2 (This happened after aJeconiah the king, the bqueen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)
3Theletterwassent by the hand of Elasah the son of aShaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses and dwell inthem; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.
7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, aand pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst adeceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy afalsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.
10 For thus says the Lord: After aseventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to breturn to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will acall upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will blisten to you.
13 And ayou will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me bwith all your heart.
14aI will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; bI will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
15 Because you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon”—
16atherefore thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity—
17 thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like arotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I awill deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be ba curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
19 because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which aI sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord.
20 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a alie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.
22aAnd because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, bwhom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”;
23 because athey have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I bknow, and am a witness, says the Lord.
24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25 Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, ato Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
What is the timing? It is the same as "the good fig, bad fig vision" (Jeremiah 24:1-10). This was after the early ones were taken away for their good and before the bad ones were destroyed. To put it in terms we can understand, it occurs after the apostasy but before the Tribulation. One can see a parallel between then and now. It is as if Jeremiah is writing this letter to us. We do not have seventy years of exile, God willing, but it still fits because we are in our own exile. Jeremiah advises us what to do.
At first, it seems to run counter to what we should be doing. For instance, the first chapter of Haggai says, "Do not build your house, build My house." But remember we are looking at this from a spiritual standpoint, not physical. So we have to translate Jeremiah's physical advice into spiritual advice. If we study it from that angle, it fits very well.
God's message here applies to the entire church, the greater church of God, the scattered ekklesia, the ones who have been dispersed from our former church home into the wilds of this world to fend for ourselves. Some of us have banded together into church groups, some larger, some smaller. Others are remaining by themselves, and many of these will likely melt back into the world. Nevertheless, what He says is directed at us—at all of us—who have been sent away, and it is excellent advice.
