Jeremiah
“Exalted of Jehovah or Jehovah appoints”
Summary
The 'weeping prophet' who ministered during Judah's final decades before the Babylonian exile, faithfully proclaiming God's judgment despite persecution, imprisonment, and rejection by his own people.
☩Call and Background
Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, though not the high priest of the same name who found the book of the law. God called him to prophesy while he was still young, in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign (c. 627 BC), declaring that he had been sanctified and ordained a prophet to the nations before his birth. When Jeremiah protested that he was but a child and could not speak, God touched his mouth and put His words there, commissioning him to 'root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down, to build and to plant.' His native town of Anathoth was inhabited by priests descended from Abiathar, whom Solomon had banished there.
☩Ministry Under Josiah and Jehoiakim
During Josiah's reformation, spurred by the discovery of the law in 621 BC, Jeremiah supported the revival yet recognized its superficiality. Josiah's death in battle against Pharaoh Necho was a devastating blow which the prophet lamented. Under Jehoiakim, opposition intensified. Jeremiah was seized by priests and false prophets who demanded his death for prophesying against Jerusalem, but was protected by Ahikam. When commanded to write his prophecies on a scroll to be read publicly, the king contemptuously cut the scroll to pieces and burned it; Jeremiah rewrote it with additional words. The prophet was 'shut up' and could not appear publicly, so he sent Baruch to read the words in the temple on a fast day.
☩Persecution and Imprisonment
Jeremiah's message that Judah should submit to Babylon as God's instrument of judgment made him appear treasonous to nationalistic leaders. During Zedekiah's reign, as Babylon besieged Jerusalem, Jeremiah was arrested while attempting to leave the city, accused of deserting to the enemy, beaten, and imprisoned in a dungeon. Later he was cast into a muddy cistern to die, but was rescued by Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch who appealed to the king. Even in prison, demonstrating faith in God's promise of restoration, Jeremiah purchased a field in Anathoth from his cousin Hanameel, symbolizing that houses and fields would again be bought in the land. His personal sufferings—lonely, forbidden to marry, rejected by his own townsmen and family—made him a profound type of the suffering Messiah.
☩The New Covenant
Among Jeremiah's most significant prophecies is the promise of a new covenant, distinct from the Sinai covenant which Israel had broken. In this new arrangement, God would write His law on hearts rather than stone tablets, all would know the Lord from the least to the greatest, and sins would be remembered no more. This prophecy is quoted at length in Hebrews as fulfilled in Christ. Jeremiah also prophesied that the captivity would last seventy years, after which God would punish Babylon and bring His people home—a timeline that guided Daniel's prayers and expectations. His messianic prophecy of 'the Lord our Righteousness' pointed to the coming righteous Branch from David's line.
☩Final Years in Egypt
After Jerusalem's fall in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar treated Jeremiah kindly, giving him the choice to go to Babylon or remain in Judah. He chose to stay with Gedaliah, the governor appointed over the remnant. When Gedaliah was assassinated, the fearful survivors, against Jeremiah's counsel, fled to Egypt, forcibly taking the prophet with them. There he continued to prophesy, warning that Nebuchadnezzar would pursue them into Egypt and condemning their idolatry. The circumstances of his death are uncertain, though tradition suggests he died in Egypt. His prophecies were preserved by his faithful scribe Baruch, and his laments over Jerusalem's destruction find expression in the Book of Lamentations.
Related Verses154 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Jeremiah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Jeremiah," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.George Morrish, "Jeremiah," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Jeremiah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).