Wheat vs Straw?
28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. 29 Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the LORD.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.
Of all the complaints that God had against Judah, perhaps the above is the saddest. Jeremiah was sent to Judah to proclaim God’s displeasure for Judah’s behavior. The above is a section of his explaining to the nation the cause of God’s displeasure: The false teaching of the prophets and priests. We read in the above words of Jeremiah that the prophets and priests were speaking to the nation. But their source of their message was their own dreams. Instead of speaking God’s word, these false teachers gave their own dreams. God tells them to go ahead and speak their dreams. But that is like comparing straw with wheat. God’s word is powerful. Their dreams are weak and worn out. God is against those who speak their “dreams” (their own philosophies) instead of God’s Word. God’s word is final. Man’s dreams are fickle. God’s word honors God and His plan. Man’s dreams put man at the center and honor man’s endeavors. He ends the above dialogue with this statement:
“... So, they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.”
The nation of Israel suffered under the language, preaching and dialogue and philosophy of the false teachers. Jeremiah was sent to make sure they knew the difference between wheat and straw.
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