Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, but the people believe your lies. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the Lord.’” Two months later the prophet Hananiah died. (Jeremiah 28:15-17)Hananiah, official court prophet to King Zedekiah, King of Judah, had a great job. He stood around all day giving pronouncements, handing out advice. He was a respected member of the king’s court. When he spoke, people listened. When he gave advice, it was generally heeded. He was important.
And the last thing he wanted was for his job to end. When Jeremiah the prophet came in telling the Israelites that they needed to give up to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and go into captivity, it was too much for him. He rebelled in the only way he knew how to do it: he counter-prophesied.
He knew he wasn’t really a prophet. He had always known this. But, on the other hand, his track record of guesses was good enough that before long, people thought he was one.
When Jeremiah came along, it made Hananiah mad. Here was a real prophet. And the main problem was that Jeremiah was a threat. Hananiah had it good, being so important, but Jeremiah could take it all away from him.
When Jeremiah gave the prophecy God gave him – Give up and let the Babylonians take you into captivity – it made him scared. If they went into captivity, he lost his job, his people lost their land, everything would be ruined.
On the other hand, if he could say otherwise, and by this time he was probably convinced he had some powers of prophecy, he could keep his job and his important place.
Jeremiah’s response: you are going to die. And he did. And the children of Israel went into captivity just like God said.
Saying things are true doesn’t make them true. Pretending nothing is wrong doesn’t make it right. Hananiah found this out but didn’t live long enough to learn from the lesson.
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