.
God says they will call upon Him and pray to Him, and He will hear them, Jeremiah 29:12. They will seek Him and find Him when they seek Him with all their heart, Jeremiah 29:13. Why? Daniel 9.
God says He will be found by them and He will bring them back from captivity, Jeremiah 29:14. He will gather them from all the nations and places where He had banished them and He will bring them back to the place from which He carried them into exile, Jeremiah 29:14 / Deuteronomy 4:7 / Deuteronomy 30:3.
Whenever God punishes, which he will do, it doesn’t mean that he has broken a covenant. In captivity, they were more devoted to preserving and studying the word of God. Daniel is a good example of this.
Their eyes were refocused on God, so they set up the synagogues. Some people say that the early church worship was based on the synagogues. They try to prove that instrumental music was changed at the time of the early church. In the synagogue, they put behind them what should not have been included in worship, including abolishing instrumental music.
Jeremiah 29:15-19 seems to be an insert talking back to the kings of Judah. Jeremiah is telling people what will take place in exile. Many had gone into exile, but others were still left.
The people might say God has raised up prophets for them in Babylon, Jeremiah 29:15, but God says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, their fellow citizens who didn’t go with them into exile, Jeremiah 29:16.
God is going to send the sword, famine, and plague against them and make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, Jeremiah 29:17 / Jeremiah 24:2 / Jeremiah 24:8-10.
He will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations, Jeremiah 29:18.
In all of Jeremiah 29, we see that the deception and departure of the past from the faith was and is a definite possibility in the present. The exiles believed that the false prophets were from God, and they made the people feel good.
God says, this is not right, why did these prophets lie? For money, for position, it would give them a good reputation, but they would be shamed because they were proven wrong.
God says, they haven’t listened to His words He sent to them again and again by His servants the prophets, and those exiles haven’t listened either, Jeremiah 29:19.
The exiles that God sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon are to pay attention to what God’s Word says, Jeremiah 29:20. God has a specific message for Ahab and Zedekiah, Jeremiah 29:21.
This is not Ahab, the king of Israel; this is Ahab, a prophet. Also, this verse talks about Zedekiah, but this is not Zedekiah, the last king of Judah; this is Zedekiah, a prophet.
They were, according to them, speaking in the name of God and they were, in fact, prophesying lies in the name of God, Jeremiah 29:21. God, through Jeremiah, says that these two prophets are going to be slain by the Babylonians, and they were, Jeremiah 29:21.
Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse, God will treat them like Zedekiah and Ahab, burn them in the fire, Jeremiah 29:22.
Wycliffe, Bible Commentary, says the following.
‘The Babylonian method of putting criminals to death was by casting them alive into the fiery furnace, Daniel 3:6, but the Babylonians would hardly have put men to death for committing adultery. Nebuchadnezzar probably put them to death for plotting a rebellion against Babylon.’
God says they have done outrageous things in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbour’s wives, and in His name they have uttered lies, which He didn’t authorise. God knows it and is a witness to it, Jeremiah 29:23.
It was Shemaiah who wanted Jeremiah thrown in prison, and he accused Jeremiah of being demented, one who had presumptuously made himself a prophet of God, Jeremiah 29:24-32.
God has a message for Shemaiah the Nehelamite, which Jeremiah is to deliver, and God tells Jeremiah that He was going to act against Shemaiah, Jeremiah 29:24-25.
A former letter of Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon contradicted the preaching of Shemaiah, and so, Shemaiah then wrote an angry letter to Zephaniah, a priest in Jerusalem, Jeremiah 29:25.
Shemaiah told Zephaniah that God had appointed him priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the LORD, and he should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons, Jeremiah 29:26 / 2 Kings 9:11 / Hosea 9:7.
God asks why hasn’t he reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? Jeremiah 29:27. He has sent this message to us in Babylon. It will be a long time, therefore build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce, Jeremiah 29:28.
The high priest reads this letter to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 29:29, and then Shemaiah is taken into captivity, so is all of his family, Jeremiah 29:30-32. He will have no successors, and he has talked about rebellion against the Lord. God hadn’t sent him, and he had led the exiles in Babylon to believe a lie, and so, he is going to be put in his place.
The pronouncement of judgment that was laid on Shemaiah for his slander was that he would have no descendant who would enjoy the happiness and freedom that God would eventually bring to His people when they were allowed to return to their homeland.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘After the taking of Jerusalem, Zephaniah was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, Jeremiah 37:3.’
Shemaiah came with the same kind of false message, and God said that he would end up just like the others, and he too was slain. There were false prophets, and there were prophets like Jeremiah, who spoke the words of God.
Shemaiah is another false teacher, prophesying falsely to God’s people in Babylon, Jeremiah 29:30-32. He was a kind of second in command to the high priest, Jeremiah 52:24 / 2 Kings 28:4 / 2 Kings 25:18. This man was saying, God has put me in this position. He has by-passed Jehoiada, 2 Kings 11:1-20.
Those prophets who called themselves into the ministry, such as Shemaiah, assumed that every other prophet had also presumptuously assumed the ministry and position of a prophet. Religious men who seek positions and support from the people will often give themselves titles by which they can exalt themselves over the people.