And these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon
Jeremiah 29 opens with a postal address: a prophet still in Jerusalem writing to countrymen already deported to Babylon. Does God still have anything to say to people He has just judged?
This was not private mail. Later exiles read and studied the letter as part of written prophecy.
Daniel, in his exile in Babylon, was a student of Scripture. Jeremiah's prophecies went from Judah to the Jewish people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried captive to Babylon (Jer. 29:1). The word of the LORD in these "books" or rolls was there to instruct them. It told them about the chastisement that had come upon them, and how long their captivity under it would last.
The letter travelled by ordinary state business. Zedekiah, the king still ruling in Jerusalem, was sending men to Babylon.
King Zedekiah sent Elasah and Gemariah on a diplomatic mission to King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah used the occasion to send a letter by them to the exiles. The letter first of all makes it clear that their stay in Babylon will not be temporary.
Behind the human courier stood a divine decision.
It was no accidental slip of Jeconiah and the people. No power of the king of Babylon accounted for the degradation of the Jews. The LORD of hosts had caused them to be carried away to the city of the conqueror. And it was He who now spoke to them by Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt! How gracious to link His name with theirs in their fallen condition!
The letter answered something already spreading among the exiles.
Many false prophets had appeared among the captives, and they seem to have prompted the letter. They encouraged the rebellious and disobedient spirit that was widespread among the exiles. They gave false prophecies, led the people away, and stirred up the deceptive hope of an early return from the captivity.
The elders, priests, prophets and people addressed here were already in Babylon. They were not the rejected part of the nation.
Jeremiah 24 shows, by the sign of two baskets of figs, that a remnant will be preserved, while the rest, as bad figs, are rejected. Even in the land of the Chaldeans the eyes of the LORD are upon them for good. They would be restored, too, and settled in the land of Israel. But better than the best of the land, they would know the LORD. And better than returning to the place, they would return to Him. As He says: "I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart" (Jer. 24:7).
Verse 1 names the people the letter was written for. Their new position under a foreign king came with a command.
In Jeremiah 29 the prophet sent a letter to the remaining elders who had been carried away captive to Babylon in the time of Jeconiah, king of Judah (2 Kings 24:12-16). The word of the LORD of hosts commanded them to submit fully to Nebuchadnezzar. They were not only not to rebel; they were to obey. They were no longer Jews under the direct government of God in their own land. They were to recognise the authority of the Gentile king whom God had now set over them because of their sins.
Kelly draws out what faith does when God's hand is heavy.
The part of faith, when God sends a chastening, is to bow to it, not to fight against it. Suppose the Lord acts because of a wrong on our part. Faith in Him does not make light of the wrong, and it does not make light of the chastening. Faith accepts the chastening with meekness and confesses the wrong.
The chapter does not stop at submission. Darby traces the movement.
Having insisted on the people's submission to the judgment, God reveals His own thoughts of grace. This submission was necessary because of Israel's sin. God must maintain His own character, and not identify Himself with the ways of a rebellious people. But He must also show Himself as He is in His grace. The judgment carried out, and Israel in ruins, made the truth and beauty of God's grace stand out even more.
- Caused — the deportation was not Babylon's achievement. God caused it. So He, not Nebuchadnezzar, sets the terms of life in exile.
- Carried — a routine royal errand carried the word of God. He reaches His people through ordinary channels.
- Contested — false prophets among the captives were promising a quick return. The letter set the true length of the discipline.
- Chosen — the deported people were the good figs. God watched over them for good, and they would return to Him with their whole heart.
- Comforted — submission comes first, then grace. The ruin makes God's own thoughts stand out all the more.
(after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem);
Jeremiah 29:2 is a date-stamp inside a letter. Before giving Jeremiah's letter to the exiles in Babylon, the text names who had already left Jerusalem: the king, his mother, the court officials and the skilled workers. That list fixes the date of the letter. It also shows how broken the nation was that received it.
The king named here appears in Scripture under three different names. His reign lasted three months. What followed was prison, and then, decades later, unexpected kindness.
