Jeremiah
Lineage and early life
Jeremiah was born to a priestly family, the son of Hilkiah, a kohen (Jewish priest) from the small Benjamite village of Anathoth in Judeh. The difficulties he encountered, described in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, have prompted scholars to refer to him as "the weeping prophet.” As the prophet Jeremiah, he dictated prophecies from the Lord to his secretary, Baruch. Because of Jeremiah’s lineage, he would have been raised a priest, though no record of his priestly service exists. Instead, God chose this man of undeniable courage to speak to the people of Judah on the Lord’s behalf—even though they would not listen. Jeremiah was a prophet for five different kings. He wrote a lot about repentance and did many symbolic acts to teach people lessons.
Jeremiah was called to prophecy c. 626 B.C. by God to proclaim Jerusalem's coming destruction by invaders from the north. This was because Israel had forsaken God by worshiping the idols of Baal and burning their children as offerings to Baal. The nation had deviated so far from God's laws that they had broken the covenant, causing God to withdraw his blessings. God guided Jeremiah to proclaim that the nation of Judah would suffer famine, foreign conquest, plunder, and captivity in a land of strangers.
Jeremiah was nearly twenty years old when he began to prophesy, and he continued in that office for the rest of his adult life, some forty years or more. Because his message held little weight with the people, Jeremiah’s prophecies reveal a substantial amount of emotional depth—often sorrow over the plight of God’s people or his own troubles (Jeremiah 12:1–4; 15:10) caused him to weep and his tears to flow.
Jeremiah was active as a prophet from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah (626 BC), until after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BC. This period spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. The prophetess Huldah was a relative and contemporary of Jeremiah while the prophet Zephaniah was his mentor.
Jeremiah, also called the "weeping prophet,” was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.
He was closely involved in the political and religious events of a crucial era in the history of the ancient Near East; his spiritual leadership helped his compatriots survive disasters that included the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. and the exile of many Judaeans to Babylonia.
The main source of information concerning Jeremiah’s life is the biblical Book of Jeremiah, which records that is ministry began in the 13th year of the reign of King Josiah, who ruled the land of Judea in the seventh century B.C.E.
Jeremiah lived at a time of deep upheaval in Jewish history, most significantly the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. and the exile of the Jewish people to Babylonia. Much of the Book of Jeremiah is a lengthy tirade against the people for their faithlessness and ominous warnings of the destruction to come if they do not mend their ways. Jeremiah was scorned by the people to whom he preached, arrested, beaten, and left in a pit. King Zedekiah, the last ruler of Judah, had him imprisoned for warning of the fall of Jerusalem. Eventually Jeremiah was exiled to Egypt, where he eventually died. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah was also the author of the Book of Lamentations, the sorrowful recounting of the destruction of Jerusalem that is read on the fast day of Tisha B’av (Tisha B’av is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred.)
The early chapters of the Book of Jeremiah are loaded with imagery of death and dispersion. “The carcasses of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them off,” the prophet warns in an emblematic passage. “And I will silence in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride. For the whole land shall fall to ruin.”
Yet his was also a vision of hope. Laced throughout Jeremiah’s prophetic warnings are promises that returning to God shall lead to divine blessings and that God will ultimately honor his covenant with the Jewish people. In one of the most famous passages in the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet buys a field as the armies of Babylon were laying siege to Jerusalem, a gesture that has come to represent hope in God’s faithfulness to his people. The later chapters of the Book of Jeremiah repeatedly reiterate God’s promise to redeem the people of Israel and restore them to their ancient land.
Where are we?
Jeremiah’s ministry began in 627 B.C. and ended sometime around 582 B.C. with his prophecy to the Jews who fled to Egypt (Jeremiah 44:1). For the majority of this time, Jeremiah based his ministry out of Jerusalem. The southern kingdom of Judah fell during Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry (586 B.C.), having been threatened for many years by outside powers—first Assyria and Egypt and then by their eventual conquerors, Babylon.
Jeremiah found himself addressing a nation hurtling headlong toward judgment from God. The Israelites may have feared the future as the outside powers drew near, but rather than respond with humility and repentance, the people of Judah primarily lived as islands unto themselves, disregarding both the Lord’s commandments and the increasing danger that resulted from their disobedience.
Why is Jeremiah so important?
The prophecies of Jeremiah offer us a unique insight into the mind and heart of one of God’s faithful servants. The book includes numerous personal statements of emotional engagement, painting Jeremiah not merely as a prophet brought on the scene to deliver God’s message but also as a red-blooded human being who felt compassion for his people, desired judgment for evildoers, and was concerned about his own safety as well.
