THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF JEREMIAH

XI. Jeremiah’s Exemplary Response To A Politicking False Prophet

(Jeremiah 29:1-32)

I. Introduction

A. God called Jeremiah to prophesy in Judah during its apostacy until God’s judgment fell on the nation.

B. Jeremiah’s ministry is then similar to what God’s servants face in our era of spiritual decline. Such a calling can be marked by political opposition that seeks to cause God’s servants to cease being able to do His work.

C. Jeremiah 29:1-32 reports of Jeremiah’s exemplary response to a politicking false prophet who tried to get other people to oppose him, and the passage offers a lesson for our insight, application and edification:

II. Jeremiah’s Exemplary Response To A Politicking False Prophet, Jeremiah 29:1-32.

A. God had Jeremiah write a letter to Judah’s captives in Babylon to counter their false prophets, Jer. 29:1-23:

1. After Judah’s king Jeconiah in 597 B. C. had gone out from Jerusalem to surrender to Babylon’s king who then took 3,023 adult male Hebrews and their wives captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-16; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to Jeremiah 29:1-23 and 52:28), false prophets among Judah’s captives in Babylon told the captives that they would soon be released and returned to Judah, Jeremiah 29:8-9.

2. Such a message countered God’s will that the captives realize that they would be in Babylon for seventy years until they had repented of their idolatry so that God might release them from Babylon and return them to Israel (2 Chronicles 36:20-21 with Jeremiah 29:9-14). The false prophets’ message that the captivity of Judah’s people would be short kept the people from being motivated to repent of their sins!

3. Thus, God had Jeremiah write a letter to all of Judah’s captives in Babylon to counter the false prophets’ lies, Jeremiah 29:1-4. In that letter, he told the captives to build houses, plant gardens, multiply, and seek the peace of the city where they dwelt that it might go well with them, for they were going to be in Babylon for seventy years contrary to the messages of the false prophets, Jeremiah 29:5-10a.

4. The Lord planned to give these captives a great future after they had repented and dwelt in Babylon for that long time, for then they would have repented of idolatry and returned to the Lord, Jeremiah 29:10b-14.

5. However, since the people were claiming that the Lord had raised up prophets in Babylon to encourage them that they would soon be restored to Judah, Jeremiah added that hoping to return to Judah was not a good idea, for God would punish Jerusalem with Babylon’s invasion, humiliating the city’s inhabitants by killing many of them and dispersing them among the nations for their sins, Jer. 29:15-19. In addition, Jeremiah warned Judah’s captives in Babylon that false prophets Ahab the son of Koliah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah would be delivered into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand and he would strike them down before the eyes of Judah’s captives, Jeremiah 29:20-22. These prophets had committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and spoken lying words that God had not directed them to speak, and God Who was the One Who knew of their sins was Witness, and He would punish them, Jeremiah 29:23.

B. However, another false prophet, Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon, countered Jeremiah’s letter by sending a letter back to all Jerusalem and an official among the priests to punish Jeremiah for his letter, Jer. 29:24-29:

1. Shemaiah sent a letter back to Jerusalem to all the people and the official Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah and all the priests to do the God-given task they were assigned to do in countering every madman who acted like a prophet, putting him in stocks and neck irons, men like Jeremiah who had written to direct Judah’s captives in Babylon to settle down for a long captivity in Babylon, Jeremiah 29:24-28.

2. Zephaniah decided that instead of attacking Jeremiah, he would read Shemaiah’s letter to him, Jer. 29:29.

C. Accordingly, God had Jeremiah send a second letter to all of Judah’s captives in Babylon to declare that Shemaiah had not been sent by the Lord, and that he was causing them to trust in a lie, Jeremiah 29:30-31. For his rebellious ministry against the Lord, God condemned Shemaiah not to have a male descendant to dwell among the Hebrew people, nor that he would see the good that God would do to the captives in restoring them to the land of Israel, Jeremiah 29:32. God thus cut Shemaiah and his seed off from having a bright future.

Lesson: When Jeremiah gave God’s Word to Judah’s captives in Babylon to counter the false prophets they faced only to see another false prophet send a letter back to all Jerusalem politically to counter Jeremiah’s message, Jeremiah heeded God’s call to counter that false prophet’s words and he relied on God’s judgment of that prophet.

Application: If we face godless politicking for heeding the Lord’s ministry assignment, God merely calls us to stand our ground on the truth, trusting Him to deal with the party that in reality is opposing the Lord, not just us!