The Book of Jeremiah, Background
Quick Rundown
The Book of Jeremiah chronicles Jeremiah’s long ministry
of mainly warning God’s people of planned catastrophe that was coming to Israel
because of their idolatry and sin. Jeremiah lived to see this prediction come
true with the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, the
destruction of the city and the Temple, and the exile to Babylon of Judah’s
king and many of the people. He also foretold the eventual return of the people
from exile and the restoration of the nation.
Known as the “Weeping Prophet,” Jeremiah was a sensitive
minister who deeply loved his people, and who hated to have to pronounce
judgment on them. In many passages he spoke with deep emotion about the things
he suffered because God had called him to be a prophet. The word of the Lord
was like fire in his heart – he could not keep it back.
Title
This
book gains its title from the human author, who begins with “the words of
Jeremiah...” (1:1). Jeremiah recounts more of his own life than any other
prophet, telling of his ministry, the reactions of his audiences, testing, and
his personal feelings. His name means, “Jehovah throws,” in the sense of laying
down a foundation, or “Jehovah establishes, appoints, or sends.” Seven
other Jeremiahs appear in Scripture (2Ki 23:31; 1Ch 5:24; 12:10; 12:13; Ne
10:2; 12:1), and Jeremiah the prophet is named at least 9 times outside of his
book (cf. 2Ch 35:25; 36:12; 36:21,22; Ezr 1:1; Da 9:2; Mt 2:17; 16:14; 27:9).
The Old and New Testaments quote Jeremiah at least 7 times: 1) Da 9:2
(25:11,12; 29:10); 2) Mt 2:18 (31:15); 3) Mt 27:9 (18:2; 19:2,11; 32:6-9); 4)
1Co 1:31 (9:24); 5) 2Co 10:17 (9:24); 6) Heb 8:8-12 (31:31-34); and 7) Heb
10:16,17 (31:33,34).
Author and Date
Jeremiah, who served as both a priest and a prophet, was
the son of a priest named Hilkiah (not the High Priest of 2Ki 22:8 who
discovered the book of the law). He was from the small village of Anathoth
(1:1), today called Anata, about 3 mi. NE of Jerusalem in Benjamin’s tribal
inheritance. As an object lesson to Judah, Jeremiah remained unmarried
(16:1-4). He was assisted in ministry by a scribe, named Baruch, to whom
Jeremiah dictated and who copied and had custody over the writing compiled from
the prophet’s messages (36:4, 32; 45:1). Jeremiah has been known as the
“weeping prophet” (cf. 9:1; 13:17; 14:17), living a life of conflict because of
his predictions of judgment by the invading Babylonians. He was threatened,
tried for his life, put in stocks, forced to flee from Jehoiakim, publicly
humiliated by a false prophet, and thrown into a pit. Jeremiah carried out a ministry directed mostly to his
own people Judah, but which expanded to other nations at times. He appealed to
his country men to repent and avoid God’s judgment via an invader (chaps. 7, 26).
Once invasion was certain after Judah refused to repent, he pled with them not
to resist the Babylonian conqueror in order to prevent total destruction (chap.
27), and he predicted judgments from God on various nations (25:12-38; chaps.
46-51).
The dates of his ministry, which spanned 5 decades, are
from the Judean king Josiah’s 13th year, noted in 1:2 (627 B.C.), to
beyond the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 B.C. (Jer 38, 40, 52). After 586
B.C., Jeremiah was forced to go with a fleeing remnant of Judah to Egypt
(Jer 43, 44). He was possibly still ministering in 570 B.C. A rabbinic note
claims that when Babylon invaded Egypt in 568/67 B.C. Jeremiah was taken
captive in Babylon. He could have lived even to pen the book’s closing scene
ca. 561 B.C. in Babylon, when Judah’s king Jehoiachin, captive in Babylon since
597 B.C., was allowed liberties in his last days (52:31-34). Jeremiah, if still
alive at that time, was between 85 and 90 years old.
Background and Setting
The spiritual condition of Judah was one of flagrant idol
worship (cf. chap. 2). King Ahaz, preceding his son Hezekiah long before
Jeremiah in Isaiah’s day, had set up a system of sacrificing children to the
god Molech in the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem (735-715 B.C.).
Hezekiah led in reforms and cleanup (Is 36:7), but his son Manasseh continued
to foster child sacrifice along with gross idolatry, which continued into
Jeremiah’s time (7:31; 19:5; 32:35). Many also worshiped the “queen of heaven”
(7:18; 44:19). Josiah’s reforms, reaching their apex in 622 B.C., forced a
repressing of the worst practices outwardly, but the deadly cancer of sin was
deep and flourished quickly again after a shallow revival. Religious
insincerity, dishonesty, adultery, injustice, tyranny against the helpless, and
slander prevailed as the norm not the exception.
Politically momentous events occurred in Jeremiah’s day.
Assyria saw its power wane gradually; then Ashurbanipal died in 626 B.C.
