Introduction
of Jeremiah
It is one of
the great prophecies of the Old Testament. Passionate, emotional, intense, and
often uncomfortable, the Book of Jeremiah contains within its anointed words
criticism and condemnation, yet promises of restoration and revival. It speaks
of foreign conquest and occupation of Israel, yet Israel’s future never looked
brighter. This is because of the promise of ‘new covenant’ with the House of
Israel and the House of Judah.
Amazingly,
despite the threat of conquest and deportation, a most remarkable divine
promise is given: that as long as there are stars, sun, and moon in the sky,
then Israel will always remain a people before God. Their miraculous
preservation in the face of the twin-threats of assimilation and/or annihilation
is unique, especially considering that larger nations and empires have come and
gone. This caused American author Mark Twain to ask: ‘All things are mortal
but the Jew … what is the secret of his immortality?’ (essay Concerning
the Jews).
Jeremiah had
a long prophetic career and was personally present in Jerusalem when the
Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and destroy it and the Temple of Solomon in 586
BC. He began to prophesy around 627 BC, during the time of good-king Josiah. He
worked along side of the king in order to recover the spirit of revival. At
that time Egypt and Assyria were the dominant powers and a threat to the
Kingdom of Judah. After the untimely death of Josiah, which he considered a
national disaster, the menacing power now came out of Babylon. This power, led
by Nebuchadnezzar, defeated Assyria in 607 BC and Egypt at Carchemish in 605
BC. Babylon’s empire lasted 70 years, just like the Soviet Union. It, too,
disappeared peacefully. His book was written during a 20 year period, with electrifying
prophetic oracles salted in the midst. These are prefaced with the phrase ‘Thus
saith the Lord.' He continued to prophesy after Judah’s fall and even
during his forced exile in Egypt until around the year 580 BC.
Jeremiah was
a contemporary of some other renown Hebrew prophets, like Daniel, Ezekiel,
Zephaniah, and Habakkuk. While he had a most difficult message and mission, and
an ever-hostile response from king and country, his prophecies have great
universal application.
The prophet
is probably the most ‘autobiographical’ of all the prophets. In his ministry he
preached, taught, decried the decadence and decay he saw round about, including
gross idolatry. For his troubles he was opposed, rejected, beaten, opposed,
imprisoned, and nearly died in a dark cistern. Yet despite all this, he lived
past the time of Jerusalem’s destruction and may very well have lived to a ripe
old age.
Hebrew Name
of Jeremiah
Yirmeyahu or
yirmeyah, which
most probably means ‘Yahweh throws.’ What a picture of what was prophesied for
a rebellious Judah - God would throw them out of the country because of their
sins. In the Septuagint he is called Hieremias (Greek) and in Latin the
word is Jeremiah.
In the New
Testament there are several key quotes (references to Jeremiah are in
brackets):
Matthew
2:17-18 (31:15)
Matthew
21:13;
Mark 11:17;
Luke 19:4
(7:11);
Romans 11:27
(31:33)
Hebrews
8:8-13 (31:31-34
Author of
Jeremiah
Jeremiah,
the son of Hilkiah, priest of Anathoth (1:1; 32:6). As a young man, he was
called to be a prophet to the nations. At the beginning of his ministry, he
moved from Anathoth to Jerusalem and assisted King Josiah in his reformation
(II Kings 23:1-25). Having long-lived through a crucial transitional period of
his nation’s history, and surviving the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah
lived until the reign of Evil-Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar. He and his
assistant Baruch were involuntarily taken to Egypt, where he probably died in
Tahpanhes.
There is no
mention of Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoahaz. During the following reign of
Jehoiakim, he wrote his predictions on a scroll. After being offended by its
contents, the king cut up the scroll and burned it in the fire. Jeremiah
managed to find another scroll, write down the words, with ‘many like words’ besides
(36:32).
Portrait of
Christ in Jeremiah
The coming
shepherd & righteous branch (23:1-8);
The Lord our
righteousness (23:6).
Theme of
Jeremiah
The Lord is
very patient and kind, but at some point His holiness and righteousness decrees
that impenitent sinners must be judged, especially after many warnings. Like
the clay in the hand of a potter, who forms and reforms, God’s people are clay
in his hands.
Key Verses
7:23-24: But this
thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye
shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that
it may be well unto you. 24But they hearkened not, nor inclined
their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil
heart, and went backward, and not forward.
31:31-34: Behold, the
days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an
husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I
will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will
be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no
more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD:
for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their
sin no more.
31:35-36: Thus
saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of
the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the
waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed
of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Summary of
Jeremiah
This book is
not chronological, so it is not easy to describe in a systematic way. However,
the message of the prophet was clear:
•
Without repentance, Judah and Jerusalem would
be destroyed by the Babylonians;
•
Only by submitting to the Babylonians, as
chastisement from the Lord, would keep the city from destruction;
•
Repentance would bring salvation;
•
No repentance was forthcoming, so submission to
Babylon was the only way to avert disaster;
•
This did not happen, either. So Judah and
Jerusalem were destroyed.
•
Despite all their evil, the province and the
city were promised restoration;
•
The Babylonians, God’s weapon of judgement,
would be permanently judged themselves, and never rise again.
•
Other Gentiles nations would be judged,
including Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Elam (Iran).
The temple
is destroyed, the city taken, and David’s dynasty is ended, or so it seems. God
promised David a son who would sit on his throne forever. He would be
simultaneously the Son of David and Son of God. Yet, Jeremiah curses Judean
king Jehoiachin, a ‘son of David,’ and says no physical descendant will succeed
him on the throne (22:28-30). Thus, it appears that God’s covenantal promise to
the David dynasty, along with the temple and Jerusalem, was destroyed. Or was
it?
In the
genealogy of Jesus via his legal father Joseph in Matthew 1:11-12, Jehoiachin
is mentioned. However, in Luke 3, which is most likely the genealogy of Mary,
who is also a descendant of David, the curse of Jehoiachin is circumvented
through another ‘son of David,’ Nathan. Thus the lineage of the great king is
continued and Jesus died ‘king of Jews’ and is coming again as ‘King of kings
and Lord of lords.’
Other
prophecies in Jeremiah include:
1.
Messiah (23:6; 30:4-11; 33:14-26);
2.
Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest (20:4);
3.
Israel dispersed (24);
4.
Judah’s conquest and exile by Babylon, only to
return after 70 years;
5.
God’s future plans for Judah (23; 31);
6.
Judah recovers the land (23:1-40; 32:37-41;
37:21-22);
While it is
easy to see Jeremiah’s prophecy as negative and judgemental, it actually
contains great hope. God has thoughts of peace and not evil towards His people
(29:11); promises a new covenant (31:31-34); says they will never be destroyed
(31:35-37), has plans for the future by purchasing a field (32:6-15); and
speaks about the judgement and fall of Judah’s enemies, especially Babylon
(50-51);
Outline of
Jeremiah
Jeremiah’s
call - 1
Prophecies
of Judah - 2-45
Prophecies
of the nations - 46-51
Fall of
Jerusalem - 52
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