The Poison of Pious Lies Text: Jeremiah 29:29-32
Introduction: The War of Two Words
In every generation, the people of God find themselves caught in a crossfire. This is not a war of swords and spears, but a war of words. It is a war between the Word of God, which is often hard, sharp, and demanding, and the words of men, which are frequently soft, soothing, and utterly false. We are in such a war today, and it is the same war that Jeremiah fought in his day. The circumstances change, the names of the false prophets are updated, but the fundamental conflict remains identical. It is the conflict between divine reality and human wishful thinking.
The exiles in Babylon were in a hard spot. God, through Jeremiah, had told them the truth: settle in, build houses, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of the pagan city you are in, because you will be there for seventy years. This was a hard word. It was a call to long-term faithfulness in a place of chastisement. It required patience, submission, and trust in God's timing. But another word came, a word from a man named Shemaiah the Nehelamite. His word was much more palatable. It was a message of quick deliverance, of imminent return, a message that scratched the itch of their homesickness and impatience. It was a lie, but it was a comfortable lie. And men have a desperate, sinful appetite for comfortable lies.
We must understand that false prophecy is not just a mistake. It is not a simple miscalculation. In the economy of God, it is high treason. It is spiritual poison. A man who claims to speak for God when God has not spoken is attempting to counterfeit the currency of heaven. He is putting God's signature on his own forged check. And when a people begin to trust in that lie, the lie becomes their reality, their functional god. This is why God's response is so severe. He is not just correcting a theological error; He is defending His name, protecting His people, and executing judgment on a spiritual usurper. This passage is a stark reminder that God takes His Word with ultimate seriousness, and so must we.
The Text
So Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying, “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,” therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.” ’ ”
(Jeremiah 29:29-32 LSB)
The Public Confrontation (v. 29)
The conflict begins with a public reading, setting the stage for a public refutation.
"So Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet." (Jeremiah 29:29)
Shemaiah's letter, which we read about in the preceding verses, was a direct attack on Jeremiah. He had written from Babylon to the priest Zephaniah in Jerusalem, demanding that Jeremiah be arrested and put in the stocks for being a madman. Shemaiah was trying to use the official channels, the religious establishment, to silence the true word of God. This is a classic tactic. Falsehood often seeks to wrap itself in the robes of officialdom and procedure to give itself an air of legitimacy.
But notice what happens. Zephaniah, to his credit, does not simply arrest Jeremiah. He reads the letter to him. The lie is brought out into the open, into the hearing of the true prophet. This is the first step in any spiritual warfare. Lies thrive in the dark, in whispers, in back channels. The truth demands the light of day. The lie is read out loud before the one it seeks to condemn. This forces a confrontation. It is no longer a matter of rumor and insinuation; it is now a direct clash of two opposing messages, two opposing worldviews. God's truth is never afraid of a public hearing.
The Anatomy of a Lie (v. 30-31)
God does not remain silent. He immediately gives Jeremiah His authoritative response, and in it, He dissects the core sin of Shemaiah.
"Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying, 'Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie...'" (Jeremiah 29:30-31 LSB)
God's counter-message is to be sent to the very people Shemaiah was deceiving, "to all the exiles." God does not just rebuke the false prophet in private; He inoculates the flock against his poison. And He identifies two fundamental crimes. First, Shemaiah "has prophesied to you, although I did not send him." The issue is one of authority. Who has the right to speak for God? Only the one God has sent. Shemaiah was a volunteer, a self-appointed spokesman. He ran without being sent. This is the essence of all false teaching. It originates in the will of man, not the will of God. It carries no divine authority because it has no divine origin.
The second crime is the result of the first: "he has made you trust in a lie." Notice the verb. He has made you trust. This speaks to the seductive power of a well-crafted lie. A lie that tells people exactly what their sinful hearts want to hear is a potent thing. The exiles wanted to be home. They did not want to hear about a seventy-year sentence. Shemaiah's message of a quick return was not just an alternative timeline; it was an alternative reality, a fantasy world where disobedience has no long-term consequences. To trust this lie was to stop trusting God. It was to build your house on the sand of human desire rather than the rock of God's declared word. A lie is never just a lie; it is a rival throne, demanding allegiance that belongs to God alone.
The Covenantal Judgment (v. 32a)
Because the crime is so severe, the judgment is equally so. It is personal, and it is generational.
