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Jeremiah
Chapter Twenty-eight
Jeremiah 28
Chapter Contents
A false prophet opposes Jeremiah. (1-9) The false prophet
warned of his approaching death. (10-17)
Commentary on Jeremiah 28:1-9
(Read Jeremiah 28:1-9)
Hananiah spoke a false prophecy. Here is not a word of
good counsel urging the Jews to repent and return to God. He promises temporal
mercies
in God's name
but makes no mention of the spiritual mercies which God
always promised with earthly blessings. This was not the first time Jeremiah
had prayed for the people
though he prophesied against them. He appeals to the
event
to prove Hananiah's falsehood. The prophet who spake only of peace and
prosperity
without adding that they must not by wilful sin stop God's favours
will be proved a false prophet. Those who do not declare the alarming as well
as the encouraging parts of God's word
and call men to repentance
and faith
and holiness
tread in the steps of the false prophets. The gospel of Christ
encourages men to do works meet for repentance
but gives no encouragement to
continue in sin.
Commentary on Jeremiah 28:10-17
(Read Jeremiah 28:10-17)
Hananiah is sentenced to die
and Jeremiah
when he has
received direction from God
boldly tells him so; but not before he received
that commission. Those have much to answer for
who tell sinners that they
shall have peace
though they harden their hearts in contempt of God's word.
The servant of God must be gentle to all men. He must give up even his right
and leave the Lord to plead his cause. Every attempt of ungodly men to make
vain the purposes of God
will add to their miseries.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
Jeremiah 28
Verse 1
[1] And it came to pass the same year
in 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
which was of Gibeon
spake
unto me in the house of the LORD
in the presence of the priests and of all the
people
saying
The fourth year — Perhaps the fourth year of the
sabbatical course is here intended.
Of Gibeon — it is probable from the place
where he lived
which was one of the cities of the priests; that he was a
priest.
Verse 12
[12] Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the
prophet
after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck
of the prophet Jeremiah
saying
Then — Some time after.
Verse 13
[13] Go and tell Hananiah
saying
Thus saith the LORD; Thou
hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.
But — Thou hast further incensed God against them
and
provoked him to make their judgment heavier.
Verse 17
[17] So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the
seventh month.
Died — Within two months after Jeremiah had thus prophesied;
so dangerous a thing it is for ministers to teach people contrary to the
revealed will of God.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Jeremiah》
28 Chapter 28
Verses 1-17
Verse 11
And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
Self in service
(with Jeremiah 26:14):--We couple these
passages together
because they lead our minds to the same important thought
namely
the laying aside of “self” by the servants of the Lord. Hananiah takes
the yoke from off Jeremiah s neck
and breaks it
and so discredits him and his
prophecy in the presence of the people. “And the prophet Jeremiah went his
way.” He left it to God to vindicate His own honour
which He did very
soon--very terribly. Before the princes also
in chap. 26.
he tells out
uncompromisingly all the truth of God; he knew that he did so at the peril of
his life. “As for me
”--he was not insensible to personal suffering
still
himself he was as nothing--“behold I am in your hand
do with me as seemeth
meet unto you.” By this complete abnegation of “self” on the part of the
prophet
we are led to consider some matters connected with “self” in our
service. There is a young period in the Christian’s life
when we are deceived
by not seeing “self” at all; when we have no dread of it; when we never even
suspect its existence. At this time
we mistake its energies for spiritual
life
and often seek to carry out what is really the Lord’s work
in the powers
and energies of the flesh
i.e. “self.” There is a period farther
on
when we detect “self” partially. The Spirit of God has led us onward in our
education
and raised our standard
making us watchful and distrustful of
“self” to some degree. Then comes a yet more advanced stage
when we see “self”
to such an extent as to make us dread it greatly when we see it ever intrusive
ever substituting motives low and mean for what should be holy and high; and we
wage war with this “self
” fully determined to put it down. There is also yet a
more advanced state
when we have attained such a knowledge of the power of
“self” that
while we war with
and repress it
we have come to know that here
we shall never have done with it
and look forward to full deliverance only
when we reach that land where there is perfect freedom.
I. The wrong
operations of “self” in service. Much that we do may be done from the action of
mere natural feelings--there may be nothing of God in it at all A man may be
gratifying only his own natural energy in all that seems so earnest and true.
