Jeremiah 28:5

JEREMIAH'S RESPONSE TO THE FALSE PROPHECY

"Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah, in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of Jehovah, even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: Jehovah do so; Jehovah perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah's house, from Babylon unto this place. Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people: The prophets that have been sent before me and before thee of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet that prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that Jehovah hath truly sent him. Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way."

"Jeremiah said, Amen: Jehovah do so ..." (Jeremiah 28:6). This was not sarcasm, because Jeremiah truly desired that such wonderful things as the false prophet had spoken might indeed be done by the Lord, only if it were possible. It was the same kind of plea that Jesus made, when he said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

However, this was in no sense whatever a statement that Jeremiah, even for a single moment, believed the lying words of the evil prophet. Green missed this truth altogether. He said, "Jeremiah revealed here his belief in the sincerity of Hananiah, and that Jeremiah himself was possibly wrong."[14] Such a view cannot be reconciled with what Jeremiah immediately said.

"Nevertheless, hear now this word that I speak in your ears ..." (Jeremiah 28:7). The real answer to Hananiah's false prophecy was that it made liars out of every prophet God had ever sent, including Jeremiah, all of whom had prophesied the ruin and captivity of Judah. Jeremiah also pointed out that the prophets of "peace" could be verified as true only by the conformity of subsequent events with the things they had prophesied. With that announcement, Jeremiah terminated the argument.

Deuteronomy 18:22 had laid down the test for prophets that only those prophets were true whose predictive prophecies were proved true by subsequent events; and Jeremiah referred to this, but as the false prophets had allowed a margin of two whole years for the fulfillment of his prediction, the truth of Hananiah's falsity was not at once evident.

We should observe the meekness and mildness of Jeremiah's response. He engaged in no loud and boisterous repetitions. He did not, upon his own unsupported authority, at once declare Hananiah to be the false prophet which he knew him to be. He simply waited for God to provide the answer, and turned away and left the scene. Although Jeremiah had given his personal assent to the glorious words of the false prophet, "He well knew that the truth was otherwise."[15]

"Hananiah took the bar ... and brake it ..." (Jeremiah 28:10). It might have appeared to Hananiah and the crowd in the house of the Lord that Jeremiah had been silenced. Jeremiah did not at once deny Hananiah's evil prophecy. Why? No answer had then appeared from Jehovah; and Jeremiah did not give an answer that God had not yet spoken.

"Encouraged by Jeremiah's patience and in the absence of any answer from God that his prophecy was a lie, Hananiah resorted to violence, tore the yoke from the prophet's neck, and broke it, probably to the great delight of the crowd who considered the action as a symbol of deliverance."[16]

"And the prophet Jeremiah went his way ..." (Jeremiah 28:11). "There are men with whom it is always useless to argue,"[17] and Jeremiah instantly recognized in Hananiah just such a person. He had falsely claimed to have God's Word; Jeremiah had already pointed out that his prophecy was contrary to what all previous prophets had prophesied; and, since God had at that point in time not refuted Hananiah with any dramatic additional revelation, there was nothing else for Jeremiah to do, except to leave; and that he at once did.