Jaazaniah isn’t a household name, but he appears, at first, to be one of the good guys in the Bible.
The meaning of his name — “Yahweh listens” — revealed his family’s trust in God’s attentiveness, even though things weren’t going well for God’s people at the time. Jaazaniah served as one of the elders of Israel (Ezekiel 8:11). It seems that his family had a good reputation. He was likely from the clan of Shaphan that was known for its respect for God’s word (2 Kings 22:8-10). One of his brothers appears to have saved Jeremiah’s life (Jeremiah 26:24). Another brother seems to have been used by Jeremiah to send a letter to the exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:3). Still another tried to prevent King Jehoiakim from burning the scroll containing Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jeremiah 36:10-12). From all appearances, his brothers were among a small minority who supported Jeremiah’s ministry.
Despite his good name, his godly family, and his prominent leadership position, Jaazaniah was not who he appeared to be.
Through a vision, God showed Ezekiel what Jaazaniah was up to behind closed doors.
…there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.’ ” (Ezekiel 8:10-12)
Picture Ezekiel crawling through a secret hole to get to this room. As his eyes adjust to the darkness in this secret chamber of the temple, he saw the nation’s religious leaders burning incense to images carved on the walls. He recognized the face of an important figure in Jerusalem: Jaazaniah.
Jaazaniah, along with the other leaders, rationalized their disobedience by asserting that God didn’t see them. It’s hard to tell if they believed that God couldn’t see what they do in secret, or if they believed that God has abandoned Israel. Either way, they rationalized their disobedience.
God saw, and he revealed their idolatry to Ezekiel. Jaazaniah was exposed.
I have a friend who once told me that he’s motivated to obey God, in part, because he believes God will reveal what happens in secret. “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known,” Jesus said in Luke 12:2-3. “Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”
Sometimes it’s easy to think that we can keep our secret sins private, but God sees what’s happening even when nobody else is looking. We can fool people, but who we really are is known by God. We’re all prone to think, at times, that God can’t see us, or that who we are won’t, in the end, come out.
We’re seeing a spate of moral failures. It breaks my heart. But it also serves as a reminder: God knows, and he will, sooner or later, reveal our secrets for everyone to see. This should motivate us to deal with any secret sins. None of us are sinless, but when we rationalize our sins and conduct them in secret, we’re in particular danger.
On one hand, let’s thank God for the grace that covers sin. On the other hand, let’s never take that grace for granted and believe that what’s done in secret won’t be revealed.