Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"A yoke of iron"
Text: Jeremiah 28:14
A CLEVER FALSE PROPHET
Hananiah was a false prophet and a clever one too! He could not give an alternative to what Jeremiah had suggested. He would have been defeated but he cleverly sought to outwit Jeremiah!
“Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke
off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.
And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying,
‘Thus says the LORD:
‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon from the neck of all nations
within the space of two full years.”
And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,
after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke
from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
‘Go and tell Hananiah, saying,
‘Thus says the LORD:
‘You have broken the yokes of wood,
but you have made in their place yokes of iron.’
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations,
that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;
and they shall serve him.
I have given him the beasts of the field also.”'”
Jeremiah 28:10-14
1. “Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it”
a) This action of Hananiah had a dramatic appeal.
b) The breaking of the wooden yoke was supposed to carry a powerful message.
2. “And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way”
a) Hananiah spoke to the people confidently.
b) He claimed to be a true prophet of the LORD.
i) God would break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.
ii) And He would break it in two years.
c) Jeremiah had no answer to what Hananiah did.
d) It seemed as if he was defeated by Hananiah the false prophet.
3. “Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying”
a) God was not to be outdone by Hananiah.
b) He was not impressed by what the false prophet did.
4. “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: ‘You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.” For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also'”
a) This was the word that the LORD gave to Jeremiah.
b) “The yokes of wood”
i) They may have been broken
ii) But the word that Jeremiah spoke was still the truth.
c) “The yokes of iron”
i) Hananiah was wrong in his assessment of the power of Nebuchadnezzar.
ii) The new symbol was given- it was a yoke of iron.
d) King Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke upon the confederation of nations.
i) It was a yoke that cannot be broken easily.
ii) Certainly not by the Confederation of nations (Jeremiah 27:3).
e) God’s decree cannot be set aside by anyone.
i) The nations would serve Nebuchadnezzar.
ii) Even the beasts of the field would serve the Babylonian king.