Jeremiah

God called an ordinary person like Jeremiah to an extraordinary task. Jeremiah is best known for his role as a prophet. He warned Israel’s southern kingdom of Judah of its pending doom. He loved God’s people and hated to see them refuse God’s mercy. However, the people of Judah shunned Jeremiah and mistreated God’s messenger. They did not like him getting on their case. They continued to ignore his warnings until Babylon finally destroyed them and took them captive. We remember Jeremiah as the “weeping prophet”—someone who hurt whenever God’s people broke God’s commands. Instead of resenting Judah for the way they treated him, he mourned Judah’s fate. Jeremiah wrote the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.

JEREMIAH’S BACKGROUND

He was the prophet to Judah before its fall in 586 BC; his name is also spelled “Jeremias” (Matthew 16:14) and “Jeremy” (Matthew 2:17; 27:9, KJV). Jeremiah was born in the village of Anathoth, about three miles northeast of Jerusalem. His father’s name was Hilkiah, and he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. His call came in the thirteenth year of King Josiah (640-609 BC). He refers to himself as “a child” when called (Jeremiah 1:6), but the Hebrew word is not the same as used in 30:6 and cannot be limited to preadolescence. He was probably referring to his inexperience rather than to his age. Jeremiah was born about 657 BC during the reign of the wicked king Manasseh, while the great Ashurbanipal, who had shaken the world by sacking the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes in 663 BC, ruled a world empire from Assyria.
God informed Jeremiah that he had consecrated and appointed him before birth (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Jeremiah first shrank with a sense of inadequacy and fear: “O Sovereign L ORD,...I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” (1:6). God would not allow Jeremiah to excuse himself. He was assured that words would be given him to speak, and guidance given for the way (1:7). He was promised protection (1:18) and deliverance (1:8) despite opposition (1:19). God touched his mouth, signifying divine inspiration of his words, and gave the sign of a branch from an almond tree, explaining that the Lord is watching (see the margin or footnote in the New Living Translation). The third sign was the boiling pot (1:13) facing from the north, picturing the source and fury of impending disaster.
Thus the tone of Jeremiah’s life ministry was set: judgment, disaster, danger, defeat, and impending death for the nation. What a job! We may not win popularity contests with others for enlightening them to God’s truth. However, we must remain faithful nonetheless. Although God’s overall message to the world is one of love and salvation, not condemnation, he takes sin seriously—especially among his own people. As we communicate God’s truth, we must be careful not to gloss over sin. Sometimes we must play Jeremiah’s role-despite an unwelcome reception.

EARLY MINISTRY

The messages Jeremiah gave during his first five years of ministry may have been instrumental in the great revival of 622 BC. Those cooperating with King Josiah in the reformation and friendly with Jeremiah included Ahikam and his father, Shaphan (Jeremiah 26:24); Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son (39:14), who later became governor; Acbor, son of Micaiah, also called Abdon, whose son Elnathan joined the opposition (26:22) but later repented (36:25); and Asaiah (2 Chronicles 34:20). The prophets Nahum and Zephaniah also influenced the reform movement, which must have climaxed under the preaching of Habakkuk and Jeremiah, the priestly ministry of Hilkiah, and the prophecies of Huldah the prophetess. During the reign of King Josiah, Jeremiah spoke without the fear of persecution that plagued his later ministry. Though the content of the book of Jeremiah sometimes appears to be fragmentary, most of chapters 1-19 date to the time of Josiah.
When they found the lost Book of the Covenant in the temple debris, Jeremiah may have been inspired to write these words in Jeremiah 15:16: “Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart’s delight.” The words “So be it, L ORD” (11:5) in a context recalling the words of Moses in the Torah may be Jeremiah’s response after hearing King Josiah read the newly found book.
Small towns and rural areas, including his hometown, heard Jeremiah shame the high places and idolatry. They sought to kill the young prophet, or at least to intimidate him (Jeremiah 11:21). Instead of being silent, Jeremiah asserted that his motivation was for their good and condemned their resistance to the truth as their greatest danger.
Shortly after Jeremiah began his ministry, a number of world-changing events took place. Ashurbanipal died, and the Assyrian Empire rapidly declined. Nabopolassar began a twenty-one-year reign in Babylon, leading an expansion that ended when his son Nebuchadnezzar conquered the known world. As the world news filtered in, Jeremiah turned more toward Jerusalem. He may have shared his first temple speeches (Jeremiah 7:1-10) at this time.
Nabopolassar felt his strength sufficient to launch an attack against Assyrian territory in 616 BC, but he advanced cautiously because Psamtik I (Psammeti-chus) of Egypt appeared ready to aid Assyria. Cyaxares of Media (Medes) pounced on Assyria when Babylon hesitated and took its most sacred city, Asshur, in 614 BC. Babylon joined Media, along with Scythia, and waged an assault against Nineveh, which fell late in the summer of 612 BC. The Assyrian Empire had shriveled to two small areas: Haran and Carchemish.
Nabopolassar took Haran in 610, and Ashuruballit, having escaped, appealed to Egypt for help at Carchemish. Neco, who had become pharaoh within the year, responded immediately. He marched through Judah without giving Josiah prior notice and asked that the Jews not bother him in view of his haste to go northward (2 Chronicles 35:21). Ignoring the request, Josiah pursued them to Megiddo and was wounded in the ensuing battle; he died in Jerusalem.