Assyria grew so feeble that in 612 B.C. her seemingly invincible capital,
Ninevah, was destroyed (cf. the book of Nahum). The Neo-Babylonian empire under
Nabopolassar (625-605 B.C.) became dominant militarily with victories against
Assyria (612 B.C.), Egypt (609-605 B.C.), and Israel in 3 phases (605 B.C., as
in Da 1; 597 B.C., as in 2Ki 24:10-16; and 586 B.C., as in Jer 39, 40, 52). While Joel and Micah had earlier prophesied of Judah’s
judgment, during Josiah’s reign, God’s leading prophets were Jeremiah,
Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Later, Jeremiah’s contemporaries, Ezekiel and Daniel,
played prominent prophetic roles.
Historical and Theological Themes
The main theme of Jeremiah is judgment upon Judah (chaps.
1-29) with restoration in the future messianic kingdom (23:3-8; 30-33). Whereas
Isaiah devoted many chapters to a future glory for Israel (Is. 40-66), Jeremiah
gave far less space to this subject. Since God’s judgment was imminent he
concentrated on current problems as he sought to turn the nation back from the
point of no return.
A secondary theme is God’s willingness to spare and bless
the nation only if the people repent. Though this is a frequent emphasis, it is
most graphically portrayed at the potter’s shop (18:1-11). A further focus is
God’s plan for Jeremiah’s life, both in his proclamation of God’s message and
in his commitment to fulfill all of His will (1:5-19; 15:19-21). Other themes
include: 1) God’s longing for Israel to be tender toward Him, as in the days of
first love (2:1-3); 2) Jeremiah’s servant tears, as “the weeping prophet” (9:1;
14:17); 3) the close, intimate relationship God had with Israel and that He
yearned to keep (13:11); 4) suffering, as in Jeremiah’s trials (11:18-23;
20:1-18) and God’s sufficiency in all trouble (20:11-13); 5) the vital role
that God’s Word can play in life (15:16); 6) the place of faith in expecting
restoration from the God for whom nothing is too difficult (chap. 32,
especially vv. 17, 27); and 7) prayer for the coordination of God’s will with
God’s action in restoring Israel to its land (33:3, 6-18).
Interpretive Challenges
A number of questions arise, such as: 1) How can one
explain God’s forbidding prayer for the Jews (7:16) and saying that even Moses’
and Samuel’s advocacy could not avert judgment (15:1)? 2) Did Jeremiah make an
actual trek of several hundred miles to the Euphrates River, or did he bury his
loin cloth nearby (13:4-7)? 3) How could he utter such severe things about the
man who announced his birth (20:14-18)? 4) Does the curse on Jeconiah’s kingly
line relate to Christ (22:30)? 5) How is one to interpret the promises of Israel’s relation to Israel and the church (31:31-34)? The answers to these
will be included in studying the details of the passage.
A frequent challenge is to understand the prophet’s
messages in their right time setting, since the book of Jeremiah is not always
chronological, but loosely arranged, moving back and forth in time for thematic
effect. Ezekiel, by contrast, usually places his material in chronological
order.
Outline
I. Jeremiah’s Preparation (1:1-19)
A. The Context of
Jeremiah (1:1-3)
B. Jeremiah’s
Choice (1:4-10)
C. The Charge to
Jeremiah (1:11-19)
II. Proclamations to Judah (2:1-45:5)
A. Condemnation of
Judah (2:1-29:32)
1.
First message (2:1-3:5)
2. Second
Message (3:6-6:30)
3.
Third Message (7:1-10:25)
4.
Fourth Message (11:1-13:27)
5.
Fifth Message (14:1-17:18)
6.
Sixth Message (17:19-27)
7.
Seventh Message (18:1-20:18)
8.
Eighth Message (21:1-14)
9.
Ninth Message (22:1-23:40)
10.
Tenth Message (24:1-10)
11.
Eleventh Message (25:1-38)
12.
Twelfth Message (26:1-24)
13.
Thirteenth Message (27:1-28:17)
14.
Fourteenth Message (29:1-32)
B. Consolation to
Judah – New Covenant (20:1-33:26)
1. The
forecast of restoration (30:1-31:40)
2. The
faith in restoration (32:1-44)
3. The
forecast of restoration – Part 2 (33:1-26)
C. Calamity on
Judah (34:1-45:5)
1.
Before Judah’s fall (34:1-38:28)
2.
During Judah’s fall (39:1-18)
3.
After Judah’s fall (40:1-45:5)
III. Proclamations of Judgment on the Nation
(46:1-51:64)
A. Introduction
(46:1; cf. 25:15-26)
B. Against Egypt
(46:2-28)
C. Against
Philistia (47:1-7)
D. Against Moab
(48:1-47)
E. Against Ammon
(49:1-6)
F. Against Edom
(49:7-22)
G. Against Damascus
(49:23-27)
H. Against Kedar
and Hazor [Arabia] (49:28-33)
I. Against Elam
(49:34-39)
J. Against Babylon
(50:1-51:64)
IV. The Fall of Jerusalem (52:1-34)
A. The Destruction
(52:1-23)
B. The Deportation
of the Jews (52:24-30)
C. The Deliverance of Jehoiachin (52:31-34)
MacArthur Study Bible, NASB, Updated Edition. 2006. Nelson Bibles, Thomas Nelson. La Habra, CA.
MacArthur Study Bible, NASB, Updated Edition. 2006. Nelson Bibles, Thomas Nelson. La Habra, CA.
