Jeremiah 28

Jeremiah 28:1

F. Hananiah’s False Prophecy and Death (Chap. 28)28:1-9 Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet makes the false prediction that the Babylonian captivity will end in two . . . years. Jeremiah replies that he wishes this were true, but implies that the prophecy will not come to pass. The true prophets invariably predicted disaster; the false prophets predicted peace. 28:10-17 Hananiah broke the wooden yoke which had been on Jeremiah’s neck, and made a lying prophecy. Jeremiah walked away (v. 11). Kelly commends the prophet for his self-restraint: The servant of the Lord shall not strive. The same man, Jeremiah, who had been like a brazen wall, who had resisted kings and prophets and priests to the face, now refuses to contend with the prophet Hananiah. The reason for his conduct is plain. Jeremiah did remonstrate and warn while there was hope of repentance or when long-suffering grace called for it, but where there was no conscience at work, where there was a false pretence of the name of the Lord, he simply goes his way. He leaves God to judge between prophet and prophet. If Jeremiah was true, Hananiah was false. God, however, will put a yoke of iron on the nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Hananiah is denounced as a lying prophet and told he will die that year; he died two months later (cf. v. 1, the fifth month and v. 17, the seventh month).