DURING THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM

In place of Jehoahaz, Josiah’s fourth son, who reigned only three months, Pharaoh Neco enthroned Jehoiakim (Eliakim). Neco demanded heavy payments from Judah for providing protection. He also took Jehoahaz prisoner as collateral to assure payment (2 Kings 23:31-33).
Early in the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah, moved by God’s Spirit, delivered his third temple speech (Jeremiah 26) on the occasion of one of the annual Jewish feasts. He called for the people to repent and to act on the basis of the revelation they had heard repeatedly from the Book of the Law. The barb of the sermon came in the warning: “This is what the L ORD says: If you will not listen to me and obey the law I have given you, and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets-for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them—then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth” (26:4-6). Shiloh had been the heart of Jewish worship from Joshua to Samuel, but after being destroyed by the Philistines, it never revived. It served as an example of complete desolation following God’s judgment in the days of Eli.
In response, the crowds gathered rapidly and reacted angrily against Jeremiah. Priests and princes hurried to the New Gate, where a court was established to bring order and to control violence. Jehoiakim would be no help to Jeremiah, for he had refused to listen to God’s messages (Jeremiah 22:21). The priests and false prophets spoke against Jeremiah, calling him a traitor. Then some of the elders spoke to the people about Uriah, who had prophesied the same message. Rather than risk disaster, Ahikam persuaded the court to spare Jeremiah.
Egypt controlled Palestine and Syria after the decay of the Assyrian Empire. In 606 BC Egypt succeeded in annihilating a garrison city of Babylonian soldiers south of Carchemish and then reoccupied Carchemish to await the return blow from Babylon. This Egyptian victory meant persecution for Jeremiah, who was often accused of false prophecy (compare to Jeremiah 20).
Jeremiah never had confidence in Egypt. Each time a Jewish leader would call for a new alliance with Egypt, Jeremiah repeated God’s message against it. Whenever a Jewish group fled to Egypt for security, Jeremiah warned of worse things in that land of false refuge (see Jeremiah 44:26-27). We, too, often see God’s own people trusting in almost anything other than God. They trust in the money they can touch. And they rely on relationships they can feel. However, we must share God’s truth with these disillusioned believers. At their best, material possessions and earthly relationships will one day disappoint us. Only God can be fully trusted. This was Jeremiah’s message, and it is ours today.
Jeremiah’s ode and prophecy in 46 poetically describe Egypt’s defeat at Carchemish, when Nabopolassar sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to destroy them (605 BC). After smashing the Egyptian army at Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar pursued the enemy through Judah. “Not a single man escaped to his own country,” reads the exaggerated Babylonian record. His father’s death, however, prevented him from invading Egypt, and he returned to Babylon to assume the throne. The following year Nebuchadnezzar, now king of Babylonia, returned to accept the homage of the rulers of Judah, Syria, and Phoenicia. On this occasion God gave Jeremiah his great 70-year prophecy (25:11-12), the basis of Daniel 9:2, 24-27.
A year after the decisive battle at Carchemish, Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, finished recording all the dictated words of Jeremiah and was reading from this scroll at the temple. A report reached the king, who sent Jehudi, a servant, to fetch the scroll and read it to him. When this was done, Jehoiakim burned the scroll in spite of his counselors, who pleaded with the king to stop (Jeremiah 36:23-25). God’s message, soon rewritten, added a promise of fearful judgment on Jehoiakim (36:27-31).
Ambitious young Nebuchadnezzar determined to add Egypt to his dominion. In 601 BC he led his forces through Judah again, but Neco had advance warning and was prepared for the onslaught. In the desert of Shur, Nebuchadnezzar suffered defeat. Encouraged by this display of Egyptian defensive strength, the pro-Egyptian parties in Judah asserted themselves, persuading Jehoiakim to lead them to freedom from Babylon by making an alliance with Egypt (2 Kings 24:1). But help from Egypt did not come (24:7).
In 599 BC, Nebuchadnezzar armed those surrounding the rebel Jewish kingdom to harass the Jews, which they willingly did (2 Kings 24:2). Evidently, Jehoiakim lost his life in one of these raids. Since the people despised him, his body was thrown out without honorable burial, as Jeremiah had predicted (Jeremiah 22:19).

