Jeremiah 29:1

“Now these [are] the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem, etc.] The argument and tenor, the sum and substance, of an epistle, which the prophet Jeremiah, being at Jerusalem, wrote, under the inspiration of God, to his countrymen abroad, afterwards described; so the prophets under the Old Testament instructed the people, sometimes by their sermons and discourses delivered by word of mouth to them, and sometimes by letters and epistles; as did the apostles of the New Testament; and they were both ways useful and profitable to men: unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captive; some perhaps dying by the way, and others quickly after they came to…”

“LETTER OF JEREMIAH TO THE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON, TO COUNTERACT THE ASSURANCES GIVEN BY THE FALSE PROPHETS OF A SPEEDY RESTORATION. (Jer. 29:1-32) residue of the elders--those still surviving from the time when they were carried to Babylon with Jeconiah; the other elders of the captives had died by either a natural or a violent death.”

“The residue of the ciders - i. e., such of the elders as were still alive. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Captives - There were two carryings into Babylon, the latter about eleven or twelve years after the former, the first was in the time of Jehoiakim, When the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths were carried away. Jeremiah 29:3”

“29:1-23 Jeremiah contacted the Hebrew exiles in Babylon by letter. To reach all the scattered Israelites, his letter would be read repeatedly from settlement to settlement.”

“Cir, am 3407, bc 597 Now: This transaction is supposed to have taken place in the first or second year of Zedekiah. of the letter: Jer 29:25-29; Ch2 30:1-6; Est 9:20; Act 15:23; Co2 7:8; Gal 6:11; Heb 13:22; Rev. 2:1-3:22 the elders: Jer 24:1-7, Jer 28:4 Jeremiah 29:2”

“A Letter from Jeremiah to the Captives in Babylon, together with Threatenings against their False Prophets. - As in Jerusalem, so too in Babylon the predictions of the false prophets fostered a lively hope that the domination of Nebuchadnezzar would not last long, and that the return of the exiles to their fatherland would soon come about. The spirit of discontent thus excited must have exercised an injurious influence on the fortunes of the captives, and could not fail to frustrate the aim which the chastisement inflicted by God was designed to work out, namely, the moral advancement of the people. Therefore Jeremiah makes use of an opportunity furnished by an embassy sent by King Zedekiah…”