Jeremiah 29:24-32 – God’s dealings will include tough times

Jeremiah’s messages to the exiles in this chapter were in letters that he wrote to them. He was not taken to Babylon, so the messages were written from Judah. The first message in Jeremiah 29:10-14 was written to encourage and enlighten the priests, the prophets, and the people in exile. He told them to get on with life in Babylon, to seek the welfare of their captors, and not listen to the lies of the false prophets. This message included telling them they were still in God’s heart and that a great destiny awaited them.

In Jeremiah 29:15-23, his message addressed the false prophets in Babylon. Also, it announced the outcome for the people and the king who replaced Jehoiachin in Judah who were not taken to Babylon. Here Jeremiah specifically named the two false prophets, Ahab and Zedekiah, and foretold their death.

In verses 24-32, we see Jeremiah’s response to a letter written by Shemaiah a false prophet. Shemaiah wrote from Babylon to Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the priest in charge, the priests serving with him, and the people who remained there. In verses 26-28, Shemaiah questioned Zephaniah and the priests for not doing their rightful duties. He took issue with Jeremiah for saying that the captivity in Babylon would be for a while (70 years). He wondered why Zephaniah, who was put in charge in Jerusalem did not rebuke or apprehend Jeremiah. Accusing Jeremiah of being crazy, all because his prophecy contradicted the claim of the false that the exiled Jews would be released within two years.

After Zephaniah had read the content of Shemaiah’s letter to Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to the latter. So he was instructed to send a message to the exiles concerning Shemaiah. Firstly, he revealed that Shemaiah was a deceiver who made the people believe his lies. Secondly, he pronounced that neither Shemaiah nor his offspring would live to experience the fulfillment of God’s promise to return the Jews to their homeland.

Ever wonder why people cannot accept tough circumstances as part of God’s program for their lives? Man’s propensity is to choose the path of least resistance because it is always easier to run downhill than climb uphill. Yet like bodybuilding, we need resistance to build. And God will allow us to experience tough times to build our faith and trust in Him. People, even Christians are so acclimatized to prosperity and good time that it is difficult for them to stomach a little adversity and hardship. So when God speaks of hard times, we suspect His intention. We would rather hear a soothing message than a hard but faith-building message. We need to learn not to focus on the pain of the process so that we forget the gold we will become at the end of the process. Remember purified gold comes through intense fire and heat. Be assured that God’s plan will include some tunnel experiences and there will always be light at the other end. He never leads us into a cave where there is absolutely no light. Choose to listen wisely. The message may be tough, but it will bring us to our expected end of a great hope and future.

Jeremiah 29:21-23 – What we do never escape God’s sight

In Jeremiah 29:21-23, God addressed two prophets belonging to the category of Hananiah.  Their names were Ahab and Zedekiah. Three charges were levied against them by the Lord. Firstly, they were living foolishly in Israel. Secondly, they were living immorally by committing adultery with their neighbor’s wives. And thirdly, they were spewing out falsehood and lies in the Lord’s name. What they did, though went undetected by the people was not hidden from God who clearly saw through their wickedness.

How could such prophets be credible? Yet gullibly there were those in the exile that were hoodwinked by them. God not only addressed their sins but would also deal with them severely. Two calamities would befall them. Firstly, God would deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar who would execute them by roasting them to death by fire. Secondly would become a disgrace to the people. Because of the infamy, their names would become a public reminder of the severe consequences of living wickedly.   

  

Hebrews 4:13 reminds us that “there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” What happened to these two false prophets affirms that nothing in our lives is ever hidden from the sight of God. The wrong we commit and think is hidden from the eyes of people is never concealed before the all-seeing God. What we do has an influencing effect on others. This passage can be seen as God's call for us  to be careful what we do even when no one is looking. Just remember that the mark of a truly godly and mature person is not in what one does, but in what one does when no one is looking.

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Jeremiah 29:15-20 – Obey God’s Word even in uncertain times.

Here are some contexts to help us make sense of Jeremiah 29:15-20. Describing the second siege of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 24:10-17 said that Nebuchadnezzar personally came to the city. Verse 12 said that “Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.” Verses 15-16 then enumerated the number of people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile in Babylon. Besides, Jehoiachin the king, the list included his mother, his wives and officials, the leading men of the best of the land, 7,000 men of valor, 1,000 craftsmen and smiths, and 1,000 strong men, who were fit for war. Verse 17 then said Nebuchadnezzar made Mattaniah king in the place of his nephew Jehoiachin. He even changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah.  

