Forbidding a prophet to intercede

One of the roles of a prophet is to intercede for the people. When God intends to send punishment, a prophet is able to change God's mind. He can pray to God for the sinful people so that God aborts the punishment. The story of Abraham's bargain with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 is one such example. Another one can be found in Exodus 32 when God was so furious with the golden calf that He intended to wipe out all the Israelites and establish Moses instead. In both cases, the prophets were allowed to touch on a 'weak spot' of God to avert the disaster.

Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? (Genesis 18:23)
Far be it from thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25) The Judge of all the earth cannot afford to be unjust!
Why should the Egyptians say, `With evil intent did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own self, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.'  (Exodus 32:12-13). The Almighty God cannot undo His own wonders in the eyes of the enemies and forget His promises to the Patriarchs!
However, there is a bottom line. When despite repeated warnings from the prophets, the Jews persisted in worshipping idols and offering sacrifices to Baal, God would not listen to the intercessions from the prophets. Jeremiah was less fortunate. His was a generation of imminent doom. The Babylonians were already at the door.
As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you. (Jeremiah 7:16)
Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. (Jeremiah 11:14).
The LORD said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people.
Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence." (Jeremiah 14:11-12).
We should be responsible for our own actions and bear the consequences. It is no good for us to sin and leave the prophets to pray to God to pardon our iniquities. Repentance is our business and if we don't take care of our own business, someone will. If we do not repent and make necessary changes, God will take over to clean up the mess in His way. In the end, our incompetence will be rendered impotence.

My God, I pray for myself as well as other incompetent neighbours. May we repent and make changes before it is too late. Have mercy on us all. We look forward to celebrating joyfully the Golden Jubilee of our Shung Tak. Amen.