This final chapter in the current section (Jeremiah 26:1–29:32) continues the account of the conflict that took place between Jeremiah and the false prophets. This conflict reached all the way to Babylon where there were prophets speaking a message to the exiles that was very similar to Hananiah’s message and in opposition to Jeremiah’s message. Jeremiah 29:1–32 is structured around a series of letters that are sent between Jerusalem and Babylon. The sequence of. The sequence of events that give rise to these letters is probably as follows:1
Jeremiah writes a letter from Jerusalem to the exiles in Babylon concerning their exile and false prophets in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1–23).
Shemaiah, one of the exiles in Babylon and apparently a self-proclaimed prophet, writes to Zephaniah, the priest in charge of the temple asking why he has not rebuked Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:24–28). This letter appears to be in response to Jeremiah’s letter.
Shemaiah’s letter is read aloud by Zephaniah in front of Jeremiah and the Lord instructs Jeremiah to respond to Shemaiah by writing a letter to him and the exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:29–32). We only learn about Shemaiah’s letter from the letter that the Lord tells Jeremiah to write in response.
The chapter begins with the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.
This heading makes it clear that the letter is sent shortly after the exile of 597 BC and is addressed to those who were taken to Babylon then. It also means that the events of Jeremiah 29:1–32 took place before those in Jeremiah 27:1–22 and Jeremiah 28:1–17.2 This first group of exiles would, however, soon be joined by the exiles of 587 BC and so the letter Jeremiah writes becomes part of the book that addresses the situation that all exiles find themselves in after 586 BC.3 The opening verses of the chapter also alert the reader that this chapter should be read against the background of Jeremiah 24:1–10.4
1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.