Jeremiah, we learned, had told those taken into exile to submit to God, be good citizens, live life as normally as possible, seek the welfare of Babylon, pray for the king, and don’t listen to the words of the false prophets. However, these exiles were still concerned about what was happening back home because of their attachment to their homeland. So Jeremiah 29:15-20 told them what would be happening to the people who remained back home.

He prophesied that a greater disaster was coming upon Zedekiah and the people who were not carried into exile. They would be experiencing a greater disaster.  God’s words to them in Jeremiah 28:17-18 said, “I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them….”

In other words, they would not go unpunished. Many would die in the hands of the enemies and many others would be taken to join them in their Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah then followed up with an admonition to those already in exile that they should pay attention to the message, listen, and obey God. Jeremiah was calling on them in Babylon to chart a new course. They were encouraged to listen to God’s message through His faithful and genuine prophets.

Like those Jews in exile, we should know that being concerned with what’s happening in our world is helpful. But the more important matter is for us to discern and identify and know what God is saying through what's happening. We need to identify and recognize His message to us and be obedient to what He is saying to us through them.

  

 

 

Jeremiah 29:10-14 – God has a great destiny for us

In his letter to the exile, Jeremiah encouraged the Jews to do three things. Firstly they were told to live their lives in exile normally and continue to grow as a people, qualitatively and quantitatively. Verse 6 said, they ought to “Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.” Secondly, verse 7 said that they must seek the welfare of Babylon and pray for the nation. And thirdly verse 8 said that they ought to stop listening to the false prophets who claimed to speak on God’s behalf but were spewing out lies. God added that he did not send them.     

Continuing his letter, Jeremiah 29:10-14, the prophet Jeremiah gave them a message of hope. He first reiterated that their captivity was scheduled for 70 years. After that duration, He would visit them and fulfill His promise to them. He would bring them back to Jerusalem. Why was there a need for God to re-assure the exile?

God just told them that they would be in captivity for 70 years. Interestingly Moses in Psalm 90 said that generally, that is the length of a person’s life. We can guess that many listening to Jeremiah then would have wondered what would happen to them and the nation by then, let alone returning to Jerusalem. The assurance of God to them was that while they could not see their future, God could. He said He knew exactly what His plan for them was in verse 11. It was a plan of hope and great destiny and not a plan of calamity. This verse had often been taken by Christians to apply them individually and personally. But in context, this promise was meant for Judah as the nation. God was talking about their future as a whole unit.  He promised them a great future with better conditions.

Verses 12-13 establish the purpose for why they would have a great future. Know it or not, God wanted to hear their prayers and have them enjoy fellowship with Him.  The plan for the great future was so that they  could call upon Him and draw near to pray to Him. His promise was that He would listen to them. And when they seek Him with their whole heart, they would find Him for He would reveal Himself to them.  God promised to restore them to their homeland.

The lessons: Whatever, we are experiencing the purpose of God is to get us to return to the destiny He has planned for us. His desire is for us to have a connected and healthy relationship with Him. And such a relationship is cultivated through constant and consistent fellowship. We need to spend time seeking Him, availing ourselves to Him in prayer. In good times remember to give thanks, in hard times remember to  pray to Him, and at all times we must praise Him. Remember God is not through with us yet.

 

If God’s plans are for our future destiny, we must not complain if we need to endure hard times now. For we know that in every circumstance, congenial or not congenial, positive or negative, God is working out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Hence,  James 1:2 urged us to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  

        

Jeremiah 29:1-9 – Be exemplary witnesses of God

The inevitable had happened. As God had warned, Nebuchadnezzar took the priest the prophets, and the people into captivity in Babylon. And there they were in exile. In the previous chapter, we saw how Hananiah the false prophet prophesied that within two years they would be released. His message contradicted that of Jeremiah, and he was proven to be false. So he died in the same year and Judah was still in exile. 

A mixture of people was to be expected among the captives. There were priests, prophets, and even some false prophets like Hananiah who continued to propagate lies. Then there were the ordinary Jews, some were still hopeful and a whole of others despairing hopelessly. It was in a time when the people needed to be enlightened and encouraged. So we see Jeremiah writing to them with those purposes to keep their hope in the Lord alive. 

The letter was written shortly “after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.” The two people who carried the letter were Elasah and Gemariah. They delivered it to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon to be read to the people.

