Jeremiah 28:4, commentary and pictures

This verse belongs to the record of the letters and the conflict between true and false prophets during the Babylonian captivity. It records Hananiah's false prediction that God would soon bring Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim and the captives of Judah back to Jerusalem from Babylon and break the yoke and rule of the king of Babylon. The false promise specified that the exile would end within two years.

It was a pleasing promise of prosperity that stood in contrast to Jeremiah's warnings of sin and punishment. That reassurance confirmed the people in their sin and strengthened their resistance to Jeremiah's counsel. The promise opposed Jeremiah's message that Judah was to submit to Babylon for the time and period God had appointed and set.

Return could come only if the people repented and obeyed God's law. Jeremiah himself wished for the captives' return, but said it could happen only on those terms of repentance and obedience. The promise to break Babylon's yoke and bring Jeconiah and the captives back belonged to God's plan, but it did not mean immediate release, so the promised early deliverance was not God's plan.

Submission would have meant a lighter, wooden yoke and a limited, more bearable servitude, with God restraining Babylon so there would be no loss of life or galling oppression. By resisting and trusting false prophets the people brought on themselves the harsher yoke of iron and the full severity of Babylonian bondage. God urged the people to repent so he could spare them humiliation and subjection to a heathen nation. The promise of the captives' return was sure as part of Jeremiah's testimony about Israel's restoration, and Daniel later understood from Jeremiah's prophecies that Jerusalem's desolation would last seventy years.