Why does the Lord ask, “Who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?”

Why is it that these prophets who claim to speak the word of the Lord actually speak their own words and not the Lord’s? The Lord answers that question with one of his own, For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? The image is one of a king who has called his advisers and messengers to hear his plans and purposes (Psalm 89:8, Psalm 89:16; Psalm 82:1; Isaiah 6:1–8; 2 Kings 22:19–20; 2 Chronicles 18:18).¹ It is precisely this meeting, so to speak, that these prophets have not attended. The question the Lord asks presents the people with an invitation to assess for themselves whether the message they have heard from these prophets comes from the Lord’s council.² The implied answer is that the message they have believed has not come from the Lord.