Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Kitto Evening Bible Devotions: May 20
Today is: Friday, April 26th, 2024 (Show Today's Devotion)
Select a Day for a Devotion in the Month of May: (Show All Months)
Jeremiah 27-28
To enforce this doctrine of public policy, the prophet was instructed to make certain yokes, and send them to the neighboring princes of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, by the ambassadors whom they had sent to Jerusalem to confer with king Zedekiah, doubtless with a view to some confederate action against the Chaldean power—enjoining them to wear the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, into whose hand all these lands had been given. What reception this extraordinary message met with from these foreign kings we know not. It had perhaps more effect than we may suppose; for it does not appear that these powers saw fit in the end to lend any aid to the Jews in their revolt, and we know that some aided the Chaldeans against them, and exulted in their destruction.
We do know, however, what reception this significant message met with at home, and what became of the yoke which the prophet was instructed to wear upon his own neck, while he enforced the like counsel upon his own king and people. To our notions, this was a strange spectacle, and a singular mode of preaching to kings and courts. We are, in fact, not very well able to appreciate the force and emphasis which this typical representation gave to the utterances of the prophets, to a people who were used to be taught by such signs, and to whose genius they appear to have been peculiarly suited. “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will ye die—thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?” This was the purport of the message which he thus delivered before king Zedekiah and his court, and of which, when once delivered, his continuing to wear the yoke in public, as he did, was a standing memorial, continually reminding those who saw it of the declaration which it symbolized and embodied. He even appeared with it in the temple, to the inner courts of which he, as a priest, had access. He was thus one day in the temple, when he was accosted by Hananiah the son of Azur, of Gibeon, who, in the presence of the priests and the people, dared to deliver a counter-prophecy in the name of the Lord, declaring that the yoke of the king of Babylon was broken, and that within two years all the spoils of the temple should be brought back, and that the captive king, Jeconiah, and all the other captives, should return. “Amen; the Lord do so,” responded Jeremiah; but he warned him that there were signs and fulfillments, by which the people would soon learn whether such prophets of peace as he, were sent from God or not.
But Hananiah persisted, and snatching the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck, broke it, and by a curious appropriation and transfer of the symbol, cried: “Thus saith the Lord, 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.”
And what said—what did, Jeremiah, at this high-handed blasphemy and outrage? He did nothing, said nothing—“And Jeremiah the prophet went his way,” is all that the record states. This is rare conduct—singular self-control; but it is strikingly indicative of the character of the man. He saw that the case had gone out of his hands—had attained a point to which his commission did not reach; and it therefore behooved him to restrain the natural expression of his indignation, and await in patience the Lord’s decision in his own cause.
He had not long to wait. This word of the Lord soon came: “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. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the King of Israel, I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him.”
Besides this there was a word of doom for Hananiah himself. He had imposed upon the Lord the necessity of vindicating his insulted message, and to avouch the truth of his messenger; and it had become needful to show that, while in any case it was no light matter to prophesy a lie in the name of the Lord, the offence became doubly atrocious when the lie was framed for the very purpose of nullifying a true message, and of discrediting a true messenger. Therefore, the prophet, after a brief and solemn pause, again bespoke the attention of Hananiah and the people; and his voice became awful with the tones of judgment, as he said: “Hear now, Hananiah. The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Behold I will cast thee from off the face of the earth. This year shalt thou die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.” And what was the result? Nothing more nor less than this is said: “So Hananiah the prophet died the same year, in the seventh month.” This simple record of the result has always seemed to us unequalled in that simplicity which rises to grandeur. Here is no carefulness of minute statement as to exact fulfillment; no call to admiration at the effect of the Lord’s judgment. “So Hananiah died;” that is all. There is a world of meaning in that “So,”—indicating that it was simply the most natural and inevitable thing in the world that Hananiah should die—nothing at all to marvel at that he did die—when his doom had been thus denounced.
But further, take notice of the date of Hananiah’s death. It was important for the object in view that it should not be long delayed. Nor was it. The cursory reader may think that he was to die within twelve months, which seems too large a latitude in a case, of signal judgment like this. But it is not so. It is said that he should die before the expiry of the then current year, in the fifth month of which the prophecy was delivered; and, in fact, he died in the seventh month. Which was only two months after the doom was denounced and while, therefore, that denunciation was fresh in the recollection of the people.
This transaction doubtless tended much for a time to secure greater attention and respect for the prophet’s utterances.