Bird's-eye view
In this brief but potent section, the conflict between true and false prophecy comes to a head. Jeremiah has just sent a letter to the exiles in Babylon, counseling them to settle in for a long stay, a seventy-year judgment (Jer. 29:1-23). This was God's word, a hard but gracious word. But comfortable lies are always more popular than hard truths, and so another letter arrives, this one from a man named Shemaiah. This passage records Shemaiah's rebellious letter, which attempts to usurp God-ordained authority and silence God's true prophet. It is a classic case of the institutional machinery being co-opted by insubordination, and it provides a stark illustration of how rebellion against God's plain word disguises itself as zeal for order and propriety.
Shemaiah's complaint is not with some wild-eyed fanatic, but with the established prophetic office, represented by Jeremiah. He appeals to the priestly authority in Jerusalem, urging them to clamp down on Jeremiah for the high crime of speaking what God had told him to speak. This is not a dispute over minor points of theology; it is a fundamental clash of two religions. One is the religion of divine revelation, which submits to the word of the Lord, no matter how inconvenient. The other is the religion of human control, which seeks to manage God and His spokesmen, ensuring that the "official" message is always palatable to the people and conducive to the plans of men. God's response to Shemaiah, which follows this section, demonstrates just how seriously He takes this kind of bureaucratic rebellion.
Outline
- 1. The Lord's Indictment of Shemaiah (v. 24)
- 2. The Rebel's Letter: An Appeal to Illegitimate Authority (vv. 25-26)
- a. The Source of the Rebellion: In His Own Name (v. 25a)
- b. The Target of the Rebellion: An Attempt to Silence the Prophet (v. 25b-26)
- 3. The Substance of the Complaint: The Truth is Inconvenient (vv. 27-28)
- a. The Accusation: Failure to Discipline God's Prophet (v. 27)
- b. The Evidence: Jeremiah's Faithful Prophecy (v. 28)
Context In Jeremiah
This passage is embedded within a series of letters and prophetic messages concerning the Babylonian exile. Chapter 29 opens with Jeremiah's authoritative letter from God, telling the exiles to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of Babylon, for the exile would last seventy years. This was a direct contradiction to the soothing lies being peddled by false prophets like Hananiah (ch. 28), who promised a swift return. Shemaiah the Nehelamite is another one of these false prophets, operating among the exiles. His letter is a direct reaction to Jeremiah's. He cannot refute the prophecy, so he attempts to discredit the prophet by appealing to the religious establishment back in Jerusalem. This incident is a microcosm of Jeremiah's entire ministry: speaking God's hard truths to a people who preferred the comfortable illusions offered by false shepherds.
Key Issues
- Prophetic Authority vs. Priestly Authority
- The Sin of Speaking in Your Own Name
- The Psychology of the False Prophet
- Rebellion Disguised as Order
Clause-by-Clause Commentary
v. 24 And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,
The Lord now turns His attention to another front in this war of words. The prophetic word is not a general broadcast that hangs in the air; it is a targeted missile. God addresses individuals by name. Shemaiah is not some anonymous crank; he is a known figure, a "Nehelamite," likely indicating his family or place of origin. God calls him out personally. This is how God deals with rebellion. He doesn't just condemn the abstract sin; He confronts the sinner. Jeremiah is commanded to deliver this message, putting him once again in direct conflict with the opposition. A true prophet does not get to choose his battles; God assigns them.
v. 25 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
Here is the charge sheet. The indictment begins with the ultimate authority: "Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel." Shemaiah may have his own ideas about who is in charge, but God asserts His absolute sovereignty from the outset. The central crime is identified immediately: Shemaiah sent letters "in your own name." This is the very heart of the issue. A true prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh. A false prophet speaks on his own authority, from his own desires, in his own name. He is a spiritual entrepreneur, a self-appointed guardian of the peace, but he has no commission from the king. Shemaiah's sin was to usurp an authority that was not his. He wrote to "all the people," seeking to stir up a popular movement against Jeremiah. And he wrote to the official leadership, Zephaniah the priest and "all the priests," attempting to use the established levers of power to enforce his rebellious will. This is how insubordination often works; it wraps itself in the flag of institutional loyalty.
