Today’s reading: Jeremiah 28; Romans 4
I am honestly amazed at the audacity of Hananiah to knowingly speak lying words from the Lord in Jeremiah 28.
When I see this kind of thing happening today, it makes a lot more sense to me. It’s still disgusting, but it makes more sense. We live in an incredibly materialistic culture (materialistic in terms of the belief that the material world is all that exists or is important), so for someone to not believe in Christianity, but to see it as a great platform to make money makes sense. If you don’t believe in God, why not take advantage of the poor, gullible souls who do to make some easy money?
But the people in Jeremiah’s day viewed the spiritual world very differently than we do today. There was no atheist in the ancient world. Even if you didn’t follow a nation’s gods, that didn’t mean you didn’t believe those gods existed, it just meant you didn’t follow them. So even if Hananiah had started worshipping Baal or some other god, he would very likely still have believed Yahweh existed. So to be willing to stand on Yahweh’s turf, and boldly claim to be speaking for Him, when in reality you have no word from Him, is just insane to me. Add to that the fact that Jeremiah has been right so far at every turn, Hananiah has the audacity to claim he has a word from God in direct opposition to the only prophet who has successfully spoken for God.
I’m not honestly surprised to read that God strikes Hananiah down for this.
It’s not the same, but it puts me in mind of the warning in James 3, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” To stand up and claim to be speaking for the God of gods and Lord of lords is no small thing. It can be good and proper, but it’s also weighty. Whether it’s God directly speaking through a prophet like Jeremiah, a pastor teaching a church, or even just some guy with a blog about the Bible, teaching God’s Word is a privilege and a stewardship that should never be taken lightly. I have felt that weight and privilege every time I have taught the Bible over the years, and I feel it every day as I write these posts. Maybe that’s why I am so astounded at Hananiah’s willingness to knowingly declare lies as truth from the Lord.
I guess that is maybe a good takeaway though from today’s reading, “Don’t make stuff up and claim it’s from the Lord; it may not end well for you if you do.”
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