And when we allow “self” to influence us
we shall be subjected to disturbing
influences. Self-love will be easily wounded in the rough contact with opposers
of the truth. And our judgment will be warped. It is very hard to be calm
and
judicial
when under the influence of strong personal feelings
and where
personal interests are concerned. Self will also drive us on too far. We shall
not know when “to go our way.” We need not go far to detect some of the evil
effects which flow from this wrong operation of “self” in service. It gives the
enemy occasion to blaspheme. Satan continually attempts to confound persons and
principles; men will look at the imperfect way in which we have manifested the
principle
and not at the principle itself. Our infirmities become mixed up
with the cause of God
and so far as they can
bring it into disrepute. And
thus that saying becomes true--“religion suffers more from her friends than her
enemies.”
II. The expulsion
of “self” from service. How can this be done? In the most favourable of cases
only by degrees. But what is a man to do?
1. He must seek for enlightenment on this subject from the Holy
Spirit.
2. Let him seek for a more perfect sympathy with Christ. If we have
this
we shall become assimilated with Him--we shall grow like Him; His mind
will transfuse itself into our mind--and the principles
on which He acted
will become ours.
3. And then the seeking for a true knowledge of our own
insignificance is very important in putting down “self.” We both think and act
sometimes as though we were the first cause; and not only the first cause
but
the final object also--as if all were to be by us
and for us--the axe thinks
that it is doing all the work
and is independent of the one that heweth
therewith. The very learning our insignificance will be helpful; and
when we
have learned it in some degree
it will keep us
in proportion as the lesson
has been learned
to our proper place. (P. B. Power
M. A.)
Verse 13
Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them
yokes of iron.
Yokes of wood and of iron
To throw off legitimate authority is to bind on a worse tyranny.
Some kind of yoke every one of us must bend our necks to
and if we slip them
out we do not thereby become independent
but simply bring upon ourselves a
heavier pressure of a harder bondage.
I. We have the
choice between the yoke of law and the iron yoke of lawlessness. Even a band of
brigands
or a crew of pirates
must have some code. I have read somewhere that
the cells in a honeycomb are circles squeezed by the pressure of the adjacent cells into
the hexagonal shape which admits of contiguity. If they continued circles
there would be space and material lest
and no complete continuity. So
in like
manner
you cannot keep five men together without some mutual limitations which
are shaped into a law. Now
as long as a man keeps inside it he does not feel
its pressure. A great many of us
for instance
who are in the main law-abiding
people
do not ever remember that there is such a thing as restrictions upon
our licence
or the obligation to perform certain duties; for we never think
either of taking the licence or of shirking the duties. The yoke that is accepted
ceases to press. Once let a man step outside
and what then? Why
then
he is
an outlaw; and the rough side of the fence is turned outwards
and all possible
terrors
which people within the boundary have nothing to do with
gather
themselves together and frown down upon him. I need not remind you of how this
same thesis--that we have to choose between the yoke of law and the iron yoke
of lawlessness--is illustrated in the story of almost all violent revolutions.
They run the same course. First the rising up of a nation against intolerable
oppression
then revolution devours its own children
and the scum rises to the
top of the boiling pot. Then comes
in the language of the picturesque
historian of the French Revolution
the type of them all--then comes at the end
“the whiff of grapeshot” and the despot. First the government of a mob
and
then the tyranny of an emperor comes to the people that shake off the yoke of
reasonable law.
II. We have to
choose between the yoke of virtue and the iron yoke of vice. We are under a far
more spiritual and searching law than that written in any statute-book
or
administered by any Court. Every man carries within his own heart two things
and two persons; the court
the tribunal
the culprit
and the judge. And here
too
if law be not obeyed
the result is not liberty
but the slavery of
lawlessness. A great philosopher once said that the two sublimest things in the
universe were the moral law and the starry heavens. And that law “I ought”
bends over us like the starry heavens with which he associated it. No man can
escape from the pressure of duty
and on every man is laid
by his very make
the twofold obligation
first to look upwards and catch the behests of that
solemn law of duty
and then to turn his eyes and his strength inwards and
coerce or spur
as the case may be
the powers of his nature
and rule the
kingdom within himself. Now
as long as a man lets the ruling parts of his
nature guide the lower faculties
he feels comparatively no pressure from the yoke.
