UNROLL
Midsummer noon in the temple’s outer court, seen from high up and behind: a crowd of priests and people stands in a loose ring around an open space of bright paving, two lone figures in the middle, small with distance, in heat haze.

Shepherds and prophets

Jeremiah 28

Would you rather hear what comforts you, or what’s true?

17 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
  2. 2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the north
  3. 7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
  4. 11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
  5. 21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letterChapter 28
  6. 30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
  7. 34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
  8. 40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
  9. 46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  10. 52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah 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:

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Hananiah
The temple court at midday: Hananiah in a fine blue mantle stands on a low step with one arm raised, speaking confidently to a crowd of priests and people who lean in, pleased; at the crowd’s edge Jeremiah, the wooden yoke on his neck, is seen from behind.

“This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Hananiah

Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and carried to Babylon. And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

Jeremiah

Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD. “Amen!” Jeremiah said. “May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied, and may He restore the articles of His house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.

Jeremiah

Nevertheless, listen now to this message I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets of old who preceded you and me prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms.

Jeremiah

As for the prophet who prophesies peace, only if the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one the LORD has truly sent.”

Jeremiah 28:9

Question

Quick question

Two prophets, two opposite messages, both in the LORD’s name. Jeremiah gave a test in 28:9.

How did Jeremiah say a prophet who prophesies peace would be known as truly sent?

Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

Hananiah
Hananiah

And in the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the LORD says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations.’” At this, Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

But shortly after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke off his neck, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

God
Close on the temple paving in gray light: where broken wooden bars once lay, a heavy yoke of dark forged iron bars with iron rings rests on the stones, cold and unbreakable.

“Go and tell Hananiah that this is what the LORD says: ‘You have broken a yoke of wood, but in its place you have fashioned a yoke of iron.’

God
God

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’”

Jeremiah
In the temple court, the two prophets face each other at close range in profile: Jeremiah in his plain undyed robe and dark mantle, grave and steady, and Hananiah in his fine blue mantle, the crowd hushed around them.

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, but you have persuaded this people to trust in a lie.

God

Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’”

Autumn evening in the temple court: the low stone step where a prophet once stood is empty, a few dry leaves on it; beyond the court wall the city’s rooftops, some with leafy booths of branches, in soft gray light.

And in the seventh month of that very year, the prophet Hananiah died.

0:05

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

Lord, I like the words that promise my trouble will end in two years. Make me love the true word more than the comfortable one, and wait for You as Jeremiah did. Amen.

Two yokes

answeredA yoke of wood27:2: serve and liveBroken inpublic28:10: HananiahA yoke of iron28:13Only if itcomes true28:9He died thatyear28:17

Whiteboard

Breaking God’s yoke didn’t free anyone; it made it iron. The word Hananiah mocked came true, and so did the word against him.

You’ve experienced

Jeremiah 28

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A verse to carry with you

As for the prophet who prophesies peace, only if the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one the LORD has truly sent.

Jeremiah 28:9

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