Jeremiah 28: 1 – 17
Let me be your right-hand man
1 And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, 2 “Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’?” 5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the LORD, 6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place. 7 Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: 8 The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms—of war and disaster and pestilence. 9 As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.” 10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. 12 Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.” 14 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also.”? 15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.’? 17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
A ‘right hand man’ is a person who wants to be the assistant of an important person. He or she is an indispensable person or is known by others as the chief assistant.
In every human interaction or business, you have a high official put his or her trust in someone to go to get something done. For example, in chapter 24 of the book of Genesis Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son Isaac. So, to accomplish this he called on his ‘right hand man’ to get it accomplished.
“1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. 7 The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants[fn] I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.”
Abraham’s ‘right hand man’ was a faithful assistant and with Almighty God’s personal involving help completed his assignment.
Yet there are many individuals who desire the position of being the ‘chief assistant’ of an important person that are two-faced evil individuals who will do anything to achieve their goal of obtaining recognition.
In truth what they want is the boss’s job or at least his authority or importance. In the book of 1st Kings chapter 16 we see such an example of a chief assistant turning against his master, “8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel, and reigned two years in Tirzah. 9 Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. 10 And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. 11 Then it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. 12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.”
Today we are going to see in our study a guy who wants to impress the king of Judah that he can be counted on to be his prophet in waiting and please the king with good prophecies. The only problem is that his prophecies are fake news. None of what he has to say is our Holy Father God’s words.
We have already learned of the antagonism of the cult prophets in Jerusalem towards Jeremiah and one named Hananiah now challenges him head on. Using similar prophetic phraseology to Jeremiah he declares that within two years there will be full restoration for Judah and Jerusalem, with the Temple vessels, along with Jehoiachin and his courtiers, returning in triumph to Jerusalem. His antagonistic attitude is emphasized by the fact that he breaks the yoke off Jeremiah’s shoulder, considering by that means that he would break the power of Jeremiah’s prophecies. It was a direct challenge to Jeremiah’s claims and would be seen by him, and by many, as a prophetic working out of the coming deliverance and as a direct confrontation with Jeremiah’s source of truth. His very action would have been seen by many of the superstitious as contributing to the fulfilment of his prophecy. He claimed to be doing it in the Name of YHWH but did not realise (because he was deceived) that he was in fact thereby directly opposing YHWH.
His visible action would have had a huge impact on the crowds, who would see it as a real step towards deliverance, countering what Jeremiah had been prophesying, and portraying by wearing the yoke. Jeremiah initially replies to him placatingly. He hopes that he is right. But he points out that it would be to go against previous prophecies of doom and destruction and suggests that they let the future reveal the truth.
However, he is then required by YHWH to inform the people more forcefully that Hananiah is wrong, and that what Jeremiah has previously prophesied will come about. Furthermore, all should note that, because of Hananiah’s action, instead of yokes of wood there would now be yokes of iron. They had made submission even more certain. Then, as a sign that what he has stated will take place, and that Hananiah is a false prophet, he informs them that Hananiah will die within the year because he is a false prophet, an event which accordingly takes place, thus vindicating Jeremiah and countering the impact caused by the breaking of the yoke.
1 And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
As we have previously seen these heading are a deliberate means of carrying the action forward from the commencement of Jehoiakim’s reign, when Jeremiah gave his address warning of what would come on the city and the Temple, through his wearing of a yoke as an indication of Judah’s servitude by the will of YHWH, which also commenced in the days of Jehoiakim, to the time when duplicates of that yoke were sent out to the surrounding nations who were contemplating rebellion against Babylon in the days of Zedekiah. Now things come to a head. A rival prophet of YHWH challenges him and his prophecies openly in the Temple in the presence of the priests and the festal crowds. The prophet was named Hananiah, who was the son of Azzur (otherwise unknown) and came from Gibeon. As will emerge, this was intended to be a head on challenge and collision between the two prophets, carried out with the people as witnesses, with the intention of settling mattes once and for all. The breaking of the yoke which was a prophetic symbol of Jeremiah’s message was intended to be a decisive step.
It is clear that ‘in the beginning’ included the fourth year of his reign. Rather than arguing about contradiction we should recognise that Jeremiah knew the nuances of Hebrew in his day better than we do. ‘In the beginning’ apparently therefore simply meant ‘in the initial stages, the commencing years, of his reign’.