But if he once allows beggars to ride on horseback whilst princes walk--sense
and appetite and desire
and more or less refined forms of inclination to take
the place which belongs only to conscience interpreting duty--then he has
exchanged the easy yoke for one that is heavy indeed. What does a man do when
instead of loyally accepting the conditions of his nature
and bowing himself
to serve the all-embracing law of duty
he sets up inclination of any sort in
its place? What does he do? I will tell you. He unships the helm; he pitches
compass and sextant overboard; he fires up the furnaces
and screws down the
safety-valve
and says
“Go ahead!” And what will be the end of that
think
you! Either an explosion or a crash upon a reef! and you may take your choice
of which is the better kind of death--to be blown up or to go down.
III. We have the
choice between the yoke of Christ and the iron yoke of godlessness. If you do
not take Christ for your Teacher you are handed over either to the uncertainty
of your own doubts or to pinning your faith to some man and enrolling yourself
as a disciple who is prepared to swallow down whole whatsoever the rabbi may
say
giving to him what you will not give to Jesus; or else you will sink back
into utter indolence and carelessness about the whole matter; or else you will
go and put your belief and your soul into the hands of a priest; or shut your eyes and
open your mouth and take whatever” tradition may choose to send you. The one
refuge from all these
as I believe
is to go to Him and learn of Him
and take
His yoke upon your shoulders. But
let me say further
it is better to obey
Christ’s commandments than to set ourselves against them. For if we will take
His will for our law
and meekly assume the yoke of loyal and loving obedience to Him
the door into an earthly paradise is thrown open to us. His yoke is easy
not
because its prescriptions and provisions lower the standard of righteousness
and morality
but because love becomes the motive
and it is always blessed to do that
which the Beloved desires. When “I will” and “I ought” cover exactly the same
ground
then there is no kind of pressure from the yoke. Christ’s yoke is easy
because
too
He gives the power to obey His commandments. (A. Maclaren
D.
D.)
The two yokes
I. Men must wear
some yoke. In every stage of life--childhood
youth
manhood; and in every
station of life--servants
masters
&c.
1. God has made and sustains us
and asks that we submit to His will
2. With our passions and propensities
if we break the yoke it is
meet we should wear
and do not serve God
we at once bend our necks to another
yoke and serve slavishly our own selves.
II. Christ’s yoke
is an easy one to wear.
1. The yoke of Christ is a right one. Serve Jesus Christ
and it is
found that the Christian law is perfection itself.
2. The yoke of Christ is framed in our interest. To believe in Christ
is the highest wisdom; to repent of sin is the most delightful necessity; to
follow after holiness is the most blissful pursuit; to become a servant of
Christ is to be made a king and priest unto God.
3. Christ s yoke is not exacting. He
in His grace
always gives us
of His bounty when He asks of us our duty.
4. It is an easy yoke. Never did a man wear it but he always loved to
wear it.
5. The bright example of Christ makes the yoke pleasant to bear. He
Himself has carried the very yoke we bear
and we have blessed fellowship with
Him in this.
6. All who have borne Christ’s yoke have had grace given equal to the
weight of the burden. Wolsey regretted that he had not “served God with half the zeal he
had served his king
” but none has ever bewailed the zeal with which he
followed Christ!
7. Christians who have borne this yoke always desire to get their
children into it. Often men say
“I do not want my sons to follow my trade
it
is wearying
its pay is small
” &c.
III. Those who
refuse Christ’s easy yoke will have to wear a worse one.
1. Turning from the right road
from the cry of rectitude
because it
threatens shame or loss
will entail vaster after-losses.
2. Backsliders
by putting off the yoke of Christianity
have not
improved their condition.
3. They who refuse the Bible and follow tradition
Do these perverts
of the true Christian religion get an easier yoke? No.; there are penances and
mortifications
&c
4. The self-righteous who attempt to work their own way to heaven.
Self-righteousness is an iron yoke indeed.
5. Unbelievers
who will not believe the simple revelation of God
presently find themselves committed to systematic misbeliefs
which distract
reason
oppress the heart
and trammel the conscience.
6. Lovers of pleasure. Pleasure often means lust
and gaiety means
crime; and self-indulgence brings beggary and degradation
In the last
tremendous day of Christ’s coming to judgment
the Christian’s yoke will be as
a chain of gold about his neck; but sin
pleasure
will be as an iron yoke
a
burden of enslaving woe. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 16
This year thou shalt die.