Son and successor of Jehoiakim king of Judah… He reigned only three months. Then Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, and the great captivity of Judah was complete. Jehoiachin was carried to Babylon and kept in prison for thirty-six years. When Evil-merodach came to the throne, he released Jehoiachin from prison and raised him above the other captive kings. Jehoiachin ate bread before the king all the days of his life… He is called Jeconiah… He is also called Coniah.
The "eunuchs" listed beside him were not minor servants but a recognised class in royal courts.
They often became men of influence in the eastern courts, and had care of the harems; and where there were several there was one called their "prince." Jer. 29:2; Dan. 1:3-18; Acts 8:27.
The verse names the queen mother beside the king. That is no small detail. Jeremiah had already said she would go with him.
He was carried captive to Babylon, along with his mother, just as Jeremiah had prophesied: "As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would still pull you from there. I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life… even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born. There you shall die."
Older translations call the craftsmen and metal workers "carpenters and smiths." Nebuchadnezzar took them for a reason.
Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive all the captains and mighty men of valour, numbering 10,000, and all the craftsmen and smiths, one thousand. Only the poorest of the people remained, for Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make sure that Jerusalem would never be able to rise to prominence again.
The verse reads like a political summary — a conquering king, a defeated court. One writer looks past that surface to the hand behind it. He also finds grace here: God still speaks to the people He has disciplined.
It was no accidental slip of Jeconiah and the people; it was no power of the king of Babylon which accounted for the degradation of the Jews. Jehovah of hosts had caused them to be carried away to the city of the conqueror; and He it was that now spoke to them by Jeremiah. How gracious to notice them like this after all their guilt, and to link His name with theirs in their fallen estate!
Those left behind in Jerusalem looked like the favoured ones. God's verdict in Jeremiah's vision of the two baskets of figs runs the other way.
What men saw was exactly the opposite of what God reveals to Jeremiah. To the world the good figs were the people remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah; to God's heart they were those carried away from Judah. Their goodness rested on this: they had submitted to God's judgment on their iniquity… Once God had carried out the sentence, He could look down with favour on those who had borne it.
That raises a practical question: how were they to live in a place they never chose? One of the exiles himself is the answer.
God's mind for them then was that they should be happy and pursue what was good in peace. It is no less His mind for us now. This does not mean that they, or we, are to become like Babylon. We see in Daniel, who was one of those at Babylon, the kind of behaviour that pleased God. He said "No" to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him, according to the Word of the Lord.
- Cause — The exile was not Babylon's achievement. God sent them there, and God was the one now speaking to them.
- Cast — Jeconiah is Jehoiachin, also called Coniah. He had three months on the throne, thirty-six years in prison, and then a place above the other captive kings.
- Cost — The queen mother went with him, just as Jeremiah had said. Nebuchadnezzar also took the craftsmen and smiths, so Jerusalem could never rise again.
- Contrast — God called the exiles His good figs, because they had bowed to His judgment. Those still comfortable in Jerusalem were the bad figs.
- Calling — God's mind for them was to be happy and to pursue what was good. Daniel showed how: he said no to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him.
by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkijah (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,
Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles in Babylon. This verse tells us how it reached them. King Zedekiah was sending two men to Nebuchadnezzar on state business, and they became the postmen of a message from God.
The first man, Elasah, came from a family that had served the king:
He was the son of Azaliah, and perhaps the father of Ahikam, Gemariah, Elasah, and Jaazaniah. He was scribe or secretary to King Josiah. He presented to the king the book of the law that had been found in the temple.
Foreign envoys were visiting Zedekiah at this time. Jeremiah used the king's own errand to Babylon:
Ambassadors from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon came to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah (Jer. 27). They were probably planning a joint revolt. At the same time Zedekiah sent a message to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon (Jer. 29:3). The prophet Jeremiah used this opportunity to send a message from God to the exiles in Babylon.
The king sent the men, but he did not send the message. The letter told the exiles who had really moved them to Babylon:
So the prophet sends his letter to the captives with the messengers Zedekiah sent to Nebuchadnezzar. The low state of the Jews was not an accidental slip by Jeconiah and the people. Nor was it the power of the king of Babylon. The Lord of hosts had them carried away to the city of the conqueror. And it was He who now spoke to them through Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt, and to link His name with theirs in their fallen state!
