Don't Get Carried Away
Background Information
5. Build … houses—In opposition to the false prophets’ suggestions, who told the captives that their captivity would soon cease, Jeremiah tells them that it will be of long duration, and that therefore they should build houses, as Babylon is to be for long their home.
6. that ye … be … not diminished—It was God’s will that the seed of Abraham should not fail; thus consolation is given them, and the hope, though not of an immediate, yet of an ultimate, return.
7. (Ezr 6:10; Ro 13:1; 1 Ti 2:2). Not only bear the Babylonian yoke patiently, but pray for your masters, that is, while the captivity lasts. God’s good time was to come when they were to pray for Babylon’s downfall (Je 51:35; Ps 137:8). They were not to forestall that time. True religion teaches patient submission, not sedition, even though the prince be an unbeliever. In all states of life let us not throw away the comfort we may have, because we have not all we would have. There is here a foretaste of gospel love towards enemies (Mt 5:44).
8. your dreams which ye caused to be dreamed—The Latin adage says, “The people wish to be deceived, so let them be deceived.” Not mere credulity misleads men, but their own perverse “love of darkness rather than light.” It was not priests who originated priestcraft, but the people’s own morbid appetite to be deceived; for example, Aaron and the golden calf (Ex 32:1–4). So the Jews caused or made the prophets to tell them encouraging dreams (Je 23:25, 26; Ec 5:7; Zec 10:2; Jn 3:19–21).
29:4–9 Counseling Exiles About Their Lifestyle
From: The Lord
To: The Exiles
The letter begins, as do other letters from that time, like an inter-office memo, but the usual greeting of peace (shalom) is deferred to verse 7, a procedure the exiles must have considered rude. It is partly from Jeremiah’s advice that we reconstruct the situation now faced by the exiles.
If the smooth-talking prophets are right in that the exile will be short (cf. Hananiah in Jerusalem, 28:2–4), then the reluctance of the exiles to settle down in a foreign country is understandable. But Jeremiah, insisting that the exile will be long, sweeps away all hopes for an early return. Already Jeremiah has appealed to the people at home to tune out such prophets (27:14, 16–17; cf. 23:16; 14:14).
His advice to build houses and to plant gardens presupposes that the Judeans, though captive, have considerable freedom. Apparently they were settled in colonies (Ezek. 3:15). The Jews followed Jeremiah’s advice—we can document this from the archaeological finds at Nippur of 700 inscribed tablets, known as the Murashu Archives. These record contracts and loan certificates of a Jewish family of the fifth century B.C.
Certainly the counsel to work for the welfare of the city—the city in which they were held hostage—and to pray to the Lord for it is revolutionary. The lex talionis, “an eye for an eye,” is here superseded by a quite different directive—prayerful concern. Such radical counsel about treatment of enemies anticipates Jesus’ words: “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).
5. Build ye houses—in opposition to the false prophets’ suggestions, who told the captives that their captivity would soon cease, Jeremiah tells them that it will be of long duration, and that therefore they should build houses, as Babylon is to be for long their home. 6. Take ye 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; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. It was God’s will that the seed of Abraham should not fail; thus consolation is given them, and the hope, though not of an immediate, yet of an ultimate return. 7. seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it—(Ezra 6:10; Rom. 13:1; 1 Tim. 2:2). Not only bear the Babylonian yoke patiently, but pray for your masters—i.e., whilst the captivity lasts. God’s good time was to come when they were to pray for Babylon’s downfall (ch. 51:35; Ps. 137:8). They were not to forestall that time. True religion teaches patient submission, not sedition, even though the prince be an unbeliever. In all states of life let us not throw away the comfort we may have, because we have not all we would have. There is here a foretaste of Gospel love towards enemies (Matt. 5:44).
8. Neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. The Latin adage saith, ‘The people wish to be deceived, so let them be deceived.’ Not mere credulity misleads men, but their own perverse “love of darkness rather than light.” It was not priests who originated priestcraft, but the people’s own morbid appetite to be deceived; e.g., Aaron and the golden calf (Exod. 32:1–4). So the Jews caused or made the prophets to tell them encouraging dreams (ch. 23:25, 26; Eccl. 5:7; Zech. 10:2; John 3:19–21).
