The false prophets were preaching that Babylon would be defeated and Jerusalem saved. This would not be the case. We need to be careful in our churches today, just because a prophecy sounds good does not mean that it is good.
Zedekiah was making various political attempts to get out of the mess, avoid being defeated by Babylon. The envoys from Edom etc may have been in Jerusalem as part of that diplomatic effort. However, as well as getting a message from Zedekiah they would be given a message from the Lord as well. The message was that God is the creator of all the earth and that it is He who determines the outcome of events. All their nations were about to be given into the hands of Babylon. In time, Babylon herself would then be subjugated.
The nations, including Judah, needed to submit to this yoke. Failure to do so would just result in more bloodshed. So all the false prophets and diviners should be ignored. Notice that here the word of God says Babylon will triumph, a calm military assessment of the situation would have said the same thing.
The message is re-emphasised to Zedekiah. We should not believe every prophet. Note that at the same time they should have believed the true prophet, Jeremiah. We need discernment.
The false prophecies spoke of the things that Babylon had already taken being restored. A very nice word, but complete rubbish. It is the Lord alone who would enable the restoration.
So what is the key to discerning true prophecy from rubbish prophecy? In this case the key was that the nation was living, and had been living for many years, in complete rebellion against the Lord, worshipping idols, ignoring justice, exploiting people. No nice prophecy would overcome that.
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