Jeremiah (1-31) 29:15 Commentary and Bible Study

There has been rebellion, both in Babylon and among those left behind in Judah and Jerusalem. In Babylon the people are trying to convince themselves that the Lord has raised up prophets among them, and these are the prophets they want to hear, because they are telling the people not to settle in Babylon, and holding out hope of a return. There is guilt attached to believing false prophets, because it is an exercise in deceiving the conscience in latching onto a message that is not from God but which suits the hearer. What God really has to say to us will do us far more good than any false message, and though it is a hard message sometimes, we need to cling to it. But the exercise of self-deception is buttressed by attributing divine authority to the false prophets. Here is the shaking of those people who were left in Jerusalem. They are still alive, a small number of them. ‘Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence.’ It will happen in just eleven-years-time: the final destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. ‘And will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.’ What a strange prophecy. It is the same image that Jeremiah has used before (Jeremiah 24:1). Before they are destroyed, before the moment comes, they will be like vile figs. In other words, nobody will trust them. The people have been persuaded by them: ‘We are going to be set free within two years.’ It hasn't happened, and now the reputation of those phony prophets falls and falls until they are like vile figs. Nobody wants them. Delightful things have turned into horrible things, and they will be destroyed by the Lord. What is the reason? ‘Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.’ How diligent were the prophets! How inexcusable was the people’s failure to listen to them! The word of God rang true to them; it rightly pointed out their sin, their idolatry. Their consciences told them there could be no comforting word from the Lord while they were in this condition, and yet they wanted to believe otherwise, so they refused to take seriously what Jeremiah said, or any of the other prophets. They had early warning; that is a characteristic of the word of God. The warnings given by Jeremiah started decades before even the first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, and then they went on for another eleven years. But they would not hear; they would not listen.