Who are the men who take the letter to Babylon?

The letter was delivered by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It is likely that Zedekiah sent these men to Babylon after the failed uprising mentioned in Jeremiah 27:1–22 to assure Nebuchadnezzar that he was still loyal to the Babylonian king.¹. It was also not unusual for there to be regular correspondence between Babylon and the regions that had come under its control. Elasah was probably the brother of Ahikam who had supported Jeremiah during his trial (Jeremiah 26:24), and the brother of Gemariah mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10. A different Gemariah is mentioned here, whose father was Hilkiah who was the high priest who discovered the scroll during Josiah’s reign (see 2 Kings 22:8–10). Shaphan, the father of Elasah and Ahikam had been an important official in Josiah’s court and it seems that this influential family had shown important support to Jeremiah throughout his ministry. The fact that Jeremiah was able to send his letter with such influential men points to the fact that he was still in favour with at least some of Zedekiah’s court and the king was probably not aware of the letter.²