Jeremiah 28 is a great account of two prophets contradicting each other’s prophetic words while standing among the people and priests on the Temple Mount in the year 593 BC.

This exchange of words and prophetic threats takes place four years after Nebuchadnezzar’s second deportation of 10,000 Jews back to Babylon. This included 18 year old King Jehoiachin and 25 year old Ezekiel in 597 BC. (2 Kings 24:11-18; 2 Chronicles 36:9-10)

Now, four years later in 593 BC in chapter 27 Jeremiah had put on a wooden yoke to indicate the Lord’s approval of Nebuchadnezzar’s oppression of Judah in Jeremiah 27:2-11:

“Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck…Now I will had all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar…If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation…So do not listen to your prophets…who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ They prophesy lies to you…”

Apparently, one of the prophets of grace who was speaking words of hope and encouragement to Judah was the prophet Hananiah. The name Hananiah appropriately means, “Yahweh is gracious” and “The Lord is Gracious.” We can suppose that Hananiah felt obligated to speak words of God’s grace to the people and to stand against the negative messages of the oppressive, hateful and unpatriotic Jeremiah. Surely, wearing a wooden ox yoke into the Temple courts of the gracious Lord to represent the oppression and suffering caused by a pagan king was not appropriate.  The priests and the people should not have to tolerate Jeremiah’s ridiculous proclamation that the Lord approved of this foreign invasion!

So, on that August day in 593 Hananiah stepped up to rebuke Jeremiah’s oppressive words and his offensive sign of the yoke. Hananiah gave the people his own prophecy from the gracious Lord. Hananiah proclaimed his message to a crowd that surely responded by breaking out in loud applause and cheering:

'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
"I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.  Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin… declares the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”  - Jeremiah 28:3-4

Who can argue with such a positive message filled with grace? So, Jeremiah replies with his own words of support:

“Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied!”

But, Jeremiah adds a scriptural warning supported with scriptural references by saying that Hananiah’s words of grace must come true:

“The prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.”

The cheering subsides as the people listen to Jeremiah’s warning of rebuke. Hananiah feels compelled to recapture the moment with a dramatic display that would surely bring the crowd back to an emotional frenzy. Hananiah removes the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and breaks the yoke as his own personal sign of rejection of Jeremiah’s words. But, as the crowd cheered, Hananiah’s actions were merely a conformation of the nation’s rebellion against the Lord.

In this contest between the dueling prophets on the Temple Mount, Jeremiah responds appropriately with a prophetic message, first, for the people. Then, second, for Hananiah, the prophet of the Lord’s Graciousness.

First, the broken wooden yoke would be replaced by Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke of iron.

Second, the prophetic word for Hananiah:

"I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord." 
- Jeremiah 28:16

Hananiah died two months later in October of 593 BC.