Jeremiah 28:1-11 (12-17)
In the 28th chapter of Jeremiah, there is a conflict between 2 prophets. Jeremiah and Hananiah go toe to toe and prophecy to prophecy. If you’ve never heard of Hananiah, then you already know who ‘won.’ Jeremiah responds to a prophecy from Hananiah that things will all be the same as it was before (back to normal) by defeating Babylon and its king, right after Jeremiah has told the people to submit to Babylon.
Hananiah contradicts Jeremiah. Jeremiah responds by challenging the easiness of proving a prophecy of war, plague, or destruction with the difficulty of seeing peace realized.
Why does it take so long to prove prophets of peace correct? What does it take to bring about war or conflict? What does it take to make peace? More than the work to bring about peace or conflict, why are we human beings more willing to believe that conflict is the way God does things than peace? Why do we lean towards conflict? How does God lean?