Their situation had changed, and they needed to know how to live in it:
The captives were in a new political relationship. They needed special direction from God. The Jewish spirit would certainly have deeply resented the idea of a Gentile ruling over them. If God had not made His mind known, they would always have been plotting in Babylon to end this miserable captivity. But the part of faith, when God sends a chastening, is to bow to it, not to fight against it.
God still ordered things for their good in the very place He would later tell them to leave:
In the first part of the letter, notice how God orders matters for the good of His people. He does this even while they are captives in Babylon. That is the place which is to become most offensive to Him, and from which He afterwards calls them to flee. This is an important principle for believers today... We are to pursue what is good, while avoiding what is evil.
Other voices had reached the exiles first with a comforting lie:
Many false prophets seem to have prompted the letter. They had appeared among the captives, and they encouraged the rebellious and disobedient spirit that ruled among the exiles. They prophesied lies, led the people away, and stirred up the false hope of an early return from captivity.
- Carried by name. Elasah and Gemariah are named because God's word travelled in their hands. Elasah's father was Shaphan, the scribe who handed King Josiah the book of the law.
- Carried by politics. Talk of revolt surrounded Zedekiah's embassy. Jeremiah used that same errand to send God's message to Babylon.
- Carried by God. The letter said the Lord, not Nebuchadnezzar, had sent the people into exile. And He was still speaking to them there.
- Carried against lies. False prophets among the exiles promised a quick return. The letter came to end that false hope.
- Carried into daily life. Faith bows to God's chastening instead of fighting it. In Babylon they were to pursue what is good and avoid what is evil.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon
Jeremiah's letter to the exiles does not open with sympathy. It opens with a claim. The God who speaks is the One who put them where they are. Everything that follows in the chapter rests on that one line. It turns a national disaster into God's own appointment.
The verse names two things at once. It gives God's full title, and it makes the exile God's own act. Older translations read "whom I have caused to be carried away captive." The ESV reads "whom I have sent into exile." Either way, Babylon's army was not the real cause.
This was no accidental slip by Jeconiah and the people. It was no power of the king of Babylon that explained how low the Jews had fallen. The LORD of hosts was the One who had them carried away to the city of their conqueror. And it was He who now spoke to them through Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt, and to tie His name to theirs in their fallen condition!
That is the weight of the title "the God of Israel." He keeps the name while His people sit in a foreign capital under judgment.
God writes to people whose whole world had changed. They no longer lived under His direct rule in their own land. A foreign king now stood over them.
In Jeremiah 29, the prophet sent a letter to the elders who were left, the ones carried away captive to Babylon in the time of Jeconiah the king of Judah (2 Kings 24:12-16). The word of the LORD of hosts commanded them to submit fully to Nebuchadnezzar. They were not only to avoid rebelling; they were to obey. They were no longer Jews living under God's direct government in their own land. They were to recognise the authority of the foreign king whom God had now set over them because of their sins.
God had to tell them how to take this, because their own instincts ran the other way.
The captives were in a new political situation. They needed special direction from God, because the Jewish spirit would surely have resented the idea of a foreign ruler over them. Without a word from God, they would have spent their time in Babylon plotting how to end this miserable captivity. But when God sends chastening, faith bows to it instead of fighting it. If the Lord acts because of a wrong on our part, faith does not make light of the wrong or of the chastening. Faith accepts the chastening humbly and confesses the wrong.
Because God had placed them there, they were free to settle and live well.
There was to be nothing gloomy in the way they lived. They were to take all their circumstances from God. They were to trust the Lord with joy, and to do it as captives of Nebuchadnezzar. More than that, they were even to seek the good and peace of Babylon.
Seeking a city's good is not the same as taking on its ways. One writer points to a man who did both at once:
God's mind for them then was that they should be happy and quietly pursue what was good. It is no less His mind for us now. This does not mean that they, or we, are to become like Babylon. In Daniel, who was one of those in Babylon, we see the behaviour that pleased God. He said "No" to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him, in line with the Word of the Lord.
