Hananiah died

 Jeremiah 28:1-17

Why would anyone tell others that the Lord had given them the words they are speaking or have acted out?  We have the example of Hananiah the false prophet in the days of Jeremiah; do we in 2017 have examples of a person doing such things in our timeline?  Yes, people do all kinds of evil and say God told them to; men leave their wives and family and say God wanted me to be happy.  People kill abortion doctors stating that they were told by God to do it, in fact, mothers have killed their children giving as the reason God told me to.  

But often we find people of sound mind and good hearts saying God wanted me to do this, and that can be very dangerous if it is not in agreement with Scripture.  Often we are given commands in Scripture such as love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself; a person would be correct to say God told me to do this.  Often people use “ God told me” to elevate one's credibility.  That is very dangerous, and God is jealous for His name.  Often the person is only using the name of God for self-elevation.

Chapter 28 begins “In the same year” placing the incident in keeping with Jeremiah’s prophecy of putting on or taking the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.  Now, this is what we know about Hananiah; he is from Gibeon, and he is the son of Azzur, and Gibeon is a city of the priest about five miles from Jerusalem.

Scripture recorded, “ Spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

Now we have two prophets both claiming they are speaking for God, and one is lying.  In chapter 27, Jeremiah has given this message. “But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.”

What is one to do, Jeremiah gave both Hananiah, the people, and the priest, this word; “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words you have prophesied come true …” Then Jeremiah gave those in his hearing a history lesson on how the prophets of time past had prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many nations and yet others had prophesied peace.  How did one know who was telling the truth, the one whose prophecies came to pass, then and only then will a person know who has been sent by God? 

Hananiah broke the yoke on Jeremiah's neck, and Jeremiah went his way, and later God spoke to Jeremiah these words: “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice