“Settle there, and build houses, and plant gardens,” Jeremiah told the Babylonian captives in a letter. He continued, “Get married, have children, help your sons and daughters find wives and husbands, so they can have children. God wants you to grow, not diminish. And, pray for Babylonia; work to make it prosperous. Meanwhile, be careful, there are false prophets among you that are saying things that are untrue. They are even using my name as the source; but, that’s not so. They are saying your captivity will only last a short while. It will be seventy years, and then God will bring you back to Jerusalem.”
Shemaiah, one of the prophets that was spreading wrong information, not only took offense to Jeremiah’s letter, he sent a letter to Zephaniah, the priest in charge of Temple Security requesting that Jeremiah be arrested, put into chains and an iron collar. Instead, the letter was shown to Jeremiah and God determined Shemaiah’s future. [Reflection is based on the Bible Reference – Jeremiah 29:1-32]
