Day 507: Proving a prophet - Jeremiah 27 vs 12 - 22

12 To Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14-15 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon’,  for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

16-17 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon’, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation? 18 If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. 

19-21 For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem - thus says the  Lord  of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22 They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” Jeremiah 27:12-22 English Standard Version

After telling the envoys that Kings of nearby nations had sent to Jerusalem to plot against the Babylonians that God's message was that they should surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Jeremiah gave the same message to King Zedekiah of Judea. But he was bitterly opposed by other prophets who were saying Babylon would soon fall and their troubles would be over. What is the 'test' Jeremiah put concerning those false prophets? (vs 18)

The background to Jeremiah's words, and what the other prophets were saying in vs 16-17, is from what happened during the reign of the previous king, Jehoiachin. We read in the Old Testament in 2 Chronicles 36:6-7 that Jehoiachin only reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and “in the spring of that year King Nebuchadnezzar brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the House of the Lord, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.” So Jeremiah's challenge was not only that their prophesy that the Temple articles would shortly come back needed to be fulfilled, but they needed to prevent the rest of the Temple treasures from being taken to Babylon as well. Look what Jeremiah himself prophesied about the remaining Temple treasures in vs 22.

Jeremiah's prophesy came true and theirs didn’t. Some 10 years later the remaining Temple treasures were taken to Babylon where they stayed for over 60 years. Then, in the Old Testament book called Ezra, we read these words: “In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt . . . and also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”’ Jeremiah exposed the false prophets with a test Moses had given to Israel when he said: “When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message doesn't come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord hasn't spoken. The prophet spoke it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:22) We must also put things that people claim to say 'in God's name' today to the test of God's word.