Jeremiah 23c. Becoming Worthless.
God has, through the preaching of Jeremiah, established a sustained critique of kings and prophets, a condemnation of authoritarians and charlatans. Now God warns the people themselves about listening to too much TV and reading too many conspiracy theories online.
Jeremiah 23:16-17.
Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They keep saying to those who despise the word of the LORD, “It shall be well with you,” and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, “No calamity shall come upon you.”
The Hebrew verb that God uses here for “they are deluding you” is habal and we have seen a variation of it before. It appeared in Chapter 2 verse 4 where God queried the people of Judah like this:
“Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the LORD:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me and went after worthless things
and became worthless themselves?
In that study just over a year ago (9/14/25), I made these comments:
“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah has an interesting word play here. God says the people “went after hebel and became habal.” These are related Hebrew words. Hebel is often translated as worthless idols since it is a noun. Habal is a verb and could be translated ‘to become worthless’. Of course, there are no vowels in Hebrew and so both words are h.b.l. This is also related to an ancient Arabian god Hubal, perhaps a shortened form of Hu-baal, reminding us of the Ba’als we have heard about in the Bible.”
“An anthropologist acquaintance of mine writes: ‘I use idolatry to recognize: conflating things finite with the infinite; ignoring or demeaning anything that might defy sovereign human reason; and viewing as given things fleeting and transient, thereby bestowing sovereignty where none applies’ (Khaled Furani, Redeeming Anthropology: A Theological Critique of a Modern Science. 2019. Pages 148-149). He points out the famous phrase from Ecclesiastes: ‘Vanity of vanities’ (1:2), or ‘hebel habalim’, which represents ‘the human mind’s confusion as to the aims of a life of devotion’ (Furani, page 150).”
In our passage for today, God again makes the claim that the false prophets speak in worthless and empty words that makes the people who believe them worthless and vain. God says that these false prophets are getting their stories from other sources, not from God himself. Thus, they are ‘deluding’ the people.
Jeremiah 23:18.
For who has stood in the council of the LORD
so as to see and to hear his word?
Who has given heed to his word
so as to proclaim it?
Here Jeremiah goes to the source. The false prophets have not stood in the council room of the LORD (metaphor). Instead, they have sought visions in their own minds and that is what they talk about. They get an audience by claiming to have a vision or dream with a new word from God. It is easier and it is more profitable to be a preacher who tells the audience that they are the chosen ones, blessed by God, and positioned to be prosperous because that is what God wants for them. Jeremiah shows what a true message from God looks like.
Jeremiah 23:19-20a.
Look, the storm of the LORD!
Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his mind.
If they really were prophets, they would repeat what they hear from God and do what God does. Notice Jeremiah’s call: “you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you” (Jeremiah 1:7). The messages that God gave Jeremiah were so horrendous that they made Jeremiah sick (Jeremiah 8:18-21), so much so that Jeremiah accused God of tricking him into a bad deal (Jeremiah 20:7-10, 14-18).
Today we already have a large volume of words that God has spoken; it's called ‘the Bible’. We should ask our politicians and preachers today: ‘Who have you been listening to?’ Jeremiah says that God is on the move and there is disaster coming, but the false prophets see nothing on their radar.
Jeremiah 23:20b-22.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way
and from the evil of their doings.
God is not talking about the end of the world or the end of time here, but just about a time coming, likely after Judah’s defeat and exile, when “you will understand clearly.” The false prophets ran as if they were on a mission for God; but God did not send them. The false prophets spoke as if they had a message from God; but God did not inform them. How do we know? The real message from God would demand repentance by the people, reform by the government, and renewal by the religious congregations. People would “turn from their evil ways.”
The fact that there was no national repentance, no national confession of sin, and no attempt by leaders and priests to mend their ways shows that the people of Judah and the nation of Judah were listening to false prophets. ‘Don’t worry. We are in control and we know what we are doing. Everything will be all right’.
By contrast, the true message from God sounds like this: “Woe to the king who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing and does not give them their wages. A leader should do justice and righteousness and defend the cause of the poor and needy. Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a never-ending stream. The Kingdom of God is near, and it is not like any worldly nation; it is much better.”
God’s kingdom is near? How near?