Letters to the Exiles (29:1-32) 361Palestine, but now the modern state of Israel. Although on a political level Pal-
estinians have argued for the right of return, still there does not appear to be a
corresponding religious conviction that one day God, in his own time, will
bring the Palestinian exiles back to their land. Yet this is precisely the claim be-
ing made here in Jeremiah's letter to Jewish exiles in Babylon.
Felix Mendelssohn used v 13 from Jeremiah's letter in Part I of his Elijah
oratorio ( 1846), where Obadiah sings in the tenor solo:"If with all your hearts ye truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me." Thus
saith our God. Oh! that I knew-where I might find Him, that I might even
come before His presence!The chorus then follows with words from v 14:
Thus saith our God: "Ye shall ever surely find me." Thus saith our God.
(Part I, #4 Air; #5 Chorus)2. Concerning Shemaiah in Babylon (29:24-32)
29 24 And concerning Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, you shall say:(^25) Thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel:
Because you, you sent letters in your name to all the people who are
in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all
the priests saying,^26 Yahweh made you priest under Jehoiada, the
priest, to be overseers in the house of Yahweh concerning every mad-
man and one prophesying away, and you are to put him into the stocks
and into the collar.^27 And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah,
the Anathothite, who is prophesying away to you?^28 seeing that he sent
to us in Babylon saying, 'It will be long! Build houses and live in
them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.'
(^29) And Zephaniah, the priest, read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah,
the prophet.^30 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah:^31 Send to all the
exiles saying: Thus said Yahweh concerning Shemaiah, the Nehelamite,
because Shemaiah prophesied to you when I, I did not send him, and he
has made you trust in a lie-
32Therefore thus said Yahweh:
Look I will reckon with Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, and with his off-
spring. There shall not be to him a man dwelling in the midst of this
people, and he shall not see the good that I will do for my people-
oracle of Yahweh-for he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
MT 29:24-32 = LXX 36:24-32. This segment of chap. 29 contains a mid-letter
directive to the recipient of a second letter sent by Jeremiah to Babylon (v 24),