Thoughts on death
1. Let men live ever so many years
some one year will be the
year of their death.
2. Every year is a year of death to many; there never was a year
since the abbreviation of human life
since the extensive propagation and
dispersion of mankind over all countries on the face of the earth
which has
not been a year of death to tens of thousands
3. Last year was a year of death to very many.
4. This year
very probably
will be a year of death to some of us.
This or the other tree may be cut down; this or the other branch may be lopt
off
and fall to the ground. Let us see then that we be ready
that if cut
down
it may be in mercy
not in wrath; that if plucked up by the root and
transplanted
it may be to be transplanted in a far better soil
where the air
is more genial
where the fruits are always ripe.
5. No one of us knows but God may be saying to him or her
“This year
thou shalt die.” Futurity is wisely hid from man; we know not the year or day
of our death we need therefore constantly to watch.
6. It may be in mercy or in wrath that God is saying to this or the
other one
“This year thou shalt die.” It was in wrath that this was said to
Hananiah.
7. The year of one’s death is a most eventful year to him. This dissolves
our connection with the present world; it issues us into the world of spirits.
If we are the Lord’s people
it associates us with God
Christ
angels
and the
spirits of just men made perfect in the state of glory and blessedness.
8. There is no outliving the appointed year of one’s death. No
distinction of rank
no worldly pre-eminence
no degree of riches
influence
or power
no plea of necessity
no supposed usefulness in civil or sacred
society
can prevent death.
9. The year of one’s death may come very unexpectedly. (Anon.)
Solemn thoughts
I. This sentence
is doubtless expressive of the decision of God concerning many this year.
1. The page of history affords no record of a single year in which
death desisted from his work of destruction.
2. The last year of many is now commended.
3. Various are the means by Which God’s design will be executed.
II. No individual
can be certain that this does not express God’s decision concerning himself.
1. Utterly impossible for us to know who are
or are not
included in
God’s appointments.
2. The circumstances of some render it most probable that this year
will be their last.
3. Doubtless those who think least of death
and confidently reckon
on future years
will find this sentence fulfilled.
III. It is the duty
and interest of all to use wisely the gracious hours they enjoy.
1. What is it to die? To pass from this state of being into the
immediate presence of our Maker and Judge.
2. Am I prepared to die?
3. Begin the year with earnest preparation. (J. Bunter.)
A sermon on the New Year
It is highly probable
that if some prophet
like Jeremiah
should
open to us the book of the Divine decrees
one or other of us would there see
our sentence
and the time of its execution fixed
“Thus saith the Lord
This
year thou shalt die.” There some of us would find it written
“This year thou
shalt enjoy a series of prosperity
to try if the goodness of God will lead
thee to repentance.” Others might read this melancholy line
“This year shall
be to thee a series of afflictions: this year thou shalt lose thy dearest
earthly support and comfort; this year thou shalt pine away with sickness
or
agonise with torturing pain
to try if the kind severities of a Father’s rod
will reduce thee to thy duty. Others
I hope
would road the gracious decree
“This year
thy stubborn spirit
after long resistance
shall be sweetly
constrained to bow to the despised Gospel of Christ. This year shalt thou be
born a child of God
and an heir of happiness
which the revolution of years
shall never
never
terminate.” Others perhaps would read this tremendous doom
“This year My Spirit so long resisted
shall cease to strive with thee; this
year I will give thee up to thine own heart’s lusts
and swear in My wrath thou
shalt not enter into My rest.” Others would probably find the doom of the false
prophet Hananiah pronounced against them: “Thus saith the Lord
Behold
I will
cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die.”
I. This year you
may die.
1. Your life is the greatest uncertainty in the world.
2. Thousands have died since the last New Year’s Day; and this year
will be of the same kind with the last; the duration of mortals; a time to die.
3. Thousands of others will die: it is certain they will
and why may
not you?
4. Though you are young; for the regions of the dead have been
crowded with persons of your age; and no age is the least security against the
stroke of death.
5. Though you are now in health and your constitution seems to
promise a long life; for thousands of such will be hurried into the eternal
world this year
as they have been in years past.
6. Though you are full of business
though you have projected many
schemes
which it may be the work of years to execute
and which afford you
many bright and flattering prospects.
7. Though you have not yet finished your education
nor fixed in
life
but are preparing to appear in the world
and perhaps elated with the
prospect of the figure you will make in it.
8. Though you are not prepared for it.
9. Though you deliberately delay your preparation
and put it off to
some future time.
10. Though you are unwilling to admit the thought. Death does not
slacken his pace towards you
because you hate him
and are afraid of his
approach.
11. Though you may strongly hope the contrary
and flatter yourself
with the expectation of a length of years.
II. What if you
should? If you should die this year
then all your doubts
all the anxieties of
blended hopes and fears about your state and character will terminate for ever
in full conviction. If you are impenitent sinners
all the artifices of
self-flattery will be able to make you hope better things no longer; but the
dreadful discovery will flash upon you with the resistless blaze of intuitive
evidence. You will see
you will feel yourselves such. This year you may die:
and should you die this year
you will be for ever cut off from all the
pleasures of life. Then an everlasting farewell to all the mirth
the tempting
amusements and vain delights of youth. Farewell to all the pleasures you derive
from the senses
and all the gratifications of appetite. Then farewell to all
the pompous but empty pleasures of riches and honours. The pleasures both of
enjoyment and expectation from this quarter will fail for ever. But this is not
all If you should die this year
you will have no pleasures
no enjoyments to
substitute for those you will lose. Your capacity and eager thirst for
happiness will continue
nay
will grow more strong and violent in that
improved adult state of your nature. And yet you will have no good
real or
imaginary
to satisfy it; and consequently the capacity of happiness will
become a capacity of misery; and the privation of pleasure will be positive
pain. If you die this year
you will not only be cut off from all the
flattering prospects of this life
but from all hope entirely
and for ever. If
you die in your sins
you will be fixed in an unchangeable state of misery; a
state that will admit of no expectation but that of uniform
or rather
ever-growing misery; a state that excludes all hopes of making a figure
except
as the monuments of the vindictive justice of God
and the deadly effects of
sin.
III. Is it possible
to escape this impending danger?
1. Your case is not yet desperate
unless you choose to make it so;
that is
unless you choose to persist in carelessness and impenitence
as you
have hitherto done.
2. You all know that prayer
reading
and hearing the Word of God
meditation upon Divine things
free conference with such as have been taught by
experience to direct you in this difficult work; you all know
I say
that
these are the means instituted for your conversion: and if you had right views
of things
and a just temper towards them
you would hardly need instruction or
the least persuasion to make use of them. (S. Davies
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》
28 Chapter 28
INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 28
Thus
chapter relates a false prophecy of Hananiah
who broke off the yoke from
Jeremiah; but in return the people are threatened with an iron yoke
and he
with death; which came to pass. The time
place
and substance of his prophecy
are in Jeremiah 28:1;
Jeremiah's answer to it
Jeremiah 28:5;
Hananiah breaks Jeremiah's yoke
and explains the meaning of it to the people
Jeremiah 28:10;
Jeremiah prophesies that iron yokes should be given instead of wooden ones
Jeremiah 28:12; and
foretells the death of the false prophet
Jeremiah 28:15.
Verse 1
And it came to pass the same year
.... That the prophet was
bid to make yokes and bonds
and send them to the neighbouring kings
whose ambassadors
were in Zedekiah's court; and when he spoke the things related in the preceding
chapter to Zedekiah
the priests
and people:
in the beginning the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah; perhaps in
the first year of his reign:
in the fourth year
and in the fifth month; not in the
fourth year of Zedekiah's reign
though the Septuagint and A table versions so
render it; since his reign was but eleven years in all
and therefore the
fourth could not be called with so much propriety the beginning of his reign:
though
according to Jarchi
it was the fourth of Zedekiah's reign
the same
year in which he paid a visit to the king of Babylon
Jeremiah 51:59; and
was not only confirmed in his kingdom by him
but
according to the same
writer
had it enlarged
and was made king over five neighbouring kings; and so
this
though the fourth of his reign over Judah
was the first of his enlarged
dominions: but rather this was the fourth year of the sabbatical year
or the
fourth after the seventh year's rest of the land
as Kimchi observes; which was
the first of Zedekiah's reign
who reigned eleven years
and the temple was
destroyed at the end of a sabbatical year; in which he is followed by many
though there is nothing in the text or context that directs to it. Some divide
Zedekiah's reign into three parts
the beginning
and middle
and end; and so
what was done within the first four years of his reign might be said to be in
the beginning of it. Others think that here are two distinct dates; that the
former respects the things in the preceding chapter
which were in the
beginning of his reign; and the latter that affair of Hananiah
which was in
the fourth year of it. But NoldiusF13Concord. Ebr. Partic. p. 143.
