Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
Introduction
Chapter 29 is a series of letters to the captives in Babylon. Jeremiah writes from Jerusalem. The
letters serve two broad purposes; to comfort and instruct those in captivity; and to condemn the
false prophets and teachers who were claiming to hear from God and mis-inform the people
concerning their captivity.
Tucked away in the chapter is a blog from Babylon. The false prophet’s name is Shemaiah and
he sends a note to Zephaniah, a priest living in Jerusalem that God has appointed Zephaniah to
replace the current High Priest Jehoiada (vv.25-26). Zephaniah is instructed to put anyone in
chains who claims to be a prophet from God.
The First Letter To The Exiles: Make The Most Of Your Circumstance (vv.1-14)
Jeremiah 29:1–32 (NKJV)
1Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the
remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the
people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
At this time there is frequent diplomatic contact between Babylon and Jerusalem. Jeremiah
manages to send a letter of encouragement to the captives who have been carted off.
Remember the captives have left with nothing other than what they could carry on their backs. It
would seem that Jeremiah wrote this letter after the first deportation (597 B.C.).
2(This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah
and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)
3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah,
whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,
The letter is apparently carried along with the diplomatic mail. Zedekiah was also sending some
special correspondence to King Nebuchadnezzar; it may have contained assurances of
Zedekiah’s loyalty, or information about annual tribute or taxes. The envoys carrying the mail
were Elasah and Gemariah. Elasah was the son of Shaphan, which means he was probably the
brother of Ahikam who supported Jeremiah at his trial as he faced the false charges of
committing treason against the nation (see Jeremiah 26:1-24).
4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I
have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
Note the source of encouragement God Himself!
The Lord begins by reminding them that tragedy can become triumph. The Lord Himself has
allowed the people to be carried away into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar was simply the agent in
God’s hands to execute justice and judgment. In once sense--God Himself was sending this
note!
The people had lost homes, property, wealth, family, in some cases husbands, wives, children.
Now they have lost their freedom and are captive in a foreign land. Perhaps many had suffered
in the battle, and abuse by their conquerors, and they were gripped by a sense of helplessness and
hopelessness.
If anyone ever needed to hear a message of hope it was these people. The Lord gives them
special instructions; (1) build homes and plant gardens (v.5); (2) Marry--begin families, have
children so their numbers will grow (v.6)--unknown to the people--God was planning to restore
their nation at a future date. (3) They were to seek the peace and prosperity in their difficult
circumstance in Babylon (v.7a). The people were far more likely to experience peace and
prosperity and more freedom if they did not cause civil disorder to rise up against their
conquerors. (4) They were to pray for their unbelieving captors (v.7b; and see Titus 3:1-2).
5Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your
daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased
there, and not diminished.
7And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to
the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners
who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
The Lord issues a warning against listening to false prophets preaching a deceptive message.
The false prophets were preaching a false message that the people would soon return to their
homeland. This was the same false message being preaching by the false prophets back home
(remember Jeremiah 27:8-22).
9For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.
The false prophets provided false hopes.
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
But God provides real hope, true hope. The people must not lose heart. God understands their
plight and circumstances. God knows about the loss and suffering. And God’s ultimate plan
included pouring out mercy and grace and blessing. For everyone who truly trusts the Lord; he
gives four promises;
(1) The Lord will restore the nation and bring His people back to the land (v.10); but the return
would not take place until 70 years; since it would take time it was important for the people
to adjust to their new circumstances; follow the Lord’s instructions; settle down, build
houses, plant gardens, marry, start families increase numbers. They needed to do all they
could to contribute to the peace and prosperity of their new environment. Although most of
them would die in Babylon; they could place their hope in their children.
(2) The ultimate plan of God was for peace and prosperity; not harm! God offers a bright future
and certain hope! If the people placed their trust in the Lord; he would deliver them from
captivity in Babylon and return them to the promised land. There is no greater hope--there is
no greater future--than the one promised by God.
(3) The Lord promised to hear the prayers of his people (vv.12-13). But first the people would
need to seek him with their whole heart--that was why the people must remain in Babylon.
God’s discipline needed time to work. Through the suffering and the exile, the hearts of the
people would be made soft, broken, to the point where they would sincerely cry out to God
for their deliverance. If the people were allowed to return to soon--their hearts would still be
hard--and their attitudes stubborn--towards God. The people would still scheme--and trust
their own power, their own resources, their own intuition and ingenuity--to deliver them-their own flesh. They would continue to live wicked lives and worship false gods. God
would use the Babylonian captivity to break his people--and in their suffering and distress
they would beg God to rescue them and save them and recommit their lives to Him. They
would turn from their wickedness and false gods and dedicate themselves to follow the Lord
and obey His word.
(4) The Lord promised the moment they were truly broken they would be set free from their
captivity; but remember--but remember--the condition for freedom--the condition to be
truly set free; the people had to seek the Lord with their whole heart (vv.12-13); when
their hearts were truly broken before Him; he would gather them from the nations and
bring them back to the land (see The Preacher’s Outline and Commentary Jeremiah
Vol. 1p.255).
10For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and
perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
What does God really think about the men and women in captivity?
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
12Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
In Luke’s gospel (18:1) Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray”.
13And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
James Denny wrote; “The kingdom of heaven is not for the well-meaning but for the desperate.”
Julian of Norwich (b.1343) had a series of visions of Jesus after a serious illness. She was an
English Mystic whose writings influenced people like A.W. Tozer.
“Seeking with faith, hope and love pleases our Lord and finding him pleases the soul, filling it
full of joy. And so I learnt that as long as God allows us to struggle on this earth, seeking is as
good as seeing.”