DURING THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH

Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem in 598 BC lasted only a short time because the new king, Jehoiachin, crowned at age eighteen, knew resistance was useless. He gave himself up, with all his family and court, in March of 597 BC, after serving as king about three months. The Babylonian Chronicle reads: “He [Nebuchadnezzar] seized the city and captured the king.”
Jehoiachin was carried to Babylon along with eight thousand officers, artisans, and executives (Ezekiel among them) and many treasures (2 Kings 24:16; compare to 24:14). In his place Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, to rule. Zedekiah proceeded to organize his government with the less capable and inexperienced help left after the deportation.
Jeremiah took up his thankless ministry, calling on the Jews to believe God, obey the laws of Babylon, and reject false hopes in Egypt. Zedekiah turned a deaf ear to these appeals, listening rather to the unwise advice of his counselors (Jeremiah 37:1-2). During the first year of Zedekiah’s rule, Jeremiah received the vision of the two baskets of figs. The Jews carried to Babylon were like good figs, while Zedekiah and those who trusted in Egypt were like rotten figs (24:1-8). The reason for this reproachful description was that the Jews began plotting rebellion against Babylon along with Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. This rebellion started from the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah (27:1-3) and marked a breach in their oath of loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar. Of course, it also meant they once again refused God’s message through Jeremiah.
In Egypt the Pharaoh began to renew plans to organize dissidents within the Babylonian Empire to revolt. He hired Jewish soldiers to aid him in protecting his southern border. The Jewish soldiers settled on a Nile island called Elephantine, or Yeb (593-410 BC). Jeremiah addressed an oracle to these Jews (Jeremiah 44). The treaty for Jews to help in Egypt evidently also assumed that Egyptians would aid Israel. When the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem in 589, Pharaoh Hophra came to the aid of Zedekiah. Nebuchadnezzar, ruling from Riblah, commanded that the siege against Jerusalem be lifted in order to make a surprise attack on Hophra (37:5). The release gave Jeremiah an opportunity to journey to Anathoth to secure some family property (37:12).
However, Irijah, captain of the guard, arrested Jeremiah in the Gate of Benjamin for defecting to the enemy, and he was beaten and flung into a dungeon. King Zedekiah brought him out after many days. With characteristic boldness, Jeremiah told the king he would shortly become a captive himself. At the same time, Jeremiah requested that the king act justly and release him. He gained part of his request and was treated more fairly. However, he continued as prisoner in the court of the guard.
The Babylonian army chased Pharaoh Hophra back to Egypt and returned to crush Jerusalem without further mercy. The siege, which began in 589 BC, was restored with rigor in January of 588, Zedekiah’s ninth year (Jeremiah 39:1). During this time, the Lord gave Jeremiah foreknowledge of a visit from a cousin who wished to sell a field near Anathoth (32:7-9; compare to 37:12). Jeremiah bought the field as an object lesson to verify the message of restoration after their captivity—an experience that would last seventy years (29:10).
The armies of Babylon cut off all supplies from Jerusalem and were able to destroy the last two outlying Jewish fortresses of Lachish and Azekah (Jeremiah 34:7). Food became scarce. Disease spread. Sewage and impure cistern water caused pestilence. With increased distress came Jeremiah’s increased appeal for the city to surrender. However, we see human nature at work in Judah’s stubborn refusal to follow along God’s plans. Like Judah, instead of surrendering to his plans for us, we fear them. We feel God must have made a mistake if his plans include suffering. So, we look for a shortcut, or a detour or some other way to hold back the inevitable. Instead, we should listen to the voice of Jeremiah and entrust the consequences of our lives to God.
Jeremiah remained in the prison court until the Babylonians breached the city wall in July of 586 BC. The king escaped by night and succeeded in reaching the plains of Jericho but was captured there and taken to Riblah. Zedekiah’s family and counselors were killed; he himself was blinded and taken in chains to Babylon, where he died soon after (Jeremiah 39:6-7).
Back in Jerusalem, Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian general, sent most of the Jews into captivity. Jeremiah, however, was granted special consideration; after being released from prison, he was placed under the care of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam.

