False Prophets

This verse scares me to death. Jeremiah 23:16, 21
Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord.” 21 “I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied.”

These specific words are not too scary. Or are they? (Paraphrase) “They speak, but I did not speak. They run but I did not send.” Reading on a little farther should make every “teacher” and “prophet” think twice and make sure that he or she is not “making it up.” The background is that twice, in Jeremiah 25:12 and 29:10, Jeremiah repeats Isaiah’s prophesy that Israel would be overthrown by Babylon and adds that the captivity will last for 70 years. This is in light of some guys* saying the opposite. (Jeremiah 27:9-10) (*Pretend prophets.)
9 “But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10 For they prophesy a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish.” (God speaking through Jeremiah.)

The lie continued in Jeremiah 29:14-17.
“So do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you; 15 for I have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they prophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may drive you out and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

The fearsome part starts to show at the end of this passage. “...you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.” God is not giving the false prophets a pass. They are sealing their own punishment as well as those who listen to them. This is no trivial consideration. Speaking “for God” when God did not speak is a serious matter. Then the Lord extends the dire pronunciation to specific false prophets. This is chilling. (Deuteronomy 18:20 prescribes it.)

Jeremiah repeats his warning: (29:16, 17)
16 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 prophesy to you...for they are prophesying a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them.”

Chapter 28 recounts the episode of Hanniah who contradicted Jeremiah. We will summarize the results. (Jeremiah 28:16, 17)
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, (to Hanniah) “Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord.” 17 So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month.

But that was not all. The devastation continued in 29:8-10.
8 “Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

Notice the continuing emphasis on “not sending” and “did not speak to them.” Then in verses 21-23 the Lord specifically identifies two other false prophets. (What a way to get your name in the Bible.)
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name, “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them before your eyes. 22 Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,’ 23 because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness,” declares the Lord.”

We learn something more about these particular false prophets. They are either liars or lunatics or both to argue against God. They either twist or make up God’s Word. (We will discuss this in a subsequent consideration.)  And  now we find that they were adulterers. (Aside: This characteristic has marked cult leaders from Mohammed, to Joseph Smith, to Jim Jones, to the loonie who led his followers onto the space ship a few years ago. They were loose with the ladies from their virgin followers, to other men’s wives,  and often were also pedophiles. They targeted teen girls and even younger.)

Ahab and Zedekiah (no relation to their more famous namesakes) became a curse, a by-word, for their recklessness. And even Nebuchadnezzar seems to have been disgusted with their activities and utilized his “fiery furnace” for them. We do not know when this was in relation to Daniel’s buddies, but there was no “fourth man in the fire” for these bogus messengers.

As I said in the beginning. As a teacher, I try to be very circumspect about what I say, backing it up with Scripture as much as possible. When I am surmising, I try to be very diligent to point out that issue. As we examined earlier it is a good idea to keep quiet rather than make spurious statements. (If You Can't Predict the Future, Don't Claim to Be God.)

But, that was not all. Further in chapter 29 The Lord continued the excoriation of false prophets:
31 “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,” 32 therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares the Lord, “because he has preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”

All teachers should be sure that if they “run,” they have been sent. If they “speak,” limit it to what the Lord has said. The consequences are devastating. Like I said, this is scary.