Ver. 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, &c.] For the letter was written by the order of the Lord, was endited by him, and was sent in his name, the prophet was only his amanuensis; and the titles which the Lord here takes are worthy of notice: the Lord of hosts: of the armies above and below, that does according to his pleasure in heaven and in earth, with whom nothing is impossible; who could easily destroy the enemies of his people, and deliver them, either immediately by his power, or mediately by means of armies on earth, whom he could assemble, and send at pleasure; or by legions of angels at his command: the God of Israel; their covenant-God; who still continued to be so, notwithstanding their sins and transgressions, and though in captivity in a foreign land; and a good hint this, to preserve them from the idolatry of the country they were in, and to observe unto them that he only was to be worshipped by them: unto all that are carried away captives; or, to all of the captivity; or, to the whole captivity; high and low, rich and poor; this letter was an interesting one to them all: whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; for though their sins and iniquities were the moving, meritorious, and procuring causes of their captivity; and Nebuchadnezzar and his army the instruments; yet God was the efficient cause: the Chaldeans could never have carried them captive, if the Lord had not willed it, or had not done it by them; for there is no evil of this kind in a city, and the Lord hath not done it, Amos 3:6.
Ver. 5. Build ye houses, and dwell in them, &c.] Intimating hereby that they must not expect a return into their own land in any short time, but that they should continue many years where they were; suggesting also, that as they had ability, so they should have liberty, of building themselves houses; nor should they be interrupted by their enemies; nor would their houses be taken from them, when built; but they should dwell peaceably and quietly in them, as their own; which they might assure themselves of from the Lord, who gives these, and the following directions: and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; and live as comfortably as you can in a foreign country; plant your gardens with vines and pomegranates, and all sorts of fruitful trees the country produces; and fear not the fruit being taken away from you; depend upon it, you shall eat the fruit of your own labour, and not be deprived of it.
Ver. 6. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters, &c.] That is, such as had no wives, who were either bachelors or widowers; not that they were to take wives of the Chaldeans, but of those of their own nation; for intermarriages with Heathens were forbidden them; and this they were to do, in order to propagate their posterity, and keep up a succession: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands; or men; preserving and establishing the right of parents to give their children in marriage, and pointing to them their duty to provide suitable yoke-fellows for them; and hereby is signified, that not only they, but their children after them, should continue in this state of captivity: that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there, and not diminished; like their ancestors in Egypt, who grew very numerous amidst all their afflictions and bondage.
Ver. 7. And seek the peace of the city, &c.] The prosperity and happiness of Babylon, or any other city in Chaldea, were they were placed: this they were to do by prayer and supplication to God, and by all other means that might be any ways conducive to the good of the state where they were: whither I have caused you to be carried away captives; and as long as they continued so; for being under the protection of the magistrates of it, though Heathens, they owed them submission, and were under obligation to contribute to their peace and welfare: and pray unto the Lord for it; the city, where they dwelt; for the continuance, safety, peace, and prosperity of it; and therefore much more ought the natives of a place to seek and pray for its good, and do all that in them lies to promote it; and still more should the saints and people of God pray for the peace of Jerusalem, or the church of God, where they are born, and brought up in a spiritual sense; see 1 Tim. 2:1, 2; Psal. 122:6, 7, 8, 9: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace; which is an argument taken from self-interest; intimating, that whilst the city in which they were was in safety and prosperity, was in a flourishing condition, as to its health and trade, they would partake more or less with them of the same advantages; and on the other hand, should they be distressed with the sword, famine, or pestilence, or any grievous calamity, they would be involved in the same.
Ver. 8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, &c.] See the note on ver. 4: let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you; their false prophets, as the Targum; and there were many such in the captivity; see Ezek. 13:2, 3, 4 and such who pretended to divine and foretel future things, and so impose upon the people, who were too apt to believe them; these insinuated, that in a little time they should have their liberty, and return to their own land again, contrary to the prophecies that came from the Lord himself: neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed; for that of a speedy return to their own land was no other than a dream, which they both dreamed themselves; their thoughts running on it in the day-time, they dreamed of it at night; and fancied it was from the Lord; a divine dream; and so built much upon it; and also which they encouraged the false prophets and diviners to dream, and tell their dreams, by their listening to them, and being pleased with them, giving credit to them as if they came from God.
