Above: The seal of the prophet Hananiah, son of Azur [Azariah], whom Jeremiah opposed in Jeremiah 28. The seal was discovered in 1982 on the antiquities market, and is believed to be genuine. The text says “Belonging to Hananiah, son of Azariah” (lḥnniyhu bn azriahu).
For thus says Yahweh of armies, God of Israel: “Do not let the prophets and diviners in your midst deceive you, and you shall not listen to the dreams that they dream. For it is a lie that they are prophesying in my name, and I did not send them,” declares Yahweh. For thus says Yahweh, “When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. I will fulfill my word for your good, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares Yahweh. “Plans for your prosperity and nor for harm, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:8-11
In today’s readings we encounter one of the most famous verses in the Bible. Just this past week I saw a woman at the store wearing a shirt that simply said, “Jeremiah 29:11.” In the South—or similar “Bible belt” cultures—that is an extremely common sight. The verse adorns t-shirts, bumper stickers, youth group lessons, and evangelistic materials. It is omnipresent.
The reason we encounter it so often is because the verse is read as a promise to us today. We interpret this as a promise that God has plans for us—us specifically as individuals—and that those plans will lead to our “prosperity” rather than our “harm.” And to some degree, this is true. God does indeed watch over us, protect us, and plan our lives. And if we are Christians, then we believe that all things will work out for our good (Rom 8:28). But as usual, if we rush to modern application and neglect to read the prophetic books as products of their own contexts, we will miss the richness and depth of the text.
If we want to understand the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11, we must first begin in Jeremiah 28. That chapter records a conflict that Jeremiah had with another Judean prophet, named Hananiah. We are told that the conflict occurred around 593 BC. This was a critical moment in Judean history. We have discussed the complicated timeline previously.
As a brief refresher, in 598 king Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against his Babylonian overlords. He wanted to reassert Judean independence. Jeremiah had warned against this, but he was ignored. The rebellion failed, but the Babylonians only gave Judah a relatively light punishment. When Jerusalem was taken in 597 BC, only the king, nobles, and some elites were taken away to Babylon as exiles. A new Judean king—Zedekiah—was appointed by Babylon, and the kingdom was allowed to continue to exist.
That is the immediately preceding context of Jeremiah’s conflict with Hananiah. The latter prophet had prophesied that God would free Judah from submission to Babylon sooner, rather than later. He predicted that their vassalage would end in 2 years, or by 591 BC. Jeremiah rejected Hananiah’s prophecy, though. He claimed that God would not “break the yoke of the king of Babylon” (28:4) at all. Jeremiah warned the Israelites that they must prepare for a long, arduous exile, and that God’s salvation would not come quickly. It would not even come in their lifetimes.
That is the context of Jeremiah 29:11. It comes from a letter that Jeremiah wrote to that first group of exiles, who had been taken in 597. In the letter, Jeremiah tells the exiles that the exile would be long. Therefore, they should put down roots in the Babylonian capital. Marry off your children, buy a house, plant a tree—God’s salvation will not come in your lifetime. But, Jeremiah tells them, that salvation would come eventually. God had “plans” for Judah. Plans to “prosper” Judah and “not to harm it.” The plans would give Judah “a hope and a future.” They were plans for the distant future, but the promises of God are secure.
Finally, Jeremiah told the people roughly how long it would take. After having rejected Hananiah’s optimistic prediction of 2 years, Jeremiah tells the exiled Judeans that they would only return after 70 years (29:10). It would take two generations for God’s promises to be fulfilled, but they would certainly be fulfilled.
And this did, of course, come true. In 538 BC the Babylonians were defeated by the rising power of Persia. When the Persians took control of the former Babylonian empire, they allowed the internally exiled peoples of the empire to return to their homelands. Thus the Judeans were allowed to return to Judea, lay the groundwork of “Judaism,” and prepare for the birth of the Messiah.
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