seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 28:1 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: 2 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin[a] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. 6 He said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. 7 Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: 8 From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.”
10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, 11 and he said before all the people, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.
12 After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. 14 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. 16 Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”
17 In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.
a. Jeremiah 28:4 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin
This is from bible-studys.org.
“I have broken the yoke”: The false prophets, of the kind Jeremiah warned of, boldly predicted victory over Babylon and the return of the temple vessels within two years. In actuality, Babylon achieved its third and final step in conquering Judah 11 years later.
Jeremiah points out that, humanly speaking, he could wish that Hananiah’s prophecy were true. Unfortunately, without repentance and renewed obedience to the terms of the covenant, Judah will know neither peace nor the return of the captured sacred vessels.
Generally speaking, the true prophets brought warnings from God to the people. They stood before kings with messages from God. They spoke of the need of repentance. They spoke to priests to keep the worship of God holy. They were messengers with warnings from God. Jeremiah reminds all of them that the prophets who speak of good times are generally the false prophets. Hananiah's prophecy is not a warning from God. He speaks of peace at a time, when the people have been worshipping false gods. This means he is a false prophet.
Breaking Jeremiah’s yoke did not have the power to magically thwart the Word of God behind the sign act (Deut. 28:48).
“The Lord hath not sent thee”: Jeremiah told Hananiah that
(1) God had not approved his message;
(2) He was guilty of encouraging the people to trust in a lie, even rebellion; and
(3) God would require his life that very year, 597 B.C. The true prophet’s word was authenticated by Hananiah’s death in two months (compare verse 17).
Hananiah had promised the Lord would deliver Judah from Babylon within “two years”, but the Lord put him to death two months after he had challenged Jeremiah and deceived the people.
"In the seventh month": It was two months after he had prophesied. For it was in the fifth month that he prophesied, and in the seventh he died. Not after seven months, as Theodoret remarks, but in two months. So he that prophesied, that within two years what he foretold would come to pass, in two months’ time dies himself, according to the word of the Lord, and his prophecies die with him. The Jewish writers move a difficulty here, how he should be said to die the same year, when the seventh month was the beginning of another year. For the civil year of the Jews began from the seventh month, or the month Tisri; as their ecclesiastical year from the month Nisan or Abib. To solve this they observe a tradition, that he died the last day of the sixth month, or the eve of the new year. And ordered his sons and his servants, before his death, to hide it, and not bring him out to be buried till after the year was begun, to make Jeremiah a liar. To which agrees the Targum, both of the clause in (Jer. 28:16); and this. The former of which it paraphrases thus, "this year shall thou die; and in the other year (or the year following), thou shalt be buried;'' and this verse thus, "and Hananiah the false prophet died this year, and was buried in the seventh month:'' but there was no occasion to raise such a difficulty, since it would have been enough to have verified the prediction, that he died any time within the twelve months from the date of it. And, besides, the solution makes the difficulty greater, and contradicts the very text, which says, he died in the seventh month.
Remember earlier in this lesson I told you to remember the prophecy was given in the fifth month, now you know why. Hananiah dies in the 7th month. Two months after Jeremiah prophesies of his death, he dies. The two months are because his prophecy was about two years. Now the people know that Jeremiah is the true prophet of God.
Why in the world would God send someone to warn the people about peace? The fake prophets had been telling the people that God would never allow the Babylonians to conquer them..... but the Babylonians did conquer them.... brutally.... they raped, murdered, castrated, and enslaved the people of Judah. They ravaged the Temple and took the objects designed by God for His Temple back to Babylon. Nothing or no one of value was left behind. The ground was littered with dead and dying. Birds and animals would harvest the carnage. Why then would God send a prophet of peace? It'll only be two years.... the fake prophet said..... "God will make Nebuchadnezzar bring back our stuff in two years".... he said this stuff in front of people.... to humiliate Jeremiah..... He even took the wooden yoke that God told Jeremiah to wear..... and broke it to emphasize his point.
Jeremiah didn't respond in public. He didn't get word from God until they were away from the crowd..... Jeremiah reported to Hananiah that he would die next year. Now on our calendar.... this would have happened in late October, early November.... because the Jewish calendar would change to the new year in two months..... and Jeremiah's prophecy came true on New Year's Day..... even though some tried to hide it.... Jeremiah's prophecies were true.... and Hananiah died a liar.