14I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will
gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord,
and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
Seeking must lead to finding.
Blaise Pascal wrote; “There are three kinds of people in the world; those who have sought God
and found Him and now serve Him, those who are seeking Him but have not yet found Him, and
those who neither seek Him nor find Him. The first are reasonable and happy, the second
reasonable and unhappy, and the third unreasonable and unhappy”.
Spurgeon; “Seek the true faith, by all manner of means but do not spend a whole life in finding
it, lest you be like a workman who wastes the whole day in looking for his tools”.
Thomas a Kempis: “If you seek your Lord Jesus in all things you will truly find Him, but if you
seek yourself you will find yourself, and that will be to your own great loss”.
How are we to think about our circumstances? No matter how bad or bleak, no matter what
misfortune we face--we stand strong for Jesus. We serve the Lord. We bear witness to his
goodness and love. We sin--we make mistakes--we experience difficult circumstances--but if we
turn to the Lord in repentance and renewed commitment; he will eventually deliver us from the
crushing weight of suffering.
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
Shirley Temple was a child star from long ago. She was famous. As an adult she was asked;
“When did you stop believing in Santa Claus?” She replied, “I stopped believing in Santa Claus
when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph.”
The Second Letter To The Exiles: Guard Against False Prophets (vv.15-23)
Now Jeremiah sends a second letter. It was a warning not to trust false prophets. Why was that
necessary? Because the false prophets were contradicting God’s Word. They promised a quick
return.
15Because you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon”—
16therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning
all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with
you into captivity—
17thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the
pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
18And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver
them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing,
and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
The people would become the object of cursing, horror, contempt, mockery--sadly the
mistreatment by the Jews has continued throughout the ages.
19because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants
the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord.
20Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem
to Babylon.
21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and
Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
The people would see with their own eyes--no one will be allowed to say that they did not see
with their own eyes--the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
22And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in
Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon
roasted in the fire”;
It would seem that Zedekiah and Ahab became infamous figures (like Bonnie and Clyde).
Everyone knew who they were--and everyone knew what happened.
23because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their
neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them.
Indeed I know, and am a witness, says the Lord.
The letter of Jeremiah was powerful and timely. It seemed to read their minds--and describe
their circumstances. The Word of God is powerful and sharp. The Word of God answers
questions--and tells us the hard truth that we must embrace. For the people in Babylon it was
hunker down. Jeremiah faced the false prophet. Jeremiah insisted that changed hearts and
changed lives could still happen.
The False Prophets’s Letter: A Picture Of Persecution (vv.24-29)
A Bleak Blog From Babylon
24You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to
all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the
priests, saying,
26“The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers
in the house of the Lord over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that
you should put him in prison and in the stocks.
The false prophet declares that God has made Zephaniah the new High Priest in Jerusalem.
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
The letter accuses Jeremiah of being a madman (demented); a false prophet who deserves to
arrested and imprisoned!
27Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet
to you?
In effect--the priest Zephaniah has been accused of being way to lenient with Jeremiah! Why
have you not rebuked Jeremiah?
28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in
them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”
In effect the false prophet is instructing the priest “make Jeremiah keep quiet.” Silence Jeremiah
the Prophet.
Now Jeremiah is being charged with teaching a negative message, a false message of
hopelessness; how in the world could Jeremiah be so bold as to suggest that the captives should
settle down in pagan Babylon and try to make the best of their miserable circumstances!
29Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
The Third Letter To The Exiles: The False Prophet Condemned (vv.30-32)
30Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
Now Jeremiah writes a third letter to the captives in Babylon. In short he informs the people in
captivity that God will soon judge Shemaiah and his family for his lying and wickedness.
31Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the
Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has
caused you to trust in a lie—
32therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he
shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My
people, says the Lord, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.
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Letter’s In Times Of Trouble
Jeremiah 29:1-32
The Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
Conclusion
Warren Wiersbe:
“What life does to us depends largely on what life finds in us. If we seek the Lord and want His
best, then circumstances will build us and prepare us for what He has planned. If we rebel or if
we look for quick and easy shortcuts, then circumstances will destroy us and rob us of the future
God wants us to enjoy. The same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay.
God’s thoughts and plans concerning us come from His heart and lead to His peace. Why look
for substitutes?” (Be Decisive)
1. In the end what is the principle? Settle down and prepare for the long haul.
2. Be a good citizen. Make the place you are living a better place. Jesus said, “I do not pray that
you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16).
3. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived. The land of the exile was teeming with the pagan gods of
a foreign society. False prophets within the family of Jews and false prophets in the culture.
How is it that we see the lies and short-comings in the secular society and refuse to see the
false doctrine within the so-called body of Christ? Paul wrote passionately to the Galatians
who were being led astray by false doctrine. “There are some who trouble you and want to
pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7). Paul was familiar with Jeremiah’s words; “Do not let
your prophets and your diviners. . .deceive you. . .I have not sent them says the Lord” (vv.8-9).
4. Think about your circumstances. No matter how difficult, no matter how bleak, you have a
future and you have a hope. Many of those who heard the disturbing news of the length of the
captivity may have had reason to feel utterly hopeless. They would never live to see the
promise fulfilled. “I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to
return to this place” (v.10). The only comfort they might embrace was the knowledge that
their children or their grandchildren might return to the land. But clearly Jeremiah also spoke
of a future and destiny that reached beyond time to all who honor the Lord with their earthly
lives.
5. The false prophets would soon be destroyed. False prophet are many and common and
plentiful.
Jeremiah spoke of a people who would not only come back home to Jerusalem, but would
come back to the Lord, to the intimacy and joy described in the New Testament. There is an
intimacy promised to those who will come to Jesus.
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