The letter he wrote began by reminding them that it was the Lord who had sent them into exile. Hence, they were encouraged in verses to accept their present situation. They were advised firstly to live life as normal as possible.  Firstly, they were to “Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.” They were urged to continue to grow their population even though they were in captivity and not to allow their number to dwindle. They must build toward a strong future.

Secondly, they were to seek the welfare of Babylon, be peacemakers and not trouble-makers. Jeremiah urged that they remember to pray to the Lord for them.  The well-being of Babylon would also be beneficial for them. Babylon’s welfare was also their welfare.  And thirdly, they were told not to listen to the false prophets and diviners who were prophesying lies in the Lord’s name. God assured them that He did not send or speak through them.

The message: Be good and exemplary citizens even though our world is by and large secular in orientation. We must live lives in such a way that would make our set-apart community strong. As God’s redemptive agents and must keep witnessing and bearing to the Good News of Jesus Christ and expand the Kingdom of God. Put Paul's urging in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 into action. “First of all,  (let)… entreaties and prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We must intercede for our government and our nation. And as we do our best to be exemplary citizens, don’t be influenced by false teaching and indulge in their errors. Stay faithful to God all the way.

 

Jeremiah 28:10-17 –Knowing the truth well is critical

Jeremiah verses 10-11 tells us that Jeremiah did not confront Hananiah immediately when the latter removed the yoke that he was wearing over his neck. Instead of being embroiled in his aggression, he just went away. Of course, the error that Hananiah did had to be dealt with. It must be an opportune time. So in verses 12-14 of Jeremiah 28, the opportune time came. God directed him to confront Hananiah.  Jeremiah was told to  “Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made instead of them yokes of iron.”  The message for the false prophet was that instead of a yoke of wood, he had made the people of Judah a w yoke of iron instead. In other words, there suffering the nation had under Babylon would be intensified. They would have to undergo greater distress and despair than they had thus far experienced.

 

Jeremiah then gave a word to the false prophet Hananiah in verses 15-16 saying, “Listen now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made these people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’” So as Jeremiah had prophesied, verse 17 said that Hananiah died in the seventh month of that same year. God had vindicated His servant. For the words of a true prophet always come to pass but the words of a false prophet will not.  

 

Whether we are aware or not, false teachings abound in the contemporary church world. No matter how sincere false teachings may sound, they are always lethal. The problem is that those who propagate them are often friendly and respectable but misguided people. We must remember Matthew 7:22-23 when we hear any message claimed to be from God. Jesus said  that ^“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ It’s shocking to hear Jesus labeling people who claim to prophesy in His name as lawless people and workers of iniquity. It pays for us to be well-versed with Biblical truth so that we will not be hoodwinked by false teachings and end up being misled into a disaster. 

 

Jeremiah 28:10-11 – Don’t be embroiled in a needless argument

Let’s do a recap. Jeremiah was instructed to wear a yoke over his neck. God wanted the nations to know that they must all submit to Babylon’s dominion.   Prior to this, he had made known that Judah would be in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. But then a prophet from Gibeon by the name of Hananiah was misleading the people with a lie. He falsely claimed that the Babylonian yoke would be broken in two years. He even said that the king of Judah, the people, and the temple’s treasure taken by Nebuchadnezzar would also be returned within two years. All that he had said contradicted Jeremiah’s prophecy who then checked him. Jeremiah pointed out that the best authentication of a true prophet would be when what he had prophesied comes to pass.

Apparently, Hananiah took offense to Jeremiah. So in Jeremiah 28:10-11, he aggressively removed the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and broke it, and continued to mislead the people. He then went on to emphasize by proclaiming again saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Even so will I break within two full years the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’”  The last line of verse 11 says Jeremiah went away. Here we venture a guess for the reason he did not want to engage Hananiah. Perhaps it was because he did want to make a scene and created needless commotion before the people. anyway, it is pointless to engage a person who is openly looking for a fight. 

Here we learn how to deal with an unreasonable person. It is always wiser to walk away and wait for a more opportune time to correct him. When one is insistent in persisting in his or her error, correcting openly would only lead to more aggression from that person.  Besides, in life, it is pointless to discuss with someone who obviously refused to accept the truth. Continuing the conversation to correct such a person would be an exercise in futility. It takes a lot of energy and accomplish nothing. Paul’s counsel in 2 Timothy 2:23 is to “refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.”  The lesson in a situation like this is to just walk away and seek a more appropriate time to correct that person.