Please read the passage before reading the commentary
I do not want to call Hananiah a bad person. He is given a genealogy, son of Azzur, and a title, prophet. He probably was deeply affected by the political, military, and religious turmoil of his day and wanted deliverance and resolution of the crises besetting the people. I do not say, then, that he spoke with malice in prophesying the return of the king and other exiles. I shall say, however, that, for whatever reason he spoke, Hananiah did not speak the truth.
A prophet is one who speaks for another. The person who speaks for the President, the press secretary, is the prophet for the President. The prophet does the job well when the prophet accurately speaks in the name of the other, be that the Lord or the President.
Prophetic messages usually call people to conversion. They often do this by proclaiming coming disaster or punishment. Sometimes they do it by announcing blessings. A prophet is recognized as a prophet when the prophet calls the people to conversion by the mere summons to conversion. A prophet who foretells future happiness, however, is only recognized as a true prophet when the good thing happens.
Jeremiah announced impending doom for the people unless the people would amend their ways. Hananiah, however, announced the return of the exiles and peace within two years. Only when that peace would come about could Hanniah be recognized as a true prophet. When Jeremiah announced the imminent death of Hananiah, who indeed did die about two months later, he was known to be a true prophet.
I hesitate to call our candidates for high office true prophets as they threaten their constituents with all kinds of evil if the voters elect the other candidates. I should hesitate to call myself a prophet if, in my anger and lack of charity, I lose my temper with friends, family, acquaintances, or people who disagree with me. I, and you, can only be called prophets when we speak what God is really telling us to speak as we say what we feel to be God’s words. If we have any doubts, we should not speak up lest we speak a non-Godly word.