Jeremiah "the Ruins of Jerusalem"
The Mattel Magic 8 Ball toy of the 1950’s is still around. My sister and I argued over whose turn it was to query the Magic 8 Ball. As teens we read monthly horoscopes for futuristic star-aligned predictions. Our mother cautioned us that any source of fortune telling was scripturally unsound. Sometimes she followed up with a line from Que Sera, Sera, “the future's not ours to see.” The desire for a glimpse of the future is an age old ever present human desire. The abundance of false prophets, especially during times of despair and rebellion against God is also ever present. Matthew 24:11 The Word of God is our ever unchanging source of information and direction.
In ancient times, an oracle was someone who offered advice or a prophecy thought to have come directly from a divine source. The clash between Jeremiah and the prophet Hananiah occurred in the fourth year of Zedekiah (594-3 B.C.), while the weakened remnant of Judah was brooding over the blow delivered by Nebuchadnezzar in the first deportation of (597 B.C.). The people were anxious for peace and restoration.
For some time, Jeremiah had been wearing a wooden yoke around his neck, symbolizing the necessity of submission to the Chaldeans. This offended the more popular mainstream prophets. Hananiah met Jeremiah in the temple court. There in the presence of all the priests he broke the yoke around Jeremiah’s neck, further challenging him by prophesying in the name of Yahweh that within two years the vessels taken to Babylon would be restored to the temple and King Johoichin with all the captives would be brought back. Jeremiah recalled the word of the Lord from Deuteronomy18:22. When the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known as one the Lord has truly sent.” We see a very different and tragic outcome of Hananiah’s prophecy as we come to the end of the chapter.
Jeremiah 28::1-17
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