Jeremiah 28. The Prophecy and Fate of Hananiah. Whilst Jeremiah still wears the symbolic yoke (Jeremiah 27:2), his testimony concerning it is opposed by another prophet, Hananiah of Gibeon (5 m. NW. of Jerusalem), who declares that the yoke shall be broken, the Temple vessels, the king, and the exiles brought back, within two years (Jeremiah 28:1). Jeremiah wishes it might be true, but points out the predominant pessimism of prophecy hitherto, which throws the onus of proof on the event itself, in case of an exceptional prophecy of peace (Jeremiah 28:5; cf. Deuteronomy 18:21 f.). Hananiah reasserts his prophecy, confirming it by breaking the yoke on the neck of Jeremiah, who makes no reply (Jeremiah 28:10 f.). But, subsequently, Jeremiah receives a Divine word telling Hananiah that a yoke of iron shall replace the yoke of wood, that he is a false prophet, and shall die within the year, as actually takes place (Jeremiah 28:12). Note the dependence of the prophetic consciousness on psychological factors beyond the prophet's conscious control; on general grounds, Jeremiah does not believe Hananiah, but only after an interval does some new psychological experience authorise Jeremiah to embody his disbelief in an oracle of Yahweh. Cf. the similar interval of waiting for the word in Jeremiah 42:7.

Jeremiah 28:13. thou shalt: read, with LXX, I will.

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