2 “Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Hananiah declares that he speaks in the Name of YHWH of host, the God of Israel, and that His word is that He has ‘broken the yoke of the King of Babylon’. Note the use of the same distinguished and significant title as that used by Jeremiah, and no doubt by many prophets. He was claiming to speak on the same authority as Jeremiah. And he gave a prophetic declaration claiming to present the very words of YHWH. ‘Thus, says YHWH --- “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon”.’ It was a declaration directly in the face of what Jeremiah was saying signifying that God’s time was now. We can see why the crowds might have been confused. And there could be no doubt whose message they would want to believe. Hananiah’s message appealed to their sense of what YHWH owed to them as their God. They were still unable to believe that God was not satisfied with them.
3 Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.
He further declared that YHWH’s promise was that within two full years (in contrast with Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy years of which fifty or so years remained) all the vessels of the house of YHWH which had been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar in the days of Jehoiakim, would be returned to Jerusalem and the Temple (this place). It would be restored to its former glory.
4 And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’?”
And what was more their legitimate king, Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), who had been chosen by the people (Zedekiah had been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar and ruled by default) would again be brought to this place, along with the other exiles, and would once again be their king present among them, and most importantly, the yoke of the King of Babylon would be broken (a direct reference to the yoke that Jeremiah was wearing). It was a cheering message for the people, and he emphasised n good prophetic manner that it was by ‘the prophetic and sure word of YHWH’. His message must have uplifted the crowds and raised their hopes, making things difficult for Jeremiah, and seemingly exposing him as a false prophet. It was an encouragement to the king and the people to partake in what would be a fatal rebellion.
But it was probably not just a saying taken out of the air. We know from what is called ‘the Babylonian chronicle’ (historical records which were regularly maintained by the Babylonians although unfortunately we do not have all of them), that around this time there was a serious rebellion in Babylon which Nebuchadnezzar had to quell, and it may well be that hopes raised by that event, as communicated back to Jerusalem, combined with the rise of a powerful Pharaoh in Egypt (Pharaoh Hophra), were responsible for Hananiah’s confident prediction (the rebels in Babylon may well have promised some of the exiles that in return for their support they would be allowed to return home with the Temple vessels. See 29.21 which could have related to such a situation). Hananiah does genuinely appear to have believed that he was a prophet of YHWH, and the priests clearly believed it too. But it is a reminder that it is not enough to have confidence in one’s own spirituality, based on popular opinion. We can so easily deceive ourselves, whilst others will admire us if we say what they want us to say. It is a reminder to us that we need to beware of overstating our own inspiration by the Holy Spirit. The widespread disagreement on certain doctrines among genuine Christians is an indication that none of us are guided fully. And we are foolish to think otherwise. I am always a little wary when someone says, ‘the Holy Spirit told (showed) me’.
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the LORD, 6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.
Very wisely Jeremiah did not enflame the people gathered in the Temple (and thus full at the time of religious zeal of a kind) by directly denying Hananiah’s prophecy. Rather he responded sarcastically. What Hananiah prophesied was very good, but it was to be noted that it went against the trend of past prophecy. So, yes, if YHWH wanted to do this, so be it (amen). Let YHWH perform the words that Hananiah had prophesied, bringing back from Babylon to Jerusalem the vessels of the Temple and the people from exile. Nothing would please Jeremiah more. But it went against all that the ancient prophets had spoken.
Alternately Jeremiah may have been wondering whether YHWH had indeed given a new revelation to Hananiah without communicating it to him. It would explain why, in spite of his doubts, he was willing to go along with it until he had further information from YHWH.
7 Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
Then he hardened his position. Let his words now come into the ears of Hananiah, and into the ears of all the people, for they were of vital importance.
8 The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms—of war and disaster and pestilence.
And that word was that the ancient and revered prophets who had prophesied before either of them were born, and whose words had been preserved because of their accuracy, had prophesied of war, evil and pestilence which would strike at many countries and even at great kingdoms. That was the trend of past prophecy.
9 As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.”
Thus it was the prophet who prophesied peace and well-being whose prophecies were to be seen as in doubt. They were to be seen as in such doubt that it was only when they came into fulfilment that they could be looked on as prophecies coming directly from YHWH. When the word came about, that was when the people could know that it was YHWH who had sent such a prophet.
