10 Jeremiah 23:9-33 Who should we listen to?

by Krisan Marotta | Feb 1, 2017 | 01 Podcasts, Jeremiah

We live in a world of a million conflicting voices today. You can be constantly updated with tweets, texts, alerts and notifications. Which voice has authority? Which voice can be trusted?

In Jeremiah 23:9-33, God addresses this issue of these different voices, criticizing those prophets who claim to speak for Him, but really don’t. In 23:1-8“, the Lord called out Judah ’s political leaders; in this section He calls out her spiritual leaders.

Historical Setting

Jeremiah began his ministry as the dominant world power, the Assyrians, descended into civil war. As the Assyrians began to lose their power, Babylon and Egypt sought to occupy the power vacuum that the Assyrians would leave. In the midst of this political turmoil the Lord calls Jeremiah. His job is to predict and warn of the coming Babylonian invasion and the restoration that would follow the exile.

The False Prophets

9As for the prophets: My heart is broken within me, All my bones tremble; I have become like a drunken man, Even like a man overcome with wine, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words. 10For the land is full of adulterers; For the land mourns because of the curse. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course also is evil And their might is not right. 11″For both prophet and priest are polluted; Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD. 12″Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them, They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it; For I will bring calamity upon them, The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD. 13″Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. 14″Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15″Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets, ‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood And make them drink poisonous water, For from the prophets of Jerusalem Pollution has gone forth into all the land.'” 16 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. 17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace”‘; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ 18″But who has stood in the council of the LORD, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?
Jer 23:19 “Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath, Even a whirling tempest; It will swirl down on the head of the wicked. 20″The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; In the last days you will clearly understand it. 21″I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied. 22″But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds. – Jeremiah 23:9-22

“Heart” (23:9) refers to min and will, not emotions. The ancient Hebrews considered the heart the seat of the intellect.
“In My House” (23:11) refers to the temple.
The false prophets are polluted. They were encouraging inappropriate activity and calling it religion.
The false prophets are pretending. They claim to speak for the Lord when they are not.
They promise a false hope. They tell the people exactly what the people want to hear, minimizing sin and maximizing prosperity.
The Lord takes His people through suffering, not around it.

23″Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off? 24″Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD. 25″I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26″How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? 28 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. 29″Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30″Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. 31″Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 32″Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD. 33″Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ The LORD declares, ‘I will abandon you.’ – Jeremiah 23:23-33

“Near gods” were local regional deities that had to be placated to obtain blessing.
Dreams were considered an inferior means of revelation. None of the Old Testament prophets received revelation from the Lord in a dream.
The false prophets want to use the Lord for their own purposes, but the Lord cannot be used.
The Lord is not a regional local deity that be manipulated.
The Lord’s Word cannot be thwarted.
Compare with John 10:24-29.

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.