.23:9-12.
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Lying prophets (Jer 23:9-32)
From denouncing the political leaders, Jeremiah turns to denounce the spiritual leaders. He is filled with sorrow and anguish as he thinks of the evil of these people and the terrible judgment God will send them (Jer 23:9).
They have encouraged idolatrous worship and immoral behaviour in every place, even in the temple of God. For this reason the land has already experienced God’s judgment and worse is to come (Jer 23:10-12).
Baal worship in the northern kingdom and its capital Samaria was bad enough, but the situation is even worse in the southern capital, Jerusalem. The place is as immoral as Sodom or Gomorrah and is worthy of divine punishment (Jer 23:13-15).
The false prophets speak not God’s words but their own. They encourage the people to do as they please, assuring them that God will not punish them (Jer 23:16-17).
The reason the false prophets do not understand God’s wrath is that they do not understand God. Their minds have never been taught by him (Jer 23:18-20).
In spite of this they preach as if their words are the words of God (Jer 23:21).
If the false prophets had heard God’s words as Jeremiah had, they would announce God’s judgment on wrongdoers, not his approval of them. They would be turning people from sin, not encouraging them in it (Jer 23:22).
When false prophets say what they like as if God cannot hear or see them, they are demonstrating their folly. Nothing can be hidden from God (Jer 23:23-24).
God sees what they are doing and he is displeased. Their ‘prophecies’ originate in their own dreams and ideas (Jer 23:25-27).
The messages of the false prophets are like straw, whereas the messages of the true prophets are like wheat. They nourish what is good. At the same time they are like fire or a hammer, because they destroy what is worthless (Jer 23:28-29).
False prophets only lie and deceive. They even take the words of the true prophets and misapply them in order to support their own ideas. In this way they lead people astray (Jer 23:30-32).