Jeremiah 29:15-20

5. Refutation of the false prophets in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:15-20)

TRANSLATION

(15) Because you have said, The LORD has raised up for us prophets in Babylon(16) Surely, thus says the LORD unto the king who sits upon the throne of David, and unto all the people who dwell in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity(17) Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I am about to send against them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten. (18) And I will pursue them with sword, famine and pestilence; and I will make them an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, an astonishment, a hissing and a reproach among all nations where I have driven them, (19) because they did not hearken unto MY words (oracle of the LORD) when I earnestly and persistently sent My servants the prophets; but you did not obey (oracle of the LORD). (20) But as for you, hear the. word of the LORD, all you captives, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

COMMENTS

Jeremiah's correspondence with the captives was not appreciated. Some felt that the prophet from Anathoth was meddling where he had no business. God has raised up for us prophets here in Babylon, they protested. We have no need to hear from would-be prophets in Jerusalem! (Jeremiah 29:15). The captives much preferred the messages they were getting from their own prophets in Babylon. These deceivers continued to generate false hope by assuring the Jews that they would shortly be returning to their homeland. It was imperative that Jeremiah shatter this delusion. If the captives only could realize the agony which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were shortly to endure at the hands of the Babylonians they would not want to return home immediately. Sword, famine and pestilence would come upon the land in the not-too-distant future. Using a figure he used earlier (Jeremiah 24:2-10) Jeremiah likens the inhabitants of Jerusalem to rotten figs which are good for nothing but to cast out (Jeremiah 29:17). The nations of the world would see the terrible calamity which would befall Judah and they would shutter with fear and hiss or whistle in amazement. Thus instead of promising a speedy return of the Jews already in Babylon, Jeremiah declares that there would be further deportations of Jews from the homeland. In view of what would shortly befall Jerusalem, the exiles should be thankful that they had been spared the horrors of the last days of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah relates to the captives in Babylon what he had been preaching in the streets of Jerusalem. The inhabitants of Judah must be punished because they had refused to hearken to the words of the Lord spoken by the prophets (Jeremiah 29:19). In the sudden shift from third to second person in Jeremiah 29:19, Jeremiah includes those who read the letter in the charge of disobedience to God. He then pleads with the captives to hear the genuine word of the Lord (Jeremiah 29:20): Those in Judah have refused to hear; then you in Babylon give heed to the word of God.