Significantly, the book of Jeremiah also provides us the clearest glimpse of the new covenant God intended to make with His people once Christ came to earth. This new covenant would be the means of restoration for God’s people, as He would put His law within them, writing it on hearts of flesh rather than on tablets of stone. Rather than fostering our relationship with God through a fixed location like a temple, He promised through Jeremiah that His people would know Him directly, a knowledge that comes through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:31–34; see also Hebrews 8:6).
What's the big idea?
Because Jeremiah prophesied in the final years of Judah before God’s people were exiled to Babylon, it makes sense that the book’s overarching theme is judgment. Indeed, the first forty-five chapters focus primarily on the judgment coming to Judah because of its disbelief and disobedience. However, an element of grace is also present in these events. The fall of Jerusalem comes nearly nine hundred years after (the original covenant between God and the Israelites in the Sinai desert (Exodus 24:1–18). Such an extended period of time witnesses to God’s great patience and mercy, allowing His people the opportunity to turn from their sinful ways—a lifestyle they began not long after they struck the original covenant with God (32:1–35).
How do I apply this?
Seeing God’s patience with His people in the Old Testament reminds us that God has always been and continues to be merciful. That His chosen people routinely ignored the covenant they made with Him for the better part of a millennia without immediate death and destruction should give us hope in our own struggles with living well for God. Though we fail Him, He is patient with us, working in us to bring about the best for our lives.
But the book of Jeremiah also reminds us that an end will certainly come, a truth that should spur us to follow after God wholeheartedly. Will you follow Him?
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Known as “The Weeping Prophet,” Jeremiah was also a very important one, steering Israel and Judah through their long enslavement in Babylon and writing two of the Old Testament’s key books, Lamentations and the one carrying his name.
Three Reverends, Curtis Benninghoff, John Bohacek, and Mario Martinez say God called Jeremiah early in life, about age 17, and he was severely persecuted during his life from 650 to 570 B.C., ending with his martyrdom by stoning in Egypt.
“It was a perplexing time when the Israelites went into bondage for failing to honor the Sabbath,” said the Rev. Benninghoff. “Jeremiah was not well-received, but he was true to the word. He was put into a pit with sewage up to his armpits and kept there for a duration of time. “But even with the gloom and doom, there was a glimmer of promise because he was told that after 70 years the people would be coming out of Babylon. God never left them without hope.” Benninghoff said the most quoted passage in the Book of Jeremiah is 29:11-13: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
The Rev. Bohacek, said the prophet “was extremely loved by the Lord.” “I’m not sure he was encouraged by the amount of people who responded to his message, yet he was one of God’s strongest prophets,” Bohacek said. “There are so many voices trying to distract us and gain our attention today, but he was not distracted.”
“His message was one of hope and warning. The Israelites were getting away from their destiny and God was trying to call them back. Jeremiah was faithful when God gave him a strong word and challenged him to execute that word. They called him the Weeping Prophet because his heart was so tender.”
Bohacek said Jeremiah tried for a time to resist God’s call but then realized they had to obey. “In Jeremiah 20:9, he says, ‘His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones,’” Bohacek said. “‘I am weary of holding it in. Indeed, I cannot.’” The Rev. Martinez said the prophet “is very significant because he gave the prophecies that were partially fulfilled in the Old Testament and in Jesus’s days and that we are waiting to be fulfilled in our days.”
“We’re still totally affected by what he wrote about Jesus coming to reign for 1,000 years,” said the pastor of Genesis Christian Church. “He didn’t like most of the ways that God dealt with the people, but he was very obedient and was a suffering prophet.”
Citing Jeremiah 13:4-10, Martinez said, “He was told to dig into the ground and bury his belt, then when he went to get it after many days it was so rotten that he couldn’t tie his clothes with it anymore.” God said, ‘In the same way, the nation will be torn apart.’ It was very unpleasant for him as an Israelite himself, but as a messenger he had to tell the people.
Because of God’s mercy, we are not consumed in the 21st Century. Like Lamentations 3:22-23. “Every time I see a sunrise, it reminds me that God’s grace is a new beginning. The mistakes of yesterday are gone, and it is a new day. His mercy is new every morning.”
Christianity
Christian worship gatherings regularly included readings from the Book of Jeremiah. The author of the Gospel of Matthew is especially mindful of how the events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecies.
There are about forty direct quotations of the book in the New Testament, most appearing in Revelation 18 in connection with the destruction of Babylon. The Epistle to the Hebrews also picks up the fulfilment of the prophetic expectation of the new covenant.
