The False Prophet Hananiah Series

We’re not told how any of the priests or others in the audience responded to Hananiah’s prophecy but we do have Jeremiah’s reaction. My opinion is that, first, Jeremiah was glad to hear a word of hope. Being a priest, Jeremiah may have seen or even used some of the very articles for the Temple that had been whisked off to Babylon. The hope of using God’s Vessels in the worship of the God of Israel might well have been something Jeremiah wished for.

Second, I sincerely doubt Jeremiah was happy about proclaiming judgment to come. Of course we need to be reminded of this (preachers especially need to heed the Word!) about judgment but as Paul wrote many years later, “if we judge ourselves we won’t be judged (by the Lord, 1 Corinthians 11:31-32, paraphrased).” So sad, that even after so many repeated warnings and promises, Judah continued down the pathway of sin and paid dearly for it.

But at the very least, we do know that Jeremiah believed this was a true prophecy. He agreed by saying, “Amen, the LORD do so” in hopes that judgment would be avoided. Hananiah seemed to have heard Jeremiah’s message in the last part of what’s now chapter 27 and was giving an alternate message of his own here.

And yet, Jeremiah wasn’t finished. Sure, he hoped Hananiah’s message was true but he was led by the LORD to add a word of warning: not just to Hananiah but any prophet who claimed he was bringing the LORD’s messages. Jeremiah’s message to Hananiah was very terse and succinct, simply, A, remember that the prophets before us spoke of many things (example, Isaiah’s various subjects in his messages) and, B, if anyone prophesies about peace, and that peace does come, then the people would know the LORD had truly sent that prophet. I take that as a warning to Hananiah (don’t be lying to us about peace) and a plea (make sure you are bringing a message from the LORD, not from anyone else).

We saw how Jeremiah reacted, by agreeing to the wish for Hananiah’s prophecy to be genuine, and also a word of caution from a veteran prophet. Hananiah’s reaction, though, was a lot different. Jeremiah was still wearing the wooden yoke which the LORD commanded him to wear, but Hananiah (brazenly?) broke that yoke! How he did that is something we don’t need to be concerned with, but to me, it would have made sense to leave things as they were. I mean, what did Hananiah really hope to gain by basically attacking Jeremiah?

Even worse, look at how Hananiah responded after he broke the yoke. He affirmed, “Even so, the LORD will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar . . . from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years”. I mean, there was no respect or deference to one of God’s true prophets; no prayer was mentioned, and a bit of arrogance included, as I see it.

Hananiah’s performance, breaking the yoke Jeremiah was wearing, didn’t prove anything except, maybe, Hananiah’s strength. This performance, then, was futile as absolutely nothing happened—no sign at all of any confirmation. Jeremiah said nothing after all of this and simply “went his way”. But there’s more to the story.