In Hebrew the name of the Prophet and of his Book is Yir-meyah'hu, meaning :'God Exalts' or 'God Loosens [likely from the Womb].' By birth he was the son of Priest Hilk-Iah (from Ith-amar's line) of Ana-Thoth, a Priest-City in the Country to the North, North-East of Jerusalem, "in the Land of Benjamin."
Jeremiah lived during the latter part of the 7th century and the 1st part of the 6th century BC. He was commissioned by God to be a Prophet when he was a young man, in the 13th year of the reign of God-fearing king Josiah of Judah (659-628 BC).
God told him: "Before I was forming you In the Belly I KNEW YOU, and before you proceeded to come forth From the Womb I SANCTIFIED YOU. Prophet to the Nations I MADE YOU."(Jeremiah 1:2-5). He was therefore One of the Few Men (Isaac, Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist and Jesus) for whose Birth God assumed responsibility.
When God spoke to him, Jeremiah showed diffidence. He replied to God: "Alas, O God! Here I actually do not know How to Speak, for I am but a boy." From this remark and later comparing his boldness and firmness during his Prophetic Ministry, it can be seen that such unusual Strength was not a thing inherent in Jeremiah, but it actually came from Full Reliance on God.
During repairs on the House of God, the Book of the Law of God was found and was read to the king. Josiah worked hard at enforcing this, but he could at most only temporarily turn back the falling away to idolatry. His grandfather Manasseh, who had reigned for 55 years, and his father Amon, who had been assassinated after a reign of just 2 years, had both done wickedly. They had encouraged the people in impure orgies and gruesome rites, so that they had become accustomed to offering incense to the "Queen of the Heavens" and human sacrifices to demon gods. Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.
Jeremiah's task was no easy one. He had to serve as God's Prophet in foretelling the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, the burning of the magnificent Temple of God, and the captivity of his people.
During his 40 years long ministry in Jerusalem through the reigns of bad kings (Jeho-Ahaz, Jeho-Iakim, Jeho-Iachin [Coniah], and Zedek-Iah), he warned God's people of the catastrophe that was to fall upon the Nation because of their idolatry and sin. He has scathing denunciation and fearful Judgments to proclaim, especially to the Priests, Prophets, and Rulers, and to those who took the "Popular Course" and developed an "Enduring Unfaithfulness."(Jeremiah 8). Yet he appreciated that his commission was also 'To Build and To Plant."(Jeremiah 1).
Later in Egypt, he had to prophesy concerning the idolatries of the Jewish Refugees there. The time covered by Jeremiah was an eventful period of 67 years.
He lived to see a number of the predictions come true with the Fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian king, Nebu-chadnezzar, the destruction of the City and the Temple, and the Exile to Babylonia of Judah's king and many of the people. The dramatic fulfillment of the prophecies during his own lifetime attests fully to the authenticity of God's predictions through him.
He also foretold the eventual Return of the People from Exile and the Restoration of the Nation.
Jeremiah was a very sensitive man who deeply loved his people, and who hated to have to pronounce Judgment upon them. His courage and endurance were matched by his love for them. In many passages of the Book he spoke with deep emotion about the things he suffered because God had called him to be a Prophet to His people. Truly God was with him "like a terrible Mighty One" and it was Him who made Jeremiah "a Fortified City and an Iron Pillar and Copper Walls against all the Land. (Jeremiah 20).
Jeremiah reveals himself throughout the Book more than any of the other ancient Prophets, with the exception of Moses. His feelings and emotions, his intrepid boldness and courage, mingled with humility and tenderness of heart. The Word of God truly was like Fire in his heart. He was not only a Prophet but also a Priest, a Compiler of Scripture, and an accurate Historian.
Jeremiah's style of writing is clear, direct, and easily understood and the use of illustrations and pictorial images abound.
The Book of Jeremiah is the 2nd Book of the Latter Prophets following Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel in the Jewish Canon of the Hebrew Bible. In the Christian Old Testament it appears after Isaiah as the 2nd Book of the Prophets together with Lamentations. Jeremiah is referred to several times by Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Jesus used a combined language of Jeremiah (7:11) with that of Isaiah (56:7), when He cleansed the Temple. Because of Jesus' boldness and courage was such , some people even thought of Him to be in the spirit of Jeremiah.
Some of the greatest words in the Book point beyond Jeremiah's own dangerous, turbulent and troubled time to the Day when there would be a New Covenant, one that God's people would keep without a Teacher to remind them, because it would be written on their hearts.
Paul quotes Jeremiah (9:24) in saying: "He that boasts, let him boast in the Spirit of God." (1Cor 1;31).
At Revelation (18:21) there is an even more forceful application of Jeremiah's illustration of Babylon's downfall (Jer.51:63).
Archaeological findings also give support to the record in the Book of Jeremiah. A Babylonian Chronicle tells of Nebu-chadnezzar's capture of Jerusalem when he seized the king (Jeho-iachin) and appointed one of his own choice (Zedek-iah).
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