Persecution
Jeremiah's prophecies prompted plots against him. Unhappy with Jeremiah's message, possibly from concern that it would shut down the Anathoth sanctuary, his priestly kin, and the men of Anathoth conspired to kill him. However, the Lord revealed the conspiracy to Jeremiah, protected his life, and declared disaster for the men of Anathoth. When Jeremiah complains to the Lord about this persecution, he is told that the attacks on him will become worse.
A priest, Pashur the son of ben Immer, a temple official in Jerusalem, had Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin for a day. After this, Jeremiah laments the travails and mockery that speaking God's word have caused him. He recounts how, if he tries to shut God's word inside, it burns in his heart, and he is unable to hold it in.
Conflict with false prophets
While Jeremiah was prophesying the coming destruction, he denounced a number of other prophets who were prophesying peace.
According to the book of Jeremiah, during the reign of King Zedekiah, the Lord instructed Jeremiah to make a yoke (incumbrance) with the message that the nation would be subject to the king of Babylon. The false prophet Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it, prophesying that within two years the Lord would break the yoke of the king of Babylon, but Jeremiah prophesied in return: "You have broken the yoke of wood, but you have made instead a yoke of iron."
Relationship with the Northern Kingdom (Samaria)
Jeremiah was sympathetic to, as well as descended from, the northern Kingdom of Israel. Many of his first reported oracles are about, and addressed to, the Israelites at Samaria. He resembles the northern prophet Hosea in his use of language and examples of God's relationship to Israel. Hosea seems to have been the first prophet to describe the desired relationship as an example of ancient Israelite marriage, where a man might be polygamous, while a woman was only permitted one husband. Jeremiah often repeats Hosea's marital imagery.
Babylon
The biblical narrative portrays Jeremiah as being subject to additional persecutions. After Jeremiah prophesied that Jerusalem would be handed over to the Babylonian army, the king's officials, including Pashur the priest, tried to convince King Zedekiah that Jeremiah should be put to death for disheartening the soldiers and the people. Zedekiah allowed them, and they cast Jeremiah into a cistern, where he sank down into the mud. The intent seemed to be to kill Jeremiah by starvation, while allowing the officials to claim to be innocent of his blood. A Cushite rescued Jeremiah by pulling him out of the cistern, but Jeremiah remained imprisoned until Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army in 587 B.C.
The Babylonians released Jeremiah, and showed him great kindness, allowing him to choose the place of his residence, according to a Babylonian edict. Jeremiah accordingly went to Mizpah in Benjamin with Gedaliah, who had been made governor of Judea.
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Historicity
The consensus is that there was a historical prophet named Jeremiah and that portions of the book probably were written by Jeremiah and/or his scribe Baruch. Views range from the belief that the narratives and poetic sections in Jeremiah are contemporary with his life, to the view that the work of the original prophet is beyond identification or recovery.
As with many other prophets of the Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah is also regarded as a prophet in Islam. Although Jeremiah is not mentioned in the Quran, Muslim exegesis and literature narrates many instances from the life of Jeremiah and fleshes out his narrative, which closely corresponds with the account given in the Hebrew Bible. Muslim literature narrates a detailed account of the destruction of Jerusalem, which parallels the account given in the Book of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was taken before the princes of Judah and accused of being "worthy to die" for having prophesied against Judah. But as he faced his accusers in the temple courtyard, Jeremiah fearlessly repeated his prophecy. His life was spared, however, because of the intervention of a high-ranking officer. (See Jeremiah 26.) Jeremiah was placed in stocks overnight for prophesying against Jerusalem and all Judah's cities. (See Jer. 19-20.) This was a punishment to bring public scorn and ridicule upon an offender. It was apparently effective in Jeremiah's case, because he said he would refuse to speak in the name of Jehovah (that is, to prophesy) anymore. However, the Spirit acted so strongly upon him that he could not restrain himself. The actions of the people around him further precipitated his return to the Lord, as he realized that the Lord was with him and that his enemies would be confounded. Jeremiah still cursed the day he was born.
At the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, Jeremiah went into the land of Benjamin to purchase some land. He was there arrested and accused of deserting to the Chaldeans. In spite of Jeremiah's denial, he was beaten and put in prison, where he remained for "many days." The prison is described as a dungeon with "cells." This is the incident to which Nephi refers in trying to convince his older brothers that they were hearkening unto the word of the Lord in leaving Jerusalem. (See Ne. 7:14.)
