Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah 29:1-32 . LETTER OF JEREMIAH TO THE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON, TO COUNTERACT THE ASSURANCES GIVEN BY THE FALSE PROPHETS OF A SPEEDY RESTORATION.

1. residue of the elders--those still surviving from the time when they were carried to Babylon with Jeconiah; the other elders of the captives had died by either a natural or a violent death.

2. queen--Nehushta, the queen mother, daughter of Elnathan ( 2 Kings 24:8 2 Kings 24:15 ). (Elnathan, her father, is perhaps the same as the one mentioned in Jeremiah 26:22 ). She reigned jointly with her son.
princes--All the men of authority were taken away lest they should organize a rebellion. Jeremiah wrote his letter while the calamity was still recent, to console the captives under it.

3. Zedekiah . . . sent unto Babylon--In Jeremiah 51:59 , Zedekiah himself goes to Babylon; here he sends ambassadors. Whatever was the object of the embassy, it shows that Zedekiah only reigned at the pleasure of the king of Babylon, who might have restored Jeconiah, had he pleased. Hence, Zedekiah permitted Jeremiah's letter to be sent, not only as being led by Hananiah's death to attach greater credit to the prophet's words, but also as the letter accorded with his own wish that the Jews should remain in Chaldea till Jeconiah's death.
Hilkiah--the high priest who found the book of the law in the house of the Lord, and showed it to "Shaphan" the scribe (the same Shaphan probably as here), who showed it to King Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:8 , &c.). The sons of Hilkiah and Shaphan inherited from their fathers some respect for sacred things. So in Jeremiah 36:25 , "Gemariah" interceded with King Jehoiakim that the prophet's roll should not be burned.

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. ( Ezra 6:10 , Romans 13:1 , 1 Timothy 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 ( Jeremiah 51:35 , Psalms 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 ( Matthew 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 ( Exodus 32:1-4 ). So the Jews caused or made the prophets to tell them encouraging dreams ( Jeremiah 23:25 Jeremiah 23:26 , Ecclesiastes 5:7 , Zechariah 10:2 , John 3:19-21 ).