©Kris Gerbrandt
Chapter 28:1-9 (ESV) - In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, 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.”
Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD, and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles. Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
Question to consider: How does Hananiah attempt to undermine the LORD’s word to Jeremiah?
The “iah” at the end of Hebrew names are a reference to YHWH (the LORD). The root of the name Hananiah is hanan which means “gracious”, and so the name Hananiah can mean something like “YHWH has been gracious.” After Jeremiah strapped on an animal yoke and gave the unwelcome message that king Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem must submit to Babylonian captivity or be killed by the sword, famine or pestilence, Hananiah announced a few months later that the LORD had now said the He had broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
You may remember from the beginning of chapter 21, that Zedekiah had already recognized that Jeremiah was a prophet, for he sent Pashur and Zephaniah the priest to inquire the word of the LORD concerning Nebuchadnezzar’s siege against them. As much as Zedekiah might have hated Jeremiah’s message, he had to acknowledge that the things he said concerning his predecessor, Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), had indeed come to pass whereas those who prophesied peace were wrong.
The false prophets hated Jeremiah and wanted to kill him for even suggesting that the LORD would not deliver Jerusalem from the Babylonians, but they were not able to do so as long as he was recognized as a true prophet of the LORD. Since they couldn’t execute him, Hananiah tried to undermine his message. While Hananiah recognized the yoke that Nebuchadnezzar had put on Jeconiah and those who surrendered with him, he rejected the idea that the city would fall into his hands. He professed that the LORD told him that He had broken this yoke and within two years would bring back the vessels, Jeconiah, and all the exiles of Judah.
Several years earlier, the LORD had already given Jeremiah the word that he proclaimed to Jehoiakim saying that Judah would be exiled to Babylon for seventy years. The LORD had also decreed that Jeconiah would die in Babylon, and that he was the end of the Davidic branch through the wicked Manasseh. In yesterday’s passage, we know that Jeremiah had already told Zedekiah that prophesies like the one given by Hananiah were a lie.
Rather than humiliating Hananiah with this knowledge, Jeremiah offered his own prayer that he really wished Hananiah’s words were true, but even the ancient prophets had preached the coming judgment that the LORD would bring upon the world through Nebuchadnezzar.
I believe the final verse in today’s passage was a gospel proclamation. There would one day be a time of peace like Hananiah said, but this was not that time. When the LORD would send “the Prophet”, Christ Jesus, He would bring peace to all nations, but now was the time in which all nations were to be judged.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for bringing peace to the world through Christ Jesus. Help us to proclaim this peace while it may be found, for we know that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!