No. 677.
after GlassiusF14Philolog. Sacr. l. 4. p. 625.
gets
clear of the difficulties of this text
by rendering the words
"and it
was from that year
the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah
unto
the fourth year of his reign"; that is
the prophet went on for the space
of four years
signifying the will of the Lord by words and types; when in the
fifth month of the fourth year
which was the month of Ab
answering to part of
our July and of August
Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet; the false
prophet
as the Targum
Septuagint
Syriac
and Arabic versions call him
which was of Gibeon; a city of the priests;
so might be a priest
though not the high priest
as some have thought:
spake unto me in the house of the Lord
in the presence of the
priests
and of all the people; he came to the temple
where Jeremiah was
to confront him; and he addressed himself to him
the
priests and all the people being present
who were come thither to minister and
worship:
saying; as follows:
Verse 2
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts
the God of Israel
.... Using the
language of the true prophets
and describing the Lord just in the same manner
they do
when coming from him
and speaking in his name: a bold and daring
action
when he knew the Lord had not sent him
nor had said any such thing to
him: he next relates with all assurance
saying
I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon; which he had
put upon the neck of the king of Judah; signifying that he should be no more
subject to him; that is
he had determined to do it
and would do it
in a very
short time.
Verse 3
Within two full years
.... Or
"within two
years of days"F15בעוד שנתים ימים "in adhuc duobis
anois dierum"
Montanus; "intra adhuc biennium dierum"
Schmidt;
"intra biennum dierum"
Cocceius. ; when they are up to a day. The
Targum is
"at
the end of two years;'
what
the false prophets before had said would be done in a very little time; this
fixes the precise time of doing it; a very short time
in comparison of the
seventy years that Jeremiah had spoken of
Jeremiah 25:11;
will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's
house
that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place; the temple
where he now was; namely
all such vessels as before this time had been taken
by him
both in Jehoiakim's reign
and at the captivity of Jeconiah:
and carried them to Babylon; where they still
remained
and according to Jeremiah still would; and were so far from being
brought back in a short time
that what were left would be carried thither
also
Jeremiah 27:19.
Verse 4
And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah
.... This he knew would please the people
who looked upon Zedekiah
only as a deputy of the king of Babylon
and not properly their king; but
Jeconiah
as he is here called; and he knew that Zedekiah dared not resent
this
but was obliged to feigned a desire of Jeconiah's return
though
otherwise not agreeable to him:
with all the captives of Judah that went into Babylon
saith the
Lord; the princes
officers
and others
that should be living at the
time fixed:
for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon; weaken his
power over other nations
and particularly deliver the king of Judah from his
bondage
and from subjection to him.
Verse 5
Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah
.... The false
prophet
as he is called by the Targum
Syriac
and Arabic versions:
in the presence of the priests
and in the presence of all the
people that stood in the house of the Lord; waiting and worshipping
in the temple; and said boldly and before them all
in answer to Hananiah's
prophecy
what follows.
Verse 6
Even the prophet Jeremiah said
Amen
.... Or
"so be it"; he wished it might be so as Hananiah had said
if it was
the will of God; as a prophet he knew it could not be; as an Israelite
out of
respect to his country
he wished it might be; or
however
he wished that they
would repent of their sins
that the evil he had threatened them with might not
come upon them
and the good that Hananiah had prophesied might be fulfilled:
the Lord do so: the Lord perform the words which thou hast
prophesied; such a hearty regard had he for his country
that
were it the
Lord's pleasure to do this
he could be content to be accounted a false
prophet
and Hananiah the true one; it was very desirable to him to have this
prophecy confirmed and fulfilled by the Lord. The JewsF16T. Bab.