Zedekiah then sent for Jeremiah and asked if the Lord had any word for him (Zedekiah). Jeremiah took this opportunity to ask why he had been imprisoned, and he asked that the king not send him back to the dungeon where he had been kept. Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah be placed in the court of the prison and given a daily ration of bread as long as there was bread in the city. This was a big concession in light of the treatment he had received in the past. (See Jer. 37:11-12.)
While Jeremiah was given this freedom, he still continued to prophesy. Certain princes, therefore, went to the king and said that Jeremiah was weakening their soldiers' morale and should be put to death. The spineless Zedekiah relented to their wishes, and Jeremiah was lowered into a dungeon of mire, into which he sank. While there, he had no water. Again, someone interceded for Jeremiah, and the king allowed him to be confined to the court of the prison until Jerusalem was taken. The deplorable conditions of the miry dungeon are shown by the number of men employed in pulling Jeremiah out of the prison and the method they used. (See Jer. 38:4-13, 24-28.)
We cannot be certain how long Jeremiah was incarcerated, but it seems from the fragmentary account, that he spent nearly the entire 11 years of Zedekiah's reign in confinement in the court of the prison. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that Lehi left Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah; Jeremiah was already in prison when Nephi and his brothers returned to get the family of Ishmael, and he was not released until the city fell to Babylon in the 11th year.
At the time of Jerusalem's destruction, Nebuchadnezzar gave Jeremiah the opportunity to go wherever he wanted, and he chose to stay among the people in his own land. (See Jeremiah 40.) Following some internal problems, the people desired to go to Egypt, but Jeremiah prophesied against that action. They disregarded Jeremiah's prophecy and went into Egypt, taking the now aging prophet with them. (See Jeremiah 41-43.) It is not known how long they remained in their homeland before going to Egypt, or how long Jeremiah was in Egypt, because this episode concludes the record of the life of the prophet from Anathoth.
There is no record of his personal afflictions or trials after he had chosen to remain in Judah with his people, but certainly his life was one of persecution and discouragement. However, the assurance that what he was doing and what he had done were commanded by the Lord must have been the consolation that kept him going and enabled him to endure to the end. Jeremiah was a major figure among the people of Judah and Benjamin. His role may be compared to that which Isaiah played before the ten tribes were taken captive.
Both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied of the future restoration of Israel, and these prophecies are God’s messages through Jeremiah.
God’s messages through Jeremiah
The message God sent to the people via His prophet was that the people needed to return to God. Another message was God’s impending judgment upon Judah.
Even though this punishment would surely come, God also gave the encouraging promise of restoration in the future messianic Kingdom (Jeremiah 23:3-8). And before Judah was destroyed, God revealed plans that He would protect the Jewish exiles during their stay in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:5-7) and that He would cause them to return to Judah after 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10; 33:6-7).
Another encouraging message in this book was God’s willingness to spare and bless the nation if the people would have repented of their sins (Jeremiah 7:5-7; 18:1-11). One of the remarkable principles of God is that even against the backdrop of the punishments He had decreed for Judah, He still offered the people a way to avert His anger:
“The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it” (Jeremiah 18:7-8).
God reminds us that the opposite is also true: “And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it” (verses 9-10).
Jeremiah’s message for us today
God is merciful and long-suffering in dealing with the sins and ignorance of men, but He will not endure their sins forever. God is merciful and long-suffering in dealing with the sins and ignorance of men, but He will not endure their sins forever (Exodus 34:6-7). God sent many messengers to ancient Israel urging the people to turn their hearts back to God before He sent correction (Nehemiah 9:30; Jeremiah 25:4-7). This principle applies to our day as well.
There is swiftly coming a period in human history when first the descendants of Israel will be punished in the Great Tribulation and then the pride of the other nations will be brought low by the wrath of God (Isaiah 2:11-17; 13:11-13). Afterward, people’s hearts will turn to God.
At this time, God will give people a heart to know Him: “Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart” (Jeremiah 24:7).
Early in their captivity, God told the Jewish captives in Babylon: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
Jeremiah was often inspired to look beyond the distressing scenes of the present to the hope of a glorious future when God’s people would return from the land of the enemy back to their homeland (Jeremiah 31:12). The final fulfillment will come when Jesus Christ returns to establish the Kingdom of God.
Pray! Thanks for giving us your prophets and preachers to speak for you, in order that we can receive the “WORD OF GOD.” The Word has in it YOUR plans for mankind and Hope for a future spent with You in the place You have prepared for us. Salvation is in the WORD OF GOD!
