Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 23:25-32
YHWH Rejects The Testimony Of The False Jerusalem Prophets And Reveals Himself As The All-knowing One), Condemning The Temple Prophets As False Dreamers Who Cause The People To Err. They Are In Direct Contrast With Those Who Have The True Word Of YHWH Which Is Like A Fire And A Hammer Which Breaks Rock In Pieces (Jeremiah 23:25).
YHWH now stresses that He had not sent these prophets and that their words were not to be seen as coming from Him. And He wants all to know that He is not out of touch with things but is perfectly well aware of what they were teaching. After all He fills Heaven and earth. His verdict is therefore that they are teachers of lies and false dreams and He wants everyone to know that He is against them. And He stresses that this is in contrast with the true prophets who have been sent by Him and do receive their word from YHWH and whose word is therefore like a fire and a sledgehammer bringing about His purpose.
“I did not send these prophets,
Yet they ran,
I did not speak to them,
Yet they prophesied.”
But if they had stood in my council,
Then they would have caused my people to hear my words,
And would have turned them from their evil way,
And from the evil of their doings.”
YHWH wants the people to know that these prophets are running as though they had an urgent message from Him when in fact He had given them no message. They are giving a false impression. And they are ‘prophesying' even though He had not spoken to them. For the truth was that had they genuinely entered into His Council and listened and heard His words they would have been causing the people to hear those words, and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil doing. This is finally the test of a true prophet, that he causes men's lives to be changed in accordance with the word of God and the teaching of the Law.
“Am I a God at hand,
The word of YHWH,
And not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places,
So that I will not see him?
The word of YHWH.
Do I not fill heaven and earth?
The word of YHWH.”
Let no one think that God was far off and not aware of what was going on. For He is a God Who is at hand (and that is the sure word of YHWH) and not One afar off (so the answer to the question was expected to be YES). Thus no one can hide in a secret place (behind a refuge of lies - see Isaiah 28:7; Isaiah 28:15; Isaiah 28:17) preventing YHWH from seeing him. This too is the sure word of YHWH. For after all YHWH fills Heaven and earth. Nothing can be hidden from Him. And this too is the sure word of YHWH. Note the threefold repetition of ‘the word of YHWH' guaranteeing that absolute certainty of what He is saying. The point is that YHWH knew the whole truth about all prophets. Their dreams were not a mystery to Him. And He was therefore able to declare which were true and which were false.
For the idea of God as far off and out of sight compare Psalms 10:11; Psalms 73:11; Psalms 94:7. It is what foolish men think. How different is the truth, that all things are unbared and open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13). Compare Genesis 16:13; Psalms 32:6; Psalms 73:23; Psalms 139:1; Psalms 139:7; Amos 9:2.
Alternately we may see the question as asking whether God was just a local God (a God at hand who could thus be dodged), rather than being a transcendent God, unrestricted in what He could see and inhabiting eternity (‘a God afar off' likes the High and Lofty One Who inhabits Eternity, compare Isaiah 57:15) so that He can look down and observe everything that happens (Psalms 53:2).
I have heard what the prophets have said,
Who prophesy lies in my name,
Saying,
I have dreamed, I have dreamed.”
And so let no one be deceived. YHWH is fully aware of what the supposed prophets have said, and knows that they have prophesied lies on the basis of their dreams. Note the sarcastic picture of the prophet who arrives declaring sombrely and mysteriously, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed', trying to give the impression that he has received some great message, when it is in fact a mixture of drugs and wishful thinking.
Dreams were the means by which most lesser prophets received their ‘illumination' (see Numbers 12:6). And they could contain genuine messages from God. But those who had many dreams and made a great fuss about it should be treated with suspicion. It appears that these prophets were constantly having dreams, and then laying great emphasis on them. It is typical of mankind to prefer dreams to the sure word of God. Such dreams give the impression of being more exciting and pander to what people want to hear, and contribute to the desire to discover certainty in an uncertain word.
“How long? Is this to be in the heart of the prophets,
Who prophesy lies,
Even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
Who think to cause my people to forget my name,
By their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour,
As their fathers forgot my name for Baal?”
YHWH then asks ‘how long?' That is, how long can this be allowed to go on (or ‘how long will they go on doing this?'). What follows is then asking, can this be allowed to continue? Will they really be allowed to go on having this dependence on dreams which causes them to prophesy their lies? In other words how long can they be allowed to go on dreaming, deceiving themselves in their own hearts, with the intent of making His people forget His Name and follow after Baal? For that is what they are doing. By their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour they are making them forget YHWH's Name for that of Baal, just as their fathers did.
“The prophet who has a dream,
Let him tell a dream,
And he who has my word,
Let him speak my word faithfully.
What is the straw to the wheat?
The word of YHWH.”
He then differentiates the dreamers from the true prophets. Let the prophet who dreams tell his dream. And let the prophet who truly has His word, speak that word faithfully. After all when it comes to choosing who would prefer straw to wheat? This is the sure word of YHWH.
The point is that had the people been honest in their hearts they would have known which was true. They would have discerned wheat from straw. But of course the truth was they did not want to discern. The straw was more comfortable.
And that is why even today God allows truth and error to be proclaimed side by side, because those who have the anointing of God will soon discern truth from falsehood. See the similar argument in 1 John 2:18.
“Is not my word like fire? the word of YHWH,
And like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?”
For the true word of God does not need dreams to support it. It is like a fire which burns into men's very souls removing what is false (the stubble). It is like a sledgehammer which smashes what is hardened so that it is open to truth, and humbles men before God.
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, the word of YHWH,
Who steal my words every one from his neighbour.”
“Behold, I am against the prophets, the word of YHWH,
Who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says'.
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, the word of YHWH,
And do tell them,
And cause my people to err by their lies,
And by their vain boasting.
Yet I did not send them,
Nor did I command them,
Nor do they profit this people at all, the word of YHWH.”
YHWH now three times emphasises that He is against the cult prophets, firstly because their words are second hand borrowing based on common wisdom, secondly because they use their tongues (which is all that their words are based on) freely and then say, ‘YHWH says' (as though it was the word of YHWH), and thirdly because they have (‘prophesy') lying dreams, and then tell them to the people, causing them to err as a result of their lies and vain boasting. Thus not only are they making a false claim to be prophets of YHWH when it is all really a sham, but by it they are leading people astray. For the fact is that on the one hand YHWH has neither sent them nor commanded them, and on the other the words that they speak have no profit in them for the people in any way.
Note the careful construction of the verses with the thrice repeated ‘behold I am against the prophets' as He builds up His case concerning them that they are plagiarists, vain talkers and lying dreamers, and the three fold ‘the word of YHWH' (neum YHWH) as He underpins the fact, then followed by a fourth.
It will be noted that in this clear indictment of the false prophets their methods are sarcastically reviewed. They either borrow their ideas from the common wisdom (their neighbours), or they simply invent them on their tongues, or they base them on induced dreams. YHWH's inspiration does not come into it. (The prophets would have claimed otherwise because, like Balaam in Numbers 22-24, they thought that they could enter into the secrets of YHWH by drug induced experiences).