It will be noted how cleverly Jeremiah had dealt with the situation He did it by sowing doubts in the minds of the people rather than by a direct refutation which could have raised their anger. He left them to ponder on the facts, demonstrating thereby that he was not alone in his views whatever current prophets might be saying, which incidentally demonstrates the high regard in which those past prophets were held by many even at this time.
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.
Jeremiah’s words clearly got under Hananiah’s skin, for he advanced on Jeremiah, determined to prove his credentials. He seized the yoke that was around Jeremiah’s neck, the symbol of his message, and deliberately broke it. We must not underestimate the significance of this act carried out in full view of the gathered people. It was a fierce and emphatic indication that Jeremiah was a false prophet, and that the prophetic sign that he wore around his neck was not to be having any effect, but as a fraud. For certainly there would be some among the people who took it very seriously, indeed as a guarantee that YHWH would maintain the subjection of His people. Hananiah was almost certainly aware of the impact that it was having among the people. Once it was broken, and there was no reaction from YHWH, some would breathe a sigh of relief. They would see it as indicating that YHWH had changed His mind. That was why once it had been done, it could not be overlooked. There had to be a strong response. (They would otherwise have argued that no one other than a prophet who had a counter-message from YHWH would have dared to tamper with such a sacred symbol, and that the fact that he had got away unscathed proved him to be in the right).
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
Many in the crowd were probably apprehensive at what might be YHWH’s response to Hananiah’s action, perhaps he was a little apprehensive himself, but when nothing did happen he then declared triumphantly to the people that YHWH had said that in the same way He would break the yoke of Babylon from the neck of all the nations. He appeared to have gained a significant triumph. But his folly was shortly to be revealed. (We can tend to forget that God has plenty of time. He does not always react to things immediately).
Jeremiah was probably shaken by the incident and went quietly away with nothing further to say at the time. He knew that it was time to consult with YHWH. Perhaps he too wondered why YHWH had not revealed His anger at Hananiah’s action. Or possibly he felt that the excitement of the crowds was such that it would have been foolish at the time to say anything more. But he was soon to learn that far from not being concerned about what was happening YHWH was about to Hananiah’s act very firmly.
12 Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
YHWH’s reply is specifically said to relate to Hananiah’s action in breaking off the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah. Such were the ideas of the people that it was not something that could pass unnoticed or be ignored. It would have been looked on as highly significant.
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.” 14 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also.”?
YHWH points out through Jeremiah that by breaking the wooden yoke Hananiah has accomplished nothing. He has only added to the woes of the nations, for it has meant that YHWH has replaced His wooden yoke with a yoke of iron on all the nations involved. It meant that Nebuchadnezzar’s position was even more secure. And while Hananiah might break a wooden yoke, he would be totally unable to break a yoke of iron. His action had thus caused the people nothing but harm.
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.’?
And because YHWH had not sent him, and because he had made the people trust in a lie, he was convicted of being a false prophet, and the punishment for that was death (Deuteronomy 18 22). It was therefore YHWH’s intention that he be removed from the face of the earth, and that he die within the year, because he had spoken rebellion against YHWH. Because YHWH had not ‘sent’ him He would now ‘send’ him away altogether.
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Sure enough he did die within the year, in the seventh month. His death was necessary to counter the impression that he had made on the people by breaking Jeremiah’s symbolic yoke. It was a further warning of the fact that what Jeremiah had prophesied was the truth and confirmed that Hananiah’s action in breaking the wooden yoke was false and had accomplished nothing. It was also a warning of the danger of falsely speaking in YHWH’s Name. While the good prophets had to fear men’s opposition (26.20-23), the false prophets needed to fear God’s. A similar example will also end chapter 29.
It is in fact understandable that Judah wanted to be free, and why they felt so deeply about it, but there was an important lesson underlying what was happening to Judah if only they had realized it, one that had already been emphasized when Israel had gone to Egypt in the days of Joseph. And that was that it was not independence and possession of the land that was most important to God, but obedience to Him. That was why YHWH was taking them into Exile. He was removing them from the places that had gripped their minds with idolatry and was emphasizing to them that environment and freedom were only of secondary importance (many Christian slaves would later have a poor environment and little freedom). The only hindrance to the worship of YHWH was an unbelieving heart.
