Be productive and reproductive

 “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.’ ” ’ ”  (Jeremiah 29:28, NASB95)

The time of exile would last for 70 years. God wanted the people to be productive and reproductive. They were to make the best of their situation and submit to the leaders of Babylon in order that they would be in a state of welfare. They eventually would return to Jerusalem and would need to repopulate the city and the land. 70 years would allow time for many children to be born. God always has the best plans for our lives. He wants to bless his people in order for them to be a blessing. His promise to the captives was fulfilled in the time he declared it would happen.

False prophecy

 Jeremiah 28:15–17 (NRSV)

15And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you made this people trust in a lie.
16Therefore thus says the LORD: I am going to send you off the face of the earth. Within this year you will be dead, because you have spoken rebellion against the LORD.”
17In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Hananiah was guilty of speaking a false prophecy. He told the people what they wanted to hear rather than what God had previously spoken through other prophets regarding the captivity by the Babylonians. The proof of prophecy is whether it comes true and false prophets were to be stoned because they claimed they were speaking for God. It was a serious violation because it discredited God and falsely claimed that God had spoken when he did not speak to the prophet. Jeremiah let God be the judge of the prophetic words of Hananiah. If they were true there would be peace as was predicted. However, God confirmed to Jeremiah that the prophecy was false and as punishment Hananiah would die because he led the people into more rebellion against God by rejecting the words of Jeremiah and others who prophesied the captivity of the Babylonians. The people were unwilling to accept the fact that their rebellion had caused God to place them in captivity. They were looking for an easy way out of the circumstances rather than obey what God had told them to do. Sinning against God has severe consequences, and unless there is true repentance the consequences will be experienced.

Nebuchadnezzar, God’s servant

 Jeremiah 27:5–7 (ESV)

5“It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.
6Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.
7All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

Jeremiah declared the sovereignty of God over all the nations and everything he created. He is the one who put Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon and used him to execute his will over the nation of Judah as well as the surrounding nations. God is in control and the king of Judah, Zedekiah was to submit to the king of Babylon to avert even greater disaster upon the people and land. The people of Judah could have been spared greater punishment through obeying God and obeying king Nebuchadnezzar. The length of their captivity was measured by God and in his timing he would make a way for the people to return to Jerusalem. They needed to learn submission to the foreign king to teach them they needed to be in submission to God and follow his ways. God in his timing would remove Nebuchadnezzar from his position of power and hubris. God’s love for his people even in their times of rebellion and disobedience is demonstrated by his acts of mercy and  and opportunities for the people to change their ways and not receive what was prophesied.