Title Jeremiah's Letter (Jeremiah 29:1-32)
Content No matter how chosen the people of Israel are, it is God's predestination for the Israelites to spend 70 years in captivity in Babylon.
1. Contents of the letter 1-14 It was said that the letter was sent to the prophet Jeremiah, and the recipients were the elders (referring to the elderly), priests, and all the prophets who had moved to Babylon.
It is said that the letter was sent after King Jeconiah, his mother, eunuchs, princes, carpenters, and ironworkers had left Jerusalem. It is in the year 597. It was Ellasah (Ahikam's brother; 26:24) and Gemariah (son of Hilkiah, Jer. 29:3) who carried the letter, who were close friends with Jeremiah. The content of the letter is that the Babylonian captivity is God’s intention to train the chosen people, so they must obey. They think of Babylon as their own country and live in a stable life, but they buy a house, set up their business, take a wife, have children, and live in a city where they live. taught to pray for Don't be deceived by Hananiah's false prophecy (restore within 2 years) and be impatient, because God's scheduled period is 70 years.
Verses 8-14 promise restoration after 70 years... Don't be impatient, and when 70 years are over, you will return to your homeland as promised. At that time, they said that blessed fellowship with God would be achieved. . Therefore, the suffering we are experiencing now is not a terrible disaster, but a new hope for peace in the future.
2. The calamity that will come upon the disobedient Texts 15-23 are a warning against those who remain in Jerusalem and the false prophets of Babylon.
It is a foreshadowing of judgment on the remnant because of not obeying God's word. Rather, the captives will be more fortunate than them. Sin must pay its price in some way. He said that the chaebols that came to them were swords, famine, and plague, namely slaughter from war, hunger due to famine, and suffering from disease.
And among the captives, false prophets like Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah prophesied falsely to the people and did this in vain, and they committed fornication with their neighbor's wife, and they became a curse and were killed by the king of Babylon .
3. Shemaiah's Punishment 24-32 The prisoners who received Jeremiah's letter were greatly shocked. Among them, false prophets such as Shemaiah wrote to the priests and prophets in Jerusalem, suggesting that Jeremiah be imprisoned. He called Jeremiah a madman and a self-proclaimed prophet. The reason for this is that in verse 28, he made the people despair by telling them to live in peace because their sentence is long. They seem to have thought that they would be liberated within a few years, just as Hananiah prophesied.
Finally, God said that He would punish Shemaiah and her descendants as it is the judgment of God for his schemes and sedition. His descendants would be cut off, and he himself would not receive the blessings of God's people.
Conclusion: Those who do not believe in God's promise will not receive the blessings contained in that promise. Shemaiah deserves woe because he rebelled against God's promise that the Jewish captives would be liberated after 70 years.