Jeremiah and the False
Prophet Hananiah
It was the same year, in
the fifth month (Av) that Jeremiah appeared in the Beis Hamikdosh. He was met
by Hananiah the son of Azzur, a self styled prophet from Gibeon, who declared
in the presence of Jeremiah and all the Kohanim and the people:
"Thus said the L-rd of
Hosts, the G-d of Israel: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two full years I will bring back into this place all the vessels of
G-d's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and
carried them to Babylon. And I will bring back to this place Jechoniah, the son
of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah...' "
Jeremiah promptly replied,
"Amen! May the L-rd do so... but only that prophet whose word comes true
shall be known that G-d has truly sent him."
Then Hananiah brazenly
grabbed the yoke from Jeremiah's neck and broke it, saying, "Thus says the
L-rd: just so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the
neck of all the nations within the space of two full years!"
With a troubled spirit
Jeremiah went his way. It pained him to think that at such a critical time,
when the fate of the Jewish people hung in the balance, there should be false
prophets among them, and, worse still, that there were many Jews who allowed
themselves to be misled and deceived by them.
Then the word of G-d came
to Jeremiah, ordering him to go to Hananiah and tell him: "Thus said G-d:
You have broken bars of wood, but you shall make for them bars of iron... Hear
now, Hananiah, G-d has not sent you, but you have made the people trust in a
lie. Therefore... I will cast you from the face of the earth; this year you
shall die, because you taught rebellion against G-d." Hananiah died the
same year, in the seventh month (Ch. 28).
Jeremiah's Letter to the
Exiles
Though Zedekiah turned a
deaf ear to the warnings and pleadings of the Prophet Jeremiah, and secretly
plotted against Nebuchadnezzar, he still pretended to be loyal to the
Babylonian king. Little did he know that his policy would lead to the
inevitable fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh seven
years later.
On his part, Jeremiah,
while still trying to save his people from the destruction against which he
warned them, knew that the survival of the Jewish people would depend on the
surviving remnants, the captives and exiles that were driven from the Land of
Israel to a land not theirs, among nations not of their kind. Other nations -
more numerous and more powerful than the tiny nation of Israel - once they were
conquered and exiled from their land, soon disappeared without a trace; they
assimilated and were completely absorbed by their conquerors. This was not to
happen to the Jewish people. It was vitally important that the Jewish exiles
should know that they had to carry on and preserve their way of life and Jewish
identity even after the loss of their homeland, and while living as a small
minority among the nations of the world. And so, when Zedekiah sent two
emissaries to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah sent with them a
letter addressed to the Jewish elders and captives, with a Divine message that
was to serve as a guideline for Jewish survival. It read, in parts, as follows:
"Thus said the L-rd of
Hosts, the G-d of Israel, unto all the exiles whom I have exiled from Jerusalem
unto Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their
fruit. Take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons,
and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and
multiply, and do not diminish. And seek the peace of the city in which I caused
you to be exiled, and pray unto G-d for it; for in its peace you shall have
peace... "
After warning again not to
be misled by false prophets and dreamers, Jeremiah tells them that, to be sure,
the exile is a temporary one, but nevertheless long enough to settle down to a
normal life, with complete trust in G-d that He will redeem the remnants of His
people and return them to their homeland. Jeremiah even pinpointed the length
of the Babylonian Exile:
"For thus says the
L-rd: After the completion of seventy years in Babylon, I will visit you and
fulfill My good word toward you to return you to this place. For I know the
thoughts that I think about you, says G-d; thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
to give you a future and hope. (In the meantime) you shall call upon Me, and
walk in My way, and pray unto Me, and I will hear you. And if you seek Me, you
will find Me, if you search for Me with all your heart... And I will bring back
your captivity, and will gather you from all nations, and from all the places
whither I have driven you, says G-d; and I will bring you back into the place
from which I have exiled you... (Jer. ch. 29)."
Jeremiah's message made a
tremendous impression upon the Jewish exiles in Babylon. It breathed new life
into them, and encouraged them, for they knew exactly what they had to do.
Thus, seventy years after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh by
Nebuchadnezzar, the community of the faithful who returned from Exile, rebuilt
the Beis Hamikdosh and Jerusalem, exactly as Jeremiah had prophesied.
Although
Jeremiah's letter was addressed primarily to the exiles in Babylon, it was a
clear and lasting message for Jews at all times, including the time of the
present long Exile, since the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdosh nearly
two thousand years ago. Throughout this longest and darkest exile, Jews
dispersed among the nations of the world have lived, as we still do, by the
words of this Divine message of Jeremiah and by the prophecies of our other
Divine prophets, and we are certain that G-d will keep His promise and send us
His true redeemer, our righteous Moshiach, who will gather our
exiles and lead us to Jerusalem, and rebuild the (third) Beis Hamikdosh, in a
world that will finally recognize the supreme Heavenly kingdom on earth, under
the guidance of the Chosen People, the People of the Torah.
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