"...therefore thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed; he will not have anyone living among this people...'" (Jeremiah 29:32a LSB)
Here we come to a hard truth, one that our individualistic age despises. God's judgment extends to Shemaiah and his "seed," his descendants. This is not arbitrary cruelty. This is covenantal reality. In the Old Testament, the family line was the carrier of the covenant promises and the covenant curses. A father acted as a representative head for his household. Shemaiah, by setting himself up as a prophet, was acting as a spiritual head, and by leading the people into rebellion, he was bringing his entire household under the curse of that rebellion. His sin had corporate consequences. His legacy was to be one of barrenness and erasure.
The sentence is that "he will not have anyone living among this people." This is a sentence of utter excommunication. It is to be cut off from the covenant community. To have your name and your line blotted out from the congregation of Israel was the ultimate judgment. It meant you had no future, no share in the promises, no part in the people of God. Shemaiah offered the people a false hope of a quick return, and his punishment was to be permanently excluded from the true hope of any return at all.
The Heart of the Punishment (v. 32b-c)
The Lord then defines the punishment in greater detail, and in doing so, reveals the very nature of rebellion.
"...and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,' declares Yahweh, 'because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.'" (Jeremiah 29:32b-c LSB)
The ultimate pain of this judgment is not just oblivion, but to be excluded from grace. "He will not see the good that I am about to do to My people." God was indeed going to do good. The seventy years were not punitive in a final sense; they were purgative. They were a refining fire, after which God would restore His people, give them a new heart, and bring them back to the land under a new covenant. There was a glorious "good" on the other side of the judgment. But Shemaiah, because he despised God's process, would have no part in God's promise. The punishment for peddling a false hope is to be excluded from the true one. This is a terrifying picture of Hell itself: to be fully aware of the "good" that God is doing for His people and to be eternally and justly excluded from it.
And why? What is the final charge? "Because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh." The Hebrew word for rebellion here is sarah. It means to turn aside, to be stubborn, to revolt. This was not a simple disagreement. Shemaiah's prophecy was an act of insurrection against the throne of Heaven. To speak a word contrary to God's Word, and to attach God's name to it, is to declare that your vision for reality is better than God's. It is to say, "My plan is better. My comfort is more important than Your truth. My will be done." It is the sin of the Garden, the sin of Babel, and the sin of every human heart that sets itself up against the authority of the Creator. It is a declaration of war against the Almighty.
The Gospel According to Shemaiah's Doom
This is a grim story of judgment, but like every story of judgment in the Old Testament, it casts a long shadow that is ultimately shaped like a cross. We must see the gospel here, or we have not read the passage rightly.
First, we are all, by nature, exiles who prefer the comforting lies of Shemaiah. Our fallen hearts are factories of false prophecy. We tell ourselves that sin is not so bad, that judgment is not so certain, that we can make our own way back to God on our own terms. We listen to the siren song of our culture which prophesies autonomy, self-fulfillment, and a god who is fashioned in our own image. We have all, like the exiles, trusted in a lie.
Second, we have all spoken rebellion against Yahweh. Every sin is an act of sarah, a turning aside. Every time we disobey God's clear word, we are saying that we know better. We have committed high treason against the King of the universe. The sentence pronounced on Shemaiah, to be cut off from the people of God and to have no share in the good to come, is the sentence we all deserve.
But here is the glorious news. God sent a true Prophet, His only Son, Jesus Christ. He is the Word made flesh, the ultimate truth. And He did not tell us what we wanted to hear. He told us we must be born again. He told us we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. He spoke the hard word of repentance. And for speaking this truth, He was accused, like Jeremiah, of being a madman. He was arrested by the religious establishment. He was condemned.
And on the cross, the judgment that fell on Shemaiah and his seed found its ultimate fulfillment. Jesus became our covenant Head. He who knew no sin became sin for us. The curse of rebellion was laid upon Him. He was cut off from the people, crying out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" He was excluded from the "good," bearing the full weight of God's wrath so that we might see the good that God is about to do for His people. The judgment that fell generationally on Shemaiah's house fell singularly and totally on Christ. He is the true seed who was cut off so that we, the adopted seeds, might be brought in.
Therefore, the call today is simple. Stop trusting in lies. Stop listening to the false prophets in the culture, in the compromised church, and in your own heart. Listen to the true Prophet. Trust in His hard word, the word of the cross, because it is the only word that leads to life. For all who trust in Him, the curse is broken. You are no longer an exile destined for oblivion, but a beloved child with a share in all the good that God has done, is doing, and will ever do for His people.