Who was Hananiah in the Bible?

Son of Azur and the false prophet who withstood Jeremiah. He prophesied that God would break the yoke of the king of Babylon within two years. Jeremiah denounced his prophecy as a lie: he should die within a year, which took place in the seventh month. Jer. 28.

The Hebrew name of SHADRACH, a companion of Daniel. Dan. 1:6-19; Dan. 2:17.

Son of Zerubbabel. 1 Chr. 3:19, 21. This Hananiah is supposed to be the JOANNA of Luke 3:27 in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus.

Ruler of the palace, who had charge over Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah: he is described as a faithful man who feared God above many. Neh. 7:2.

THE PROPHETS in Jeremiah’s time included some of the very best, though there were also some of the worst. These latter, though moving among God’s people, “prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit” (Jer. 2:8); “The prophets prophesied falsely” (Jer. 5:31) and yet used the Lord’s name, though He “sent them not” (Jer. 14:15). Therefore “by sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.” Jeremiah’s heart was broken within him because of these prophets (Jer. 23:9). Adultery, lying, profanity, false dreaming, lightness, and lewdness characterized them; they were “as Sodom,” so debased had they become (Jer. 23:14). “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophet, says the Lord” (Jer. 23:30). In Jeremiah 28 we read of Hananiah, who prophesied falsely in the Name of the Lord. Opposing Jeremiah, he made the people to trust in a lie. “Therefore thus says the Lord; behold I will cast thee from off the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die, because thou hadst taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh mouth” (Jer. 28:16-17). This is a sad illustration of these false prophets.

Name given to HANANIAH in Babylon, one of the three faithful ones who refused to worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, and were cast into the fiery furnace, and there miraculously preserved. Dan. 1:7; Dan. 2:49; Dan. 3:12-30.

The word concerning this supremacy of the King of Babylon and the sign of submission seem to have been first made known to the prophet “in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim” (Jer. 27:1). He was told to make bonds and yokes to be sent to the kings of the nations around Israel, and the prophet himself was to wear this sign, for it illustrated the great burden of his whole prophetic word; and then as opportunity occurred he was to give the representatives of the various nations these signs to carry to their kings with the word of the Lord as to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. This was carried out in Zedekiah’s day as verses 3, 12, and 28:1, show; but that gives no reason for altering the name Jehoiakim in 27:1, to Zedekiah, as some would do, for it simply tells us when the word came to Jeremiah. This sign of the bonds and yokes was characteristic rather than special. It signified that God had decreed that all must submit to the yoke of the King of Babylon. In Jeremiah 28 Hananiah speaks against this, and he does so with “thus says the Lord” (v. 11) upon his lips. To do such a solemn thing, however pious and optimistic it might sound, was to speak “revolt against the Lord” (v. 16) who had made Nebuchadnezzar His servant, and given him power and dominion. Hananiah’s doom was therefore sealed and executed that same year (Jer. 28:17)! He had spoken a lie like the diviners and soothsayers—the spiritualists of the nations (Jer. 27:9-10)—and like other false prophets who sought to turn men from submission to the yoke of the King of Babylon (Jer. 27:15-16). This lying spirit is often in evidence among those who profess to speak the mind of God for the time. Yokes of iron were to take the place of the yokes of wood (Jer. 28:13) which Hananiah had broken, and even the remaining vessels of the house of the Lord and of the house of the king were to be taken to Babylon till the time of the foretold restoration under Cyrus (Jer. 27:21-28). Hananiah falsely fixed two years for the breaking of Babylon’s yoke; God fixed 70.

Daniel means, "God is my judge"; Hananiah, "Beloved of the Lord"; Mishael, "Who is as God"; Azariah, "The Lord is my help." These beautiful names were soon changed into names of heathen meaning, to blot out the very memory of Jehovah. Daniel becomes Belteshazzar (Bel's prince); Hananiah is named Shadrach (illumined by the sun-god); Mishael is called Meshach (who is like Shach-- Venus); and Azariah is changed to Abednego (the servant of Nego). The purpose of the four expressed their loyalty to the God of their fathers and their obedience to His law. The Lord rewarded them for their loyalty and faithfulness, as He is still the rewarder of all who trust in Him and walk in separation.

Let us again mention with regard to Jehoiachin, an event related by Jeremiah (Jer. 28) which took place under Zedekiah. A prophet, and there were many of these in this period, Hananiah the son of Azzur, prophesied before Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. According to him, at the end of two years the yoke of the king of Babylon which Jeremiah was bearing on his neck before all the people as a sign was to be broken. At the end of two years the captives of Judah (those that had been carried away under Jehoiachin) were to be brought back to Jerusalem and the holy vessels restored to the house of the Lord. Thereupon he broke the yoke borne by the prophet. He did that which the princes had done who were counselling those who had been carried away not to build houses, in opposition to what Jeremiah had told them (Ezek 11:3). Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: The wooden yoke which Hananiah had broken was to become an iron yoke upon all the nations, and the false prophet was condemned to death because he had "spoken revolt against Jehovah" (Jer. 28:16). Two months after this prophecy God's sentence was carried out.

These, at various periods in the history of Israel, appeared in large numbers: Ahab had 'about four hundred' of them. 1 Kings 22:6. Such are described as speaking "a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord." Jer. 23:16. There were three that opposed Jeremiah to his face — Hananiah, Ahab, and Zedekiah. Jer. 28:1; Jer. 29:21. In the N.T. the Lord, early in His ministry, warned His hearers to beware of false prophets, Matt. 7:15; and in the church, the spirits are to be tried, for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. 1 John 4:1. They were and are Satan's counterfeits of the prophets of God, and their purpose is, on the principle of imitation, to neutralise the word of God.

This message was not popular and opposition was not lacking. Hananiah, one of the many false prophets plaguing the people of God at the time, ‘took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it. And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: So will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations’ (28:10–11). Jeremiah did not take it upon himself to answer this lie. We simply read: ‘and the prophet Jeremiah went his way.’ But God spoke: ‘Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, and thou hast made in their place yokes of iron. … I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him’ (vs. 13–14). And the false prophet was judged for his opposition. He ‘died in the same year in the seventh month’ (v. 17).