v. 26 “Yahweh has given you to be a priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer in the house of Yahweh over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar,
Shemaiah's letter is now quoted. Notice how he butters up Zephaniah. He reminds him of his position and his duty. "Yahweh has given you to be a priest." He appeals to Zephaniah's divine appointment, but for a diabolical purpose. He is using the language of piety to incite disobedience. Shemaiah defines Zephaniah's job description for him: you are to be an "overseer in the house of Yahweh." And what does this overseer do? He deals with "every madman who prophesies." This is what the world always calls the true prophet. When God's word cuts against the grain of our plans and comforts, the messenger must be crazy. Festus said to Paul, "your great learning is driving you mad." Shemaiah wants Jeremiah treated as a public nuisance, a lunatic who needs to be restrained. The instruments of this restraint are the "stocks and in the iron collar," tools of public humiliation and pain. The false prophet wants the true prophet silenced, shamed, and locked down.
v. 27 so now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you?
The question is sharp and accusatory. Shemaiah is not just suggesting a course of action; he is charging Zephaniah with dereliction of duty. "Why have you not rebuked Jeremiah?" He is trying to put the priest on the defensive. The implication is that Zephaniah is soft, that he is failing to maintain order. Shemaiah identifies Jeremiah by his hometown, "Jeremiah of Anathoth," perhaps a subtle reminder of his provincial origins, a man from a small town presuming to speak for God to the whole nation. The charge is simply that he "prophesies to you." The very act of delivering God's word has become the crime. This is what happens when a people's heart has grown hard. The message of God is received as an attack, and the man who delivers it is seen as the enemy.
v. 28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ” ’ ”
Here is the evidence for Jeremiah's "madness." What was his great sin? He told the truth. He accurately relayed the message God had given him. Shemaiah quotes the core of Jeremiah's letter, and in doing so, he condemns himself. Jeremiah's counsel was for the people to be fruitful, to build, to plant, to settle down. It was a call to make the best of a bad situation, to live faithfully in a place of judgment. But for Shemaiah and the other peddlers of false hope, this was intolerable. They wanted a quick fix, an easy deliverance. The message that "the exile will be long" was a direct assault on their impatient desires. They didn't want to hear about God's long-term, sovereign plan of judgment and eventual restoration. They wanted a political solution, and they wanted it now. Jeremiah's prophecy was not wrong; it was simply inconvenient. And for that, Shemaiah believed he should be put in the stocks.
Application
The spirit of Shemaiah is alive and well in the church today. There are always those who prefer a comfortable, manageable religion over the raw and often unsettling word of the living God. They are the ecclesiastical bureaucrats, the self-appointed overseers of what is proper and acceptable. When a true prophet comes along, one who speaks plainly about sin, judgment, and the need for long-term faithfulness, they label him a madman, a disturber of the peace.
This passage calls us to examine ourselves. Are we speaking in our own name, or in the name of Jesus? Are we trying to manage God, to put His word in the stocks when it makes us uncomfortable? Or are we willing to receive the hard truths of Scripture, even when they tell us the exile will be long? The temptation is always to shoot the messenger, to rebuke the Jeremiah who tells us to build and plant for the long haul in a culture that is under God's judgment. We would rather hear the Shemaiah who promises a quick victory with no discomfort.
But God's plans are not subject to our timetables. Our duty is to be faithful where He has placed us, to build and plant, to seek the welfare of the city, and to trust that in His time, after the seventy years are complete, He will visit us and bring us into our promised inheritance. True authority comes from God's word, not from institutional position. And true faithfulness is found in obedience to that word, no matter the cost.