Jeremiah 28:12-17

4. The final word to Hananiah (Jeremiah 28:12-17)

TRANSLATION

(12) And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had shattered the yoke from upon the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying, (13) Go and say unto Hananiah, Thus says the LORD: You have shattered yokes of wood but you have made instead of them yokes of iron. (14) For thus says the LORD of hosts the God of Israel: I have placed a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. Also I have given to him the beasts of the field. (15) And Jeremiah the prophet said unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear please, O Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you have caused this people to trust a falsehood! (16) Therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you will die because you have spoken rebellion against the LORD. (17) And Hananiah the prophet died that year in the seventh month.

COMMENTS

Hananiah did not have the final word in his confrontation with Jeremiah. Shortly after the incident in the Temple the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah with instructions to seek out Hananiah and deliver the divine reply to him, While Scripture does not reveal whether the second meeting of these two prophets was public or private, the likelihood is that the two men were alone on this occasion. The oracle which Jeremiah pronounced to Hananiah is two-fold in thrust. He first replies to the public prophecies of Hananiah (Jeremiah 28:13-14) and then he has a prediction concerning Hananiah personally (Jeremiah 28:11-16).

It was easy enough for Hananiah to break the symbolic yoke which Jeremiah had been wearing about his neck; but by so doing he shall create a yoke of iron for the people (Jeremiah 28:13). The act of Hananiah would serve to excite the Jews to resistance against Babylon and thereby cause their servitude to be the more harsh. What irony! Instead of hastening the deliverance of his people by his dramatic act of smashing the yoke he had actually made the situation worse. Perhaps Jeremiah is hinting here that the action of Hananiah in breaking the wooden yoke was not altogether inappropriate. Cheyne comments: Jeremiah's wooden yoke was really an inadequate symbol; the prophet was too tender to his people. Thus God made the truth appear in still fuller brightness from the very perverseness of its enemy. Jeremiah 28:14 seems to support this view. God has now placed a yoke of iron about the neck of the nations that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar. On the idea of the beasts of the field serving Nebuchadnezzar see comments on Jeremiah 27:6.

As regards Hananiah personally, Jeremiah had some rather harsh words to say. In Jeremiah 28:15-16 there is a stern word of indictment and a prediction of imminent death. As for the indictment, three charges are made: (1) Hananiah is an impostor. God has not sent him and therefore he is not entitled to call himself a prophet. He is called throughout the chapter Hananiah the prophet because that was his official title. But he was not a prophet by the will and call of God. (2) Hananiah has caused the people to trust in a lie. His optimistic but unfounded prophecy of the imminent fall of Babylon had created false expectations in the hearts of the people. National policya policy of rebellion against Babylonwas being formulated on the basis of these false expectations. While Hananiah's motives might have been quite sincere and even patriotic his words were leading the people down the road to national suicide. (3) Hananiah has spoken rebellion against the Lord (Jeremiah 28:16). To advocate revolt against God's appointed ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, was tantamount to advocating rebellion against God Himself. Others take these words to mean that Hananiah has perverted the word of the Lord. In either case it is a serious accusation to make.

Because of these crimes against God and the nation Hananiah must be punished. The law of Moses clearly states that if a prophet is guilty of speaking rebellion against the Lord he should be put to death (Deuteronomy 13:5). To advocate rebellion against God was a capital crime. The Great Judge announces the verdict: Behold, I am about to remove you from upon the face to the earth (Jeremiah 28:16). God did not send Hananiah to the people of Judah (Jeremiah 28:16) but He now will send him away to die. The same Hebrew word is used in both verses. The prophets were quite fond of using paronomasia or play on words. This year you shall die! What an awesome thought. One can only wonder how Hananiah received this word from the Lord. The crowds which had bolstered his courage in the Temple encounter are no longer present. Surely in his own heart he must have realized the emptiness of the prophecies he had been so bold to deliver on other occasions. Now he must have been trembling as the finger of Jeremiah pointed in his direction and those solemn words were uttered.

In the seventh month of that same year Hananiah died. This would have been about two months after the Temple episode (cf. Jeremiah 28:1). Not only did the death of Hananiah serve as a punishment for this teacher of lies, it also served to vindicate Jeremiah as a true prophet of God.