Sotah
fol. 41. 2. &
42. 1. have a saying
that whoever deals
hypocritically with his friend
at last falls into his hand
or the hands of
his son
or son's son; and so they suppose Jeremiah acted hypocritically with
Hananiah
and therefore fell into the hands of the son of his son's son
Jeremiah 37:13; but
he rather spoke ironically
as some think:
to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house
and all that is
carried away captive
to Babylon into this place; as a priest
this must
be very desirable to Jeremiah
the Jews observe
since he would be a gainer by
it; being a priest
he should eat of the holy things; when Hananiah
being a
Gibeonite
would be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water to him.
Verse 7
Nevertheless
hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears
.... Though
this would be very acceptable to me
and I should be glad to have it fulfilled;
yet carefully attend to what I am about to say
it being what greatly concerns
thee to observe
as well as all present to listen to: and therefore it is
added
and in the ears of all the people; that stood round to hear
the conversation that passed between the two prophets.
Verse 8
The prophets that have been before me
and before thee of old
.... Such as
Isaiah
Hoses
Joel
Amos
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
and others: these
prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms; as Egypt
Babylon
Syria
Ethiopia
Moab
&c. as Isaiah particularly did:
of war
and of evil
and of pestilence; by evil some
think is meant famine
because that usually goes along with the other
mentioned
and there being but one letter in which the words for evil and
famine differ; and now the prophets that prophesied of these were sent of God
were the true prophets of the Lord; and therefore this ought not to be objected
to the prejudice of Jeremiah
that his prophecies were of this sort: yea
if
they should not come to pass
yet a man is not to be counted a false prophet
because such things are threatened in case nations do not repent of their sins
and reform
which they may do; and then the evils threatened are prevented
as
in the case of the Ninevites.
Verse 9
The prophet which prophesieth of peace
.... Of
prosperity
of good things
as Hananiah did
and which are always acceptable to
men; and such a prophet is agreeable to them:
when the word of the Lord shall come to pass; when the
prophecy of good things
which he delivers in the name of the Lord
shall be
filled:
then shall the
prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him; and not till
then; it is the event that must make it manifest: in the other case it may be
in a good measure known before it comes to pass
and
whether it comes to pass
or not
that a prophet is a true prophet; because his prophecies are agreeable
to the word and the declared will of God; contain evils threatened on account
of sin
and in order to bring men to repentance
which must needs be right; and
besides
they have no interest of their own to serve
but run contrary to the
stream of the people
and are exposed to their rage and censure: whereas
a man
that prophesies of peace
he is more to be suspected of flattering the people
and of prophesying out of his own heart; and nothing but the event can show him
a true prophet; which if he delivers with a proviso
that the people do not do
that which is evil in the sight of God
to provoke him to deny them the
promised good
is always certainly fulfilled; and if it is not
then he appears
manifestly a false prophet.
Verse 10
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet
Jeremiah's neck
.... Which he wore as a symbol of the subjection of Judea
and
other nations
to the king of Babylon: an impudent and insolent action this
was
to take the prophet's yoke from his neck; and the more so
as it was by
the command of God that he made it
and wore it:
and brake it; being made of wood
as it afterwards
appears
and so might easily be broken.
Verse 11
And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people
....
Explaining to them his meaning
in taking the yoke
and breaking it:
saying
thus saith the Lord; wickedly making use of
the Lord's name
to give countenance to his words and actions:
even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
from the neck of all nations
within the space of two full years; the time he
had fixed for the bringing back of the vessels of the sanctuary
Jeremiah 28:3;
and the prophet Jeremiah went his way; showing
thereby his dissent from him
and his dislike and detestation of his lies and
blasphemies; patiently bearing his affronts and insolence; and prudently
withdrawing to prevent riots and tumults; returning no answer till he had
received one from the Lord himself
which he quickly had.
Verse 12
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet
.... When in
his own house or apartment
to which he retired; and this came to him either in
a vision or dream
or by some articulate voice
or by an impulse upon his
spirit
directing him what to say to the false prophet:
after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the
neck of the Prophet Jeremiah: how long afterwards is not known
perhaps
the same day; or
however
it is certain it was in the same year
and less than
two months after
Jeremiah 28:17; and
very probably in a few hours after:
saying; as follows:
Verse 13
Go and tell Hananiah
saying
thus saith the Lord
.... Whose
name he had abused; whose prophet he had ill treated; and whose prophecies he
had contradicted
and the symbols of them had contumeliously used:
thou hast broken the yokes of wood: or
"bonds"
or "the thongs"F17מוטת עץ "lora lignea"
Junius & Tremellius. ; with
which the yokes of wood were bound and fastened
as Kimchi interprets it:
but thou shall make for them yokes of iron; not Hananiah
but Jeremiah; who should prophesy of a more severe bondage the nations should
be brought into by Nebuchadnezzar
in direct contradiction to Hananiah's
prophecy; instead of wooden yokes
they should have iron ones; which should lie
heavier
and bear harder upon them
and which could not be broken nor taken
off.