The letter does not end with the command to settle down.
At the end, having insisted that the people submit to the judgment, God reveals His own thoughts of grace. This submission was necessary because of Israel's sin. God must keep His own character, and not identify Himself with the ways of a rebellious people. But He must also show Himself as He is in His grace. The carrying out of the judgment, and Israel's ruined condition, made the truth and beauty of God's grace stand out even more.
- Sent, not seized. Nebuchadnezzar's power did not explain the exile. The LORD of hosts had them carried away, and He speaks to them there.
- Named, not disowned. He still calls Himself the God of Israel — linking His name with theirs while they sit in disgrace.
- Bow, don't battle. Faith's part under God's chastening is to accept it meekly and confess the wrong, not to plot a way out of it.
- Build, don't brood. Nothing gloomy in their living: they were to take every circumstance from God's hand, trust Him with joy, and even seek Babylon's good.
- Submission first, then grace. Only after they bow to the judgment does God unfold His thoughts of grace. Their ruin makes that grace shine brighter.
Build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Jeremiah writes a letter to the Jews taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, and his first instruction is not resistance but a building project. Two questions sit behind it: who put them there, and how long would they stay?
The order to build assumes a settled address, and the letter names the One who arranged it.
This was no accidental slip by Jeconiah and the people. No power of the king of Babylon explains why the Jews were brought so low. The LORD of hosts had caused them to be carried away to the city of the conqueror. And it was He who now spoke to them through Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt, and to link His name with theirs in their fallen state!
So a house in Babylon is not surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. It is agreement with God about where He has put them.
Houses and orchards take years. Trees planted for fruit say that no one is going home next spring. But a quick return was just what the popular prophets promised:
Hananiah was one of the many false prophets plaguing the people of God at the time. He "took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it." Then he said in front of all the people: "This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two full years." Jeremiah did not take it upon himself to answer this lie. We simply read: "and the prophet Jeremiah went his way." But God spoke... The false prophet was judged for his opposition. He "died in the same year in the seventh month."
Another writer finds the same denial back in Jerusalem. Leaders there answered Jeremiah's call to build in exile by building at home instead.
God points these men out to Ezekiel. They replace Jeremiah's call to the captives to build houses in the place of their captivity, which was to be long (Jer. 29:5), with building in Jerusalem. Judgment is not near, they say.
Building was not resignation. The exile had a stated limit, and the same letter named God's plan for them.
They had to accept the judgment. They also had to bear it patiently, right to the end of the seventy years the Lord had assigned to it... At the appointed time there was to be a restoration. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jer. 29:11).
Captives might have thought sadness was the only reverent response. The command to eat the fruit of their own gardens says otherwise.
There was to be nothing morbid in their habits. They were to take all the circumstances from God. They were happily to trust in the Lord, but to do so as captives to Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed, they were even to seek the good and peace of Babylon.
Settling in a place is not the same as approving of it.
It is instructive to notice how God orders things for the good of His people, even when they are captives in Babylon. That is the place that is to become most hateful to Him, and the place He afterwards calls them to flee... We are to pursue what is good, while avoiding what is evil.
The same writer points to one man in Babylon who shows what this looks like:
To be happy, and to be peacefully pursuing what was good, was God's mind for them then: it is no less His mind for us now. This does not mean that either they or we are to become Babylonish. We see in Daniel, who was one of those at Babylon, the sort of behaviour that pleased God. He said "No" to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him, according to the Word of the Lord.
Those who refused the yoke did not escape it.
If we run away from discipline, the problem that caused it will catch up with us (and the outcome is likely to be even worse). If these people had stayed in Jerusalem and accepted the Babylonian yoke, they could have lived quietly in their own country. But having fled to Egypt, they were still within Nebuchadnezzar's reach and would die.
- Sent — the exile was God's doing, not Babylon's strength. Even in their fallen state, God links His name with theirs.
- Settle — houses and fruit trees are slow. The command to build exposed the prophets who promised a return within two years.
- Serve — settling meant seeking the good and peace of the city where God had placed them.
- Separate — they were to live well in Babylon without becoming Babylonish. Daniel sought the good of those around him and still said "No" to the king's food.
