Hananiah

Overview

  • Testament: Old
  • Role: False prophet who opposed Jeremiah’s yoke message
  • Family: Son of Azzur, from Gibeon
  • Key Books: Jeremiah

Biography

Hananiah confronted Jeremiah in the temple and announced that Babylon’s yoke would be broken within two years. To dramatize his message, he broke Jeremiah’s wooden yoke.

Jeremiah answered that the wooden yoke would become an iron yoke and declared that Hananiah had made the people trust a lie. Hananiah died that same year, confirming Jeremiah’s word.

Key Events

Relationships

  • Jeremiah - True prophet he opposed
  • Zedekiah - King living under the Babylonian yoke

Important Verses

  • Jeremiah 28:1-17

Cross-References

Notes

Hananiah shows that comforting prophecy can be false when it contradicts the hard word God has actually spoken.