Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Jeremiah
Book: Jeremiah
Chapter: 28
Overview:
A false
Prophet opposes
Jeremiah.
(1-9) The false
Prophet
warned of his approaching
Death.
(10-17)
1-9 Hananiah spoke a false
Prophecy. Here is not a
Word of good
counsel urging the Jews to repent and return to
God. He promises
temporal mercies, in
God's name, but makes
No mention of the
spiritual mercies which
God always promised with earthly
blessings. This was not the first time
Jeremiah had prayed for
the people, though he prophesied against them. He appeals to the
event, to prove
Hananiah's falsehood. The
Prophet who spake only
of peace and prosperity, without adding that they must not
By
wilful
Sin stop
God's favours, will be proved a false
Prophet.
Those who do not declare the alarming as
Well as the encouraging
parts of
God's
Word, and
Call men to
Repentance, and
Faith, and
Holiness, tread in the steps of the false prophets. The
Gospel
of
Christ encourages men to do
Works meet for
Repentance, but
gives
No encouragement to continue in
Sin.
10-17 Hananiah is sentenced to die, and
Jeremiah, when he has
received direction from
God, boldly tells him
So; but not before
he received that commission. Those have much to answer for, who
tell sinners that they shall have peace, though they harden
their hearts in contempt of
God's
Word. The servant of
God must
be gentle to all men. He must give up even his right, and leave
the
Lord to plead his cause. Every attempt of ungodly men to
make vain the purposes of
God, will add to their miseries.