Lives of Scripture

Hananiah, son of Azzur, was a prophet from Gibeon who confronted Jeremiah publicly in the temple during the early reign of Zedekiah, while Babylon's power over Judah was mounting (Jeremiah 28:1). Jeremiah had been wearing a wooden yoke as a sign that Judah must submit to Babylonian rule for the time God had appointed. Hananiah declared instead, "in the name of the LORD," that within two years God would break Babylon's yoke and bring back the exiled king Jeconiah, the temple vessels, and all the captives (28:2-4). Jeremiah answered that he wished it were so, but that true prophets are known by whether their words come to pass (28:5-9). Hananiah then seized the wooden yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it in front of the people, repeating his false promise (28:10-11). The LORD then sent Jeremiah back with a sharper word: the broken wooden yoke would be replaced with an iron one -- Babylon's rule would be harder, not shorter -- and because Hananiah had made the people trust a lie, he would die within the year, "for you have counseled rebellion against the LORD" (28:12-16). Hananiah died two months later, in the seventh month of that same year (28:17), a sobering example of the weight Scripture places on those who speak falsely in God's name.