Jeremiah 28

Chapter 28 - Part 1

By Debra Isenbletter

Jeremiah 28 can be divided into five sections:
Hananiah’s Prophecy (vs 1-4)- Jeremiah’s Response (vs 5-9). Hananiah’s Response (vs I0-I1); God’s Response (vs 12-14); Jeremiah’s Prophecy (vs 15-17). In this chapter we find a confrontation between two prophets, one of them is a false prophet and one of them a true prophet. Hananiah in type pictures the False Prophet of the last days and the King that he serves, Zedekiah, pictures the Antichrist. Jeremiah in type pictures the Two Witnesses.

Vs 1: This first verse can be divided into the following categories: The Time, The Prophet and The Confrontation:

The Time: The time of this prophecy is given in the first verse of this chapter. It is “the same year” as chapter 27 in which Jeremiah builds the yokes and presents them to the five representatives of the nations that Zedekiah is trying to make an alliance with. In this chapter Jeremiah tells us it is in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. During this year of his reign Jeremiah tells us in chapter 51 that Zedekiah made a trip to Babylon, possibly to negotiate the return of the captives and the vessels that had been taken. (Jer 51:59). There is a real deception seen in this man, who in chapter 27 is trying to negotiate an alliance with the nations around him in order to rebel against Babylon and in the same year is also negotiating with Babylon and presenting himself as a loyal subject.

Zedekiah, whose name means “righteousness of Jehovah.” His name shows what he as a true king should reflect, God’s righteousness, but he does not. Instead he presents a False Righteousness, like the Antichrist who is a False Christ. Zedekiah was placed upon the throne by Babylon after his brother was taken into captivity (2 Ki 24:17). He was put there not by the Lord, but by man and the Antichrist rises up from among the nations and it is they who give him power, they place him upon the throne (Rev 17:12-13). Once he is there, like Zedekiah, it is a time of usurpation. As far as the Lord was concerned, the last rightful king to sit on the throne was Jehoiachin (Coniah) because when he went into captivity Jeremiah prophesied that “no man of his seed shall prosper sitting on the throne.” God would recognize no other king until the Lord Jesus, so anyone else sitting on that throne was there out of the Will of God. Just as Zedekiah takes the throne (given to him by man) and is a usurper, the Antichrist takes the throne in the last days and is a usurper. That throne belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Once on that throne, Zedekiah begins to manifest his true character, and it is one of deception and rebellion. He may have feigned obedience to Babylon in the beginning of his reign but he ultimately rebels and through that rebellion causes the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Ki 24:20). Just as Zedekiah rebels against the king of Babylon, the Antichrist rebels against the King of kings and through his rebellion stirs the nations of the earth into that same attitude. (Ps 2:1-2) The rebellion of the Antichrist is seen in his attitude toward the Lord, he blasphemes the God of Heaven (Rev 13:5-6). So in these two men (Zedekiah and the Antichrist) you see four things: first a false righteousness; second they were placed on the throne by the world, not God; third they are usurpers; and fourth they are in rebellion.

The Prophet: The prophet who confronts Jeremiah and who supports Zedekiah is Hananiah, and his name means “Grace of Jehovah.” Just as Zedekiah mocks the Righteousness of Jehovah, Hananiah mocks the Grace of Jehovah, and he does so by preaching a message of prosperity without repentance. He promises blessings from the Lord (the return of the captives and vessels) but does not point out to God’s people that they need to do anything in return. Jeremiah on the other hand demands repentance before God will bless. Jeremiah says, “Amend your ways and your doings and obey the Lord...” (Jer 26:13). He asks them to “return” to the Lord, and to “put away” their sins. Paul faced this same misuse and misunderstanding of Grace and we find in Romans 6:1,15 Paul asking, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” and “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” In both cases he says “God forbid!” Grace which is so glorious can be twisted by men, Paul shows that true Grace teaches that we live a godly and righteous life (Tit 2:12). Jeremiah has presented the Grace of God and promised a restoration of blessings, but that restoration can only come on God’s terms, and they must acknowledge their sin and repent.

Jeremiah gives a brief description of Hananiah’s background. He says that he is “the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon.” We know that Hananiah’s father was a prophet, there is nothing said negative in regards to his father, he may very well have been a true prophet of God. His name, Azur, means “helped,” and to truly “help” others is to tell them the Truth, to give them the Word of God. This is what Jeremiah has always done and what Hananiah fails to do. Hananiah comes from the city of Gibeon, and Gibeon was one of the 13 cities given to the Levites, it was in Benjamin’s territory and was a Levitical city (Josh 21:3,19). Hananiah may have been either a Levite or a Benjaminite. Gibeon was also a city of worship, it was where the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offering were placed (I Chron 21:29). Those are two positive aspects of Gibeon show that Hananiah came from a background where the Word of God was very prevalent, he is from a good background. There is one negative description concerning Gibeon and the Gibeonites seen in Joshua 9. There those from Gibeon come to Joshua and deceived him into making a treaty of peace that was built on lies. Notice these three words in connection with them, deception, peace and lies. Hananiah has the same deceptive nature, he preaches “peace” and surrounds it with a “lie.” He probably knew Zedekiah had gone to Babylon and thought the results would match his prophecy, his message supports the king, like the False Prophet’s message will support the Antichrist. Hananiah was political and religious, a dangerous combination for a man of God. In the last days these two men, will work “hand in glove,” each supporting the other and both deceiving the world: politics and religion are seen joined.

The Confrontation: The one who confronts Jeremiah is Hananiah, he is Jeremiah’s rival, he knows Jeremiah’s message opposes his message, and his purpose is to cause doubts about Jeremiah’s message. This is a power struggle between two prophets who have two opposing messages. Jeremiah says that Hananiah “spake unto me,” he didn’t speak to the people, his message is directed at Jeremiah, a man whose message has opposed him and angered him. He stands “in the house of the Lord” and gives this prophecy, and what is so sad is that he stands in God’s house and denies God’s Word. This place becomes his pulpit. Maybe he thought a lie would be more believable because it was told in God’s house, it shows how little regard He had for the Lord. Revelation says the False Prophet will deceive them with his message and lies and say that they should make an image to the beast (Rev 13:14). When that image is placed in the temple, it becomes “the abomination that maketh desolate” (Dan 12:11; Dan 9:27). Jeremiah’s day was a day of lies and the last days will be filled with the same lies. Paul saw that in the last days there would be lies told in the house of the Lord and they would be believed as truth and he saw those that had “a form of godliness but denied the power thereof” (2 Ti 3:5). The admonition for then and now is to “believe not every spirit but try the spirits” to see whether they are of the Lord or not.

Hananiah makes sure that though he is speaking to Jeremiah, that he has an audience that will hear what he has to say. He speaks in the “presence of the priests and all the people.” I believe he knew the priests would support him and that the people would “hearken” to him although Jeremiah in the previous chapter had admonished them not to listen to these false prophets. These two groups (the priests and the people) will become witnesses to these two opposing messages, they will witness this battle and decide who to believe.

Where Would We Be Without Jesus?