Verse 14
For thus saith the Lord of hosts
the God of Israel
.... Under
which titles he is often spoken of; and which he uses
when he delivered
anything to his prophets to declare in his name to others:
I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations: mentioned in Jeremiah 27:3;
that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
and they shall
serve him; directly contrary to what Hananiah had prophesied
Jeremiah 28:11;
that his yoke should be broke off from them; but instead of that
it should
become heavier unto them
and they should be obliged to serve him
whether they
would or not; and refusing to pay tribute to him
should be carried captive by
him
as had been foretold:
and I have given him the beasts of the field also; as he had
said he would
Jeremiah 27:6; and
which is repeated
to show that the whole would be punctually fulfilled; that
not only those nations
the men
the inhabitants of them
would be delivered to
him; but even the very cattle
and all that belonged to them.
Verse 15
Then said Jeremiah the prophet unto Hananiah the prophet
.... The false
prophet
as he is again called by the Targum
and in the Syriac version; where
he went to him
and met with him
whether in the temple or elsewhere
is not
mentioned; very probably in some public place
that there might be witnesses of
what was said; for it was for the conviction of others
as well as for his own
confusion
the following things are observed:
hear now
Hananiah
the Lord hath not sent thee; though he
spoke in his name
and pretended a mission from him
when he had none
which
was abominable wickedness:
but thou makest this people to trust in a lie: that the Lord
would break off the yoke of the king of Babylon
and free the nations from
servitude to him
particularly Judea; and that the king
and his princes
and
people
and the vessels of the temple
carried away with him
would be returned
within two years; this the people depended on as coming from the Lord
when he
was not sent by him.
Verse 16
Therefore thus saith the Lord
.... Because of this
heinous offence
in lying in the name of the Lord
and deceiving the people:
behold
I will cast thee from off the face of the earth; with the
utmost indignation and abhorrence
as not worthy to live upon it: it signifies
that he should die
and that not a natural
but violent death
by the immediate
hand of God
by some judgment upon him; and so be by force taken off the earth
and buried in it
and be no more seen on it:
this year thou shalt die; within the present year
reckoning from this time; so that
had he died any time within twelve months
from hence
it would have been sufficient to have verified the prophecy:
because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord; to despise
his word by his prophet; to contradict his will; to refuse subjection to the
king of Babylon; to neglect his instructions
directions
and exhortations; and
to believe a lie.
Verse 17
So Hananiah the prophet died the same year
.... That he
had delivered out his prophecy; in the same year in which Jeremiah said he
should die; which proved him to be a false prophet
and Jeremiah to be a true
one:
in the seventh month: it was two months after
he had prophesied; for it was in the fifth month that he prophesied
and in the
seventh he died; not after seven months
as Theodoret remarks
but in two
months; so he that prophesied
that within two years what he foretold would
come to pass
in two months time dies himself
according to the word of the
Lord
and his prophecies die with him. The Jewish writers move a difficulty
here
how he should be said to die the same year
when the seventh month was
the beginning of another year; for the civil year of the Jews began from the
seventh month
or the month Tisri; as their ecclesiastical year from the month
Nisan or Abib. To solve this they observe a tradition
that he died the last
day of the sixth month
or the eve of the new year; and ordered his sons and
his servants
before his death
to hide it
and not bring him out to be buried
till after the year was begun
to make Jeremiah a liar: to which agrees the
Targum
both of the clause in Jeremiah 28:16; and
this; the former of which it paraphrases thus
"this
year shall thou die; and in the other year (or the year following) thou shalt
be buried;'
and
this verse thus
"and
Hananiah the false prophet died this year
and was buried in the seventh
month:'
but
there was no occasion to raise such a difficulty
since it would have been
enough to have verified the prediction
that he died any time within the twelve
months from the date of it; and
besides
the solution makes the difficulty
greater
and contradicts the very text
which says
he died in the seventh
month.
──《John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible》