Jeremiah 28 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application
Jeremiah 28 Bible Study
INTRO AND TIMELINE:
Jeremiah was a priest who lived in Anathoth (3 miles from Jerusalem). His ministry was directed towards the people of Judah, immediately before and during their exile in Babylon. His work as a prophet dates from 627 BC through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC.
Jeremiah is the longest book in the English Bible by word count. The book has 52 chapters.
Jeremiah prophesied under the following Kings of Judah:
Manasseh (687-642 BC)
Amos (642-640 BC)
Josiah (640-609 BC)
Jehoiakim (initially known as Eliakim, 609-598 BC)
Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah or Coniah, 598-597 BC)
Zedekiah (His reign ended when Babylon conquered Judah, (597-586 BC)
ZEDEKIAH’S MISTAKE:
Jeremiah was told by God to wear a yoke as a symbol that Judah and their neighbors would soon wear the yoke of service to Babylon.
OUTLINE:
THE FALSE PROPHET HANANIAH (28:1-11):
In the early years of the reign of King Zedekiah, the same year as the events recorded in Jeremiah 27, a prophet named Hananiah prophesied to the people that God would break the yoke of the king of Babylon and return the exiles to Judah within 2 years.
Hananiah took the wooden yoke that Jeremiah wore (27:2) and broke it before the people.
He told the people that within 2 years all the vessels from the Temple that had been taken by the Babylonians would be brought back, and Jeconiah, the exiled king, would return to Jerusalem.
This was all in direct contradiction to Jeremiah’s prophecies (22:24-30; 27:7, 16).
Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah and expressed his wish that his prophecies would come to pass. He said, “Amen, May the Lord do so!”
But Jeremiah knew all Hananiah’s prophesies were made up, they weren’t actually from the Lord.
Jeremiah told Hananiah that their prophesies would be tested by the events of the near future, then all the people would know who truly spoke for God.
HANANIAH’S FATE (28:12-17):
God was angry with Hananiah and the other false prophets in Judah.
He told Jeremiah that though Hananiah had broken a wooden yoke, Babylon would place an iron yoke on Judah that could not be broken.
Jeremiah was to find Hananiah and inform him that he would die that same year because of the way he misspoke and misrepresented God.
Sure enough, in the 7th month of that year, Hananiah died.
APPLICATION:
Evidently, a lot of the people in Judah didn’t like Jeremiah’s preaching and tried to discredit him because he preached messages about judgement, war, famine, and pestilence.
But Jeremiah pointed out that the genuine prophets of God that preceded him had been prophesying those things against great kingdoms for generations (28:8). They couldn’t write him off just because they didn’t like his message. He was following in the footsteps of other great messengers of God, and the people should have recognised that.
But the people only wanted to hear messages about peace.
Doesn’t that still happen today?
People want to hear about God’s grace, His mercy, His love, etc…But as soon as someone starts talking about judgement and punishment for sins, people get uncomfortable and some become hostile to the teacher.
I’d suggest to you that if you have a teacher who only preaches peace and never touches on judgement, who never rebukes, and who never discusses hell and consequences for sin, then you don’t have a teacher who is following in the footsteps of God’s prophets.
God’s messengers have never exclusively come bearing messages of reassuring peace.
Respect those teachers who do talk about those hard truths. It isn’t enjoyable to rebuke or talk about God’s anger against sin, but it is a necessary part of preaching the complete message of God.
