Jeremiah 28:1-17--Hananiah the False Prophet

Jeremiah 28
English Standard Version

Hananiah the False Prophet
28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the 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 spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD, 6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles. 7 Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”

10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

12 Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. 14 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” 15 And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD.’”

17 In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

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It is unclear whether Hananiah thought he actually heard from the LORD and heard from a demon or whether he is like the false prophets who tried to put words into the mouths of their mute gods assuming that he could change God's Word to make it what he wanted it to be.  The LORD had been clear that this exile would last for many generations and not to believe anyone who said that it would be over quickly.

Contrast this chapter with the last where the true prophets were threatened with death, but it would seem no one wants to put this prophet to death because they like what he has to say.  They want to be free from their enslavement to Babylon, they want the sacred articles that were taken from the Temple to be returned, they want their king back, though he was an extremely wicked king, and they want to keep on sinning but have the favor of the LORD.  They want blessing without obedience.

Jeremiah does not directly call Hananiah a false prophet.  He knows the people would turn against him and try to kill him again.  Instead, he wisely says, "I too wish this prophecy would come true."   Then he states the problem that this prophecy is in contradiction with the Word of the LORD through prophets everyone had assumed to be true prophets for centuries (at least back to the time of Moses who gave them the blessings and curses for obedience and disobedience).  Jeremiah said the priests and the prophets, and the people would have to wait and see if Hananiah's prophecy came true (they would only need to wait 2 years) and if so, then it would appear that Hananiah was a true prophet and Jeremiah was a false prophet, but if Hananiah's prophesy did not come true in two years, then he is a false prophet who deserves to die based off of the LORD's commands in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

Jeremiah had been walking around all this time with the yoke bars and straps around his neck and Hananiah takes the opportunity to give his own visual aid and breaks the yoke bars and says that in this way the LORD is going to break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar not just over Judah, but over all the nations that the LORD had prophesied against.  Jeremiah did not argue with him, because he had already made the point of how the LORD would choose between them, so he left it in the LORD's hands.

However, the LORD had a message for Jeremiah to deliver to Hananiah.  The LORD told Hananiah that in the place of the wooden yoke bars that Hananiah had broken, there would now be bars of iron (Babylon would be more oppressive and their enslavement would not be broken so easily).  It was the LORD's will that all of these nations be enslaved to the king of Babylon, and no one will change God's Word or His will.  The LORD not only gave the men of these nations to the king of Babylon, but He was going to make all the animals subject to Him in the way that the LORD promised in covenant blessings to His people.

Jeremiah directly confronts Hananiah and said, "The LORD did not send you.  You have made the people trust a lie."  Then the LORD prophecies against Hananiah that the LORD Himself will kill Hananiah so that it would be clear that He had made His choice and that Jeremiah was His true prophet and Hananiah was a false prophet.  The Law required Hananiah's death, but the people were unwilling to execute the Law or unable to discern truth from error, so the LORD executed justice for Himself in order to protect His reputation, His Word and His Name, and His people from the lies of Hananiah.  Jeremiah tells Hananiah that he has uttered rebellion against the LORD because the people were told to submit to the exile that the LORD had put them under.  To rebel against the authority that LORD had put over them, even if it was a pagan king, was to rebel against the authority of God Himself.

Within two months of when this false prophesy was made, Hananiah died.  Did the people understand and attribute his death to the LORD choosing between him and Jeremiah?  Probably not as the people still didn't like the message that Jeremiah brought them, and there were many other false prophets that would tickle their ears and tell them what they wanted to hear.  There were so many people dying every day from the pestilence and famine and war that the death of Hananiah probably went largely unnoticed.