Ver. 9. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name, &c.] They pretended to have the authority of God for what they said; that their prophecies and dreams were from him, and as such they delivered them in his name; though they were false ones; that they might be the better received by the people: I have not sent them, saith the Lord; they had no mission or commission from the Lord, no warrant or authority from him; they set up themselves; and ran without being sent; and prophesied out of their own hearts what came into their heads, the fancies of their own brain, or the delusions of Satan, under whose power and influence they were; therefore sad must be the case of a people giving heed to such seducing spirits.
29 Instructing the Exiles On the home front in Judah, Jeremiah urges submission to Babylon and by courier counsels the Judahites deported there after the surrender of Jehoiachin (597; 2 Kgs. 24:10–17). The prophet instructs the exiles to pursue a normal life in Mesopotamia, because doing so will demonstrate their contrite acceptance of God’s punishment for their unfaithfulness. “Seventy years” as the length of the punitive period (v. 10; cf. 25:12) may simply mean “a very long time.” Jeremiah also encourages the exiles with divine promises of eventual restoration to Judah and, rejecting the advice of the false prophets, warns against resistance by outlining the awful judgment in store for their defiant compatriots back home. When such a prophet, Shemaiah, discredits Jeremiah in a letter to the priests in Jerusalem, God pronounces a most severe punishment on him: the obliteration of his entire family line.
The first letter from Jeremiah (vv. 1–23) is sent to the exiles in Babylon, sometime following the deportation in 597 BC (see 2 Kings 24:10–16). The basic concern is to address issues faced by these exiles in view of Jeremiah’s word that their stay in Babylon will be an extended one, well beyond that suggested by several false prophets. Two of the latter are specifically named (Ahab and Zedekiah); they were fomenting unrest among the exiles and had apparently announced an early return to the land. The basic response is to settle in for the long haul, but know that God will in time restore them to their own land
The passage.—The first major Babylonian captivity came in early 597. Jeremiah was deeply concerned about the well-being of the exiles. Because of his concern he communicated with them. The correspondence took place between 597 and 594.
The first letter (vv. 1–23) was carried to the captives by an important delegation of the king. In it the prophet gives some counsel for the present and a forecast of the future.
He urges the exiles to face up to the facts. They are to be there a long time. They should settle down, engage in normal activities, and seek the well-being of the area assigned to them. They must not pay attention to the prophets, for they are preaching a lie (two are mentioned by name and their tragic fate predicted—cf. vv. 21–23).
Although they are not coming back in the near future, as some of the prophets are saying, they are coming back, after 70 years. God has plans for them, a future of hope. Meanwhile, they are not necessarily separated from him, for they can find him in intimate personal relationship in Babylon as in Jerusalem—without Temple, land, priests, sacrifice—if they seek him with all the energy of intellect and will. Then, in God’s own time, he will bring them back to the place from which he sent them into exile.
It is not surprising that the letter had repercussions, making a second letter necessary (vv. 24–32). A certain Shemaiah, a prophet in Babylon, wrote letters to Jerusalem about Jeremiah’s letter. One of these went to Zephaniah, chief of the Temple police, urging him to deal with this dangerous fanatic. Zephaniah showed the letter to Jeremiah, and did nothing about it.
Jeremiah wrote another letter to the exiles warning them of the falsehood and folly of Shemaiah’s viewpoint and predicting that because this man had no mandate from God and no true message from God, no member of his family would participate in the restoration “the good that I will do …”
Special points.—Chapter 29 is a very important chapter. It sheds much light upon Jeremiah and upon his conception of God and religion. First, it indicates that he was now an impressive and influential person among his people.
Second, it reveals his raw courage. He dared to shatter the illusions and false hopes of the exiles and to stand up against the prophets who were encouraging the exiles in them.
Third, the correspondence discloses that Jeremiah was a man of indomitable faith. Because of his realism, he was pessimistic about the immediate future. Yet he was optimistic for the long pull. He was sure that God had plans for his people and that he would carry them out.
Fourth, his communication with the captives reveals that Jeremiah was a man of penetrating insight. He saw that true faith is not dependent upon geographical locality or cultic conformity. One can know God anywhere, if he meets the conditions.
Finally, we note that Jeremiah enjoined prayer for the enemy. This is the only place in the Old Testament where this is done.
Jeremiah both personalized and universalized the religion of his people.
4. The main question facing the exiles was how they could maintain a real religious relationship with the LORD in a foreign land. They no longer had access to the Temple and its sacrifices. If they were to worship the LORD in an appropriate way and live true to the covenant, then this would seem to require a speedy return to the promised land. Indeed, there would have been doubts as to whether God would be interested in them at all in their residence in a foreign land. Such concerns are met by asserting the sovereignty of God in their exile. He continues to have plans for his people, even though for the immediate future they are not the sort of plans they would have anticipated or desired. It said: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. There would presumably have been considerable confusion as to what to think among the exiles, particularly as so many had identified belief in the LORD with the promises of the false prophets. This in itself would give rise to a crisis of faith—had the LORD let them down and deserted his people? Could they really rely on the covenant promises? The assertion that it was God who had controlled their destiny is made to assure them that they have not been forgotten, and that they play a particular part in the divine purpose. They were where they were by divine initiative and control (24:5); they had a future. Nebuchadnezzar was merely the agent whom the LORD had used to carry out his purposes. They should accept their circumstances, because the LORD was in control of them (note also v. 7).
5. The message that follows is revolutionary in its implications for their way of thinking, and is closely linked to the vision given to Jeremiah in chapter 24. There is a series of commands with the implication that if they are heeded the exiles will be granted security and prosperity by the LORD, but it is security in exile. They were to accept that their situation was from the LORD, who had decreed not immediate restoration but a long residence in Babylon. By acting on that basis they would be able to survive. Build houses and settle down. ‘Build’ and ‘plant’ recall Jeremiah’s call. There may well have been reluctance to take up a settled abode in a heathen land, and particularly if the shalom prophets’ revised estimate of only a two year stay there was in fact accurate. Jeremiah, however, presents the LORD’s counsel to prepare for a long stay in Babylon. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. In Babylon the majority of the exiles were allowed considerable liberty. Those who had been leaders in the revolts against Babylon were led off in chains and imprisoned (2 Kgs. 24:15; 25:7, 27; for further details of their treatment, see on 52:31), but ordinary deportees were not imprisoned or treated as slaves in inhuman conditions in a concentration camp. While the speech of the Assyrian commander in 2 Kgs. 18:31–32 was undoubtedly an exercise in propaganda, there are substantial grounds for believing it generally true (though of course avoiding the negatives of deportation). Babylonian policies tended to mirror those previously practised by the Assyrians.
No doubt, the people were told where to settle. Both biblical (Ezek. 3:15) and other evidence points to the region of the city of Nippur sixty miles south-east of Babylon, where much work was needed to restore an area devastated by war. In that connection communities of exiles from several nations would be allotted certain tasks to perform for the regime through forced labour. They would have paid taxes and provided conscripts for the army (it was only in Roman times that the Jews received a special dispensation in that respect). At the same time they were allowed freedom to have their own communal organisation (the existence of elders) and religious leaders (priests and prophets). There does not seem to have been any conscious policy of forced assimilation. They could continue to observe the ritual laws, the Sabbath and circumcision, all of which distinctives would have helped maintain their national identity and communal solidarity. They were free to communicate with their native land—though not of course to go back there. The mention of gardens rather than fields probably indicates that they were unable to acquire extensive land-holdings, but as tenants would have been allotted plots of ground in the vicinity of their houses.
6. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. These marriages are of course within the exilic community as part of the process of settling down in Babylonia. The three generations in exile would correspond to the three generations of Nebuchadnezzar’s descendants (27:7) and would span the seventy years that had been prophesied for the captivity (25:11). ‘Find wives’ contrasts with the circumstances of the first-generation exiles who are commanded to ‘marry’ since their parents would rarely be in exile with them and able to arrange marriages for them. Increase in number there; do not decrease (Gen. 1:28; Deut. 26:5). The promise of a numerous offspring, so much part of the Abrahamic covenant, is being transferred to a foreign land (‘there’ refers to Babylon). The same phenomenon of population growth had previously occurred when Israel was enslaved in Egypt (Exod. 1:7). The imposition of the covenant curse had broken the tie between the people and the land, but if in exile they were obedient to the LORD, they would enjoy renewed blessing.
7. The instructions go further, and again in a way that turns upside down the previous thinking of the deportees. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. The NIV attempts to cover the whole range of ideas involved in šālôm (‘welfare’, 6:14) by employing the double rendering ‘peace and prosperity’. The exiles are not to be ill-disposed towards the land they are in, even though they have been forcibly taken there. This was indeed the hardest part of the divine instructions. Psalm 137 reminds us of the bitterness that affected the later deportees. But while it was legitimate to criticise and oppose the evil perpetrated by Babylon, the exiles’ attitude was not to be negative with respect to the pagan land they were in. Rather they were to promote its interests in every way open to them, because ultimately it was the LORD who had brought them there. ‘The city’ is probably used distributively, and not just referring to Babylon. The term can also apply to the region round a city, and the idea is ‘in each city to which the LORD has brought you’. They are to exhibit the same concern for it as they once had displayed towards Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6–8).
The welfare of the land was not just to be sought by secular means. Pre-eminently it was to be by prayer. Pray to the LORD for it, because (kî) if it prospers, you too will prosper. They had been separated from the worship of the Temple in Jerusalem, but that did not debar them from prayer, even on behalf of their captors. Their own fortunes were inextricably linked up with what happened to Babylon. ‘Surely there is more in this than a prudential, pragmatic policy for survival. It rings true to the authentic mission of the priestly people of God, to exist in order to be the vehicle of God’s blessing, God’s shālôm, for those outside, even the oppressor himself’ (Wright 1983:127). This is the same outlook on living in a heathen society that is promoted by Paul. ‘I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim. 2:1–4).
Indeed, the advice conveyed to the exiles goes further than that: obedience to the commands of the LORD will lead to the reversal of the curse of the broken covenant. Deut. 28:30–32 lists the forcible breakup of marriage, loss of home, lack of enjoyment of vineyards and absence of children as aspects of the covenant curse on disobedience. Here these aspects of the curse are being divinely lifted from the exilic community, and that functioned as a precursor of further restoration at a later time. It is possible that the features of life mandated for the exilic community also functioned as a warning not to engage in armed insurrection against Babylon. In Deut. 20:5–7, building a new home, planting a vineyard and becoming engaged to get married were listed as valid grounds for being released from military service. The commands given to the deportees are such as would lead to a community legitimately exempted from warfare.
8. There then follow four verses, each of which begins with kî, ‘for’. They set out two main reasons (followed in each case by a subordinate reason) as to why the exiles should heed Jeremiah’s advice. Verses 8–9 are one sentence that focuses on the false expectations of the prophets who were active among the exiles; vv. 10–11 are concerned with the plans the LORD has for their future.
Yes (kî), this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you’. The ‘diviners’ (14:14; 27:9) seem to have been an unauthorised intrusion into the lifestyle of Judah. They may have been among those transported to Babylon, or it may have been that on arrival some adopted practices prevalent there. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They seem to have gone looking for omens about the future. Is this an indication of their loss of confidence in the LORD, or the continuation of what they had been doing in Jerusalem anyhow? It is certainly a sign of a disoriented community trying to adjust to their changed circumstances.
9. The focus is on the false prophets who were saying the captivity would soon be over, and that the people should therefore not settle down. Such prophets were unauthorised and not to be listened to ‘for’ (kî) ‘they are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD (cf. 27:15). The people were being warned that the optimism promoted by the false prophets had no divine warrant.