AFTER THE FALL OF JERUSALEM

A month after the fall of Jerusalem, the city was burned and the walls broken down. Gedaliah was appointed governor of the remaining agricultural community, with headquarters at Mizpah. Jeremiah returned to Jerusalem where, according to tradition, he took up his abode in a grotto near what is now known as Gordon’s Calvary. There he wrote the book of Lamentations.
The Ammonite king Baalis, plotting rebellion against Babylon, instigated the murder of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 40:13). In the reaction that followed, the remaining people followed the leader Johanan ben Kareah to a camp near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt. They asked Jeremiah, at Jerusalem, to give guidance from the Lord, promising obedience. Jeremiah’s message required that they remain in Israel and not go to Egypt. Disobedience was complete and immediate. Fearing Babylon, they departed from Judah, taking Jeremiah with them, and entered Egypt (41:16-43:7).
Jeremiah did not stop his ministry in Egypt. His message at Tahpanhes (Jeremiah 43:8-12) assured a victorious conquest of the land by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place in 568-567 BC. Jews from all parts of Egypt gathered to discuss their future in exile. Jeremiah took the opportunity to denounce their idolatry. Jewish women as well as men argued that they had enjoyed prosperity while serving idols but had suffered since stopping. Jeremiah condemned their obdurate blindness to reality and gave God’s indictment. For a verifying sign, Jeremiah predicted that Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt would be assassinated (44:30), which happened in 466 BC. No later record of Jeremiah’s acts exists in the Bible. Tradition says that some Jews from the exile stoned Jeremiah in a settlement in Tahpanhes.
Though Jeremiah suffered continued rejection during his life, numerous writers of the apocrypha as well as more traditional writings honor his history. Jesus could well have had Jeremiah in mind when he said, “You build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the graves of the godly people your ancestors destroyed... [You are] the descendants of those who murdered the prophets” (Matthew 23:29-31, NLT).

OTHER JEREMIAHS

2. Jeremiah was also a family head in the Transjordan portion of Manasseh whom Tiglath-pileser took captive (1 Chronicles 5:23-26; compare to 2 Kings 15:29).
3. Jeremiah was also the father of Hamutal, a wife of King Josiah (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18).
4. Jeremiah was also an ambidextrous (right- and left-handed) Benjamite bowman and slinger who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:4).
5, 6. Two Gadite soldiers who joined David’s army were named Jeremiah (1 Chronicles 12:10, 13).
7. Jeremiah was also the postexilic priest who with Nehemiah set his seal to the covenant, renewing the people’s promise to obey God’s laws (Nehemiah 10:2). He is mentioned again (12:34) as part of the procession for the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem.
8. Jeremiah was also the priest who returned from exile with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:1) and became head of a family of priests (12:12).
9. Jeremiah was also the father of Jaazaniah, a Recabite who refused to drink wine (Jeremiah 35:3).

Fast Facts

What?
What was Jeremiah’s nickname? Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet.”
Why?
Why did Jeremiah cry over Judah? He cried because Judah was destroyed by disobedience to God’s commands.
When?
When did Judah fall to the Babylonians? The Babylonians finally captured Judah in 586 BC
Who?
Who mistreated Jeremiah? God’s own people rejected Jeremiah and had him arrested and put in prison for preaching God’s message.
Where?
Where did his enemies put him after he was arrested? Jeremiah was beaten and thrown in a dungeon for several days.

Digging Deeper

Assyria
Babylon
Covenant
Egypt
Exile
Jerusalem
Judah
Manasseh
New Gate
Prophecy
Prophet
Shiloh
Torah

Life Links

Judgment

People Profiles

Ahikam
Ashurbanipal
Baruch
Eli
Habakkuk
Hilkiah
Huldah
Jehoahaz
Jehoiachin
Jehoiakim
Josiah
Nahum
Nebuchadnezzar
Uriah
Zedekiah
Zephaniah

Wacky Wit

YES, BUT . . .

Jeremiah was one of the greatest of Israel’s prophets. He brought a complex message of love and justice to the people of Judah at a crucial time in their history.
Yes, but . . . he also complained regularly to God about the position he was put in (12:1-4; 15:15-18; 20:7-18). He’s also credited with writing the book of Lamentations, which bemoans the way God allowed Jerusalem to be treated.
The lesson for us is that we can let God know our honest feelings, even if they’re not always positive.

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