- Sure end — the seventy years had a limit. God's plan for them was welfare, a future and a hope. Those who ran from His discipline met it anyway.
Take wives, and beget 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 be not diminished.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jeremiah wrote to people already deported to Babylon, telling them that their stay would be long. They must even pray for the city that held them captive — but why pray for the place of your punishment?
The verse traces the exile back to God Himself, not to Babylon's army. The writers quoted below used an older translation, which reads "peace" where the ESV has "welfare."
The downfall of the Jews was not an accidental slip by King Jeconiah and the people, and it was not the power of the king of Babylon either. The Lord of hosts had caused them to be carried away to the city of the conqueror, and He was the One who now spoke to them through Jeremiah. How gracious of Him to notice them after all their guilt, and to link His name with theirs in their fallen state! It was worse than useless to hope for a quick return to Palestine. No plots and no resolutions would help. The Lord's word was that they should settle down in the land of their captivity. They were to build and plant, to marry and give in marriage, and so grow in number instead of shrinking. They were also to seek the peace of the city where they lived, and to do this heartily as to the Lord, and not to please men.
The command to seek the city's peace comes attached to houses, gardens, marriages and children. Refusing that ordinary life might look spiritual. In fact it shows a heart that has not bowed to God.
Souls that are not really bowing to God are always gloomy. They murmur in their affliction and avoid the common duties of life. Godly people do not shut their eyes to what is painful, nor are they unfeeling in their adversity. There would be no piety in ignoring the truth of things. They feel the affliction, yet they seek grace from God to take the hardship from His hand with all patience.
Both sides of this prayer look unpromising.
The people who were told to pray were a failing people. The city they were told to pray for was a doomed city. Still, they were to pray. We might think it hardly decent for such people to pray for others, and quite useless to pray for such a city. But no! The Lord fully recognises the shame of His people, and that His hand was upon them in judgment. He says, "I have caused you to be carried away captive." Yet He goes on, "Pray to the Lord for the city," for His mercy is very great.
Seeking a city's welfare is not the same as adopting its character. One of the exiles shows how both fit together in one life.
To be happy, and to be peacefully pursuing what was good, was God's mind for them then; it is no less His mind for us now. This does not mean that either they or we are to become Babylonish. We see in Daniel, who was one of those at Babylon, the sort of behaviour that pleased God. He said "No" to the king's food, yet he sought the good of those around him, according to the word of the Lord. We do well to grasp this principle and have grace to put it into practice.
One writer carries Jeremiah's letter over to Christians today. The peace we ask for the world comes back to God's own people.
God's mind is clearly that His people should lead a quiet life while passing through this hostile world. They are not to assert themselves as if they were citizens of this world. They are to live in a calm that keeps out of the world's disputes, in a piety that recognises God in every circumstance of life, and in practical seriousness before others. Long ago the prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to God's captive people in Babylon. He urged them to seek the peace of the city that held them in bondage, by praying to the Lord for it. As the prophet says, "in its peace you shall have peace." In the same spirit we are to seek the peace of the world, so that God's people may have peace.
Another writer draws the parallel while marking the difference in situation.
It is true that Christians in this land are not captives to a foreign power. But a new element has come into our lives, making us strangers and pilgrims even in our own country... Meanwhile we are in a world of unrest and sorrow.
Seeking Babylon's peace was not a surrender of hope. The exile had a fixed end, set by God.
Just as it was necessary to accept the judgment, so it was necessary to bear it patiently until the end of the seventy years assigned to it by the Lord... At the appointed time there was to be a restoration.
- Sent, not stranded — the exile came from God's own hand. Babylon was to be accepted, not escaped by scheming.
- Settle — build, plant, marry. Avoiding ordinary duties in hard times marks a heart that murmurs instead of bowing to God.
- Seek — pursue the good of the place you did not choose, as Daniel did, without taking on its character.
- Pray — a failing people may still pray for a doomed city. God's mercy is greater than the shame He fully sees.
- Share the peace — the peace you ask for others comes back to you. Christians pass through this world, and still pray for it.