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Basics

BOOK: Jeremiah

Description: Second of the ‘major prophets’

Author: possibly Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary

Date written: probably between 626 B.C. and sometime about 586BC

Chapters: 52

Brief Synopsis

• Gets its name from the prophet of that name.
• It is a mixture of historical incidents and prophecies. (It has more historical happenings than Isaiah ad Ezekiel)
• The history is especially important as it occurs in the period before, during and after the fall of Jerusalem and the Exile.
• The prophecies against Judah, in particular, are important as they show us how the Lord sought again and again to draw this people back from the brink of destruction (Note: Ezekiel was doing exactly the same thing from Babylonia.) 
• The prophecies against the surrounding nations show us how the Lord holds accountable those who treat His people badly.
• Jeremiah began prophesying in Judah halfway through the reign of Josiah (640-609BC) and continued throughout the reigns of Jehoahaz (609), Jehoiakim (609-598), Jehoiachin (598-597) and Zedekiah (597-586).

Why read Jeremiah 

This book is arguably the most confrontational of all the prophets with its constant direct challenges to Judah – both people and rulers – to face their sin, apostasy, abandonment of the living God who had originally delivered them and made them a nation in covenant with Him.

One of the most remarkable things about this book – especially in the light of the three invasions of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in the north – is the number of times Jeremiah prophesies about the invader coming from the north as God’s judgment on their unrelenting, unyielding rebellion against the God who had been so much part of their early life as a nation. Amazingly they superstitiously turn from Him to wooden or metal idols.

Following the Contents are the start of some of the main references that highlight the key thrusts of Jeremiah’s ministry:

Contents

• PART 1: Challenges, Confrontations & Conflicts
  • Ch.1 –The Setting and Call of Jeremiah
  • Ch.2 – Israel has forsaken God
  • Ch.3 –The failure of Judah to learn from Israel
  • Ch.4 – Call to Repentance & a Warning of Disaster
  • Ch.5 – Failure to find the righteous in Jerusalem & so Certainty of Exile
  • Ch.6 – God decrees destruction for Jerusalem
  • Ch.7 – Confrontation at the Temple
  • Ch.8 – Ongoing warnings at the Temple
  • Ch.9 – Anguish for Rebellion and Unfaithfulness
  • Ch.10 –The Folly of Idols
  • Ch.11 – A Challenge to Obey & a Plot to kill
  • Ch.12 – Jeremiah’s complaint & God’s Answer
  • Ch.13 – Two Parables and another Warning
  • Ch.14 – Drought, famine, sword
  • Ch.15 – Condemnatory prophecy, then Jeremiah’s pleas
  • Ch.16 – Divine instructions for Jeremiah & warnings for the people
  • Ch.17 – Sin, Salvation possibilities, Cries & a Test
  • Ch.18 – Prophecy at the potter’s house
  • Ch.19 – The Clay Jar Prophecy
  • Ch.20 – Jeremiah and Pashhur & Jeremiah’s complaint
  • Ch.21 – God rejects Zedekiah’s request
  • Ch.22 – Judgment against three wicked kings
  • Ch.23 – Against leaders and false prophets
  • Ch.24 – Two Baskets of Figs
  • Ch.25 – Seventy years of captivity & wider judgments
  • Ch.26 – Jeremiah threatened with death
  • Ch.27 – Submit to Nebuchadnezzar
  • Ch.28 – Dealing with the false prophet Hananiah
• PART 2: A New Hope: Future Restoration
  • Ch.29 – Jeremiah writes to the exiles
  • Ch.30 – Hopeless in Judgment, Hope in Restoration
  • Ch.31 – The Hope of Restoration explained
  • Ch.32 – Jeremiah’s Prophetic Field Picture
  • Ch.33 – The Lord’s Promise of Restoration Again
• PART 3: Jeremiah and the last days of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah
  • Ch.34 – Warning to Zedekiah, and a broken covenant
  • Ch.35 – The Example of the Rekabites’ Obedience
  • Ch.36 – Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah’s scroll
  • Ch.37 – Jeremiah imprisoned
  • Ch.38 – Jeremiah in a well, and counsels Zedekiah
• PART 4: Post the fall of Jerusalem, into Egypt
  • Ch.39 – The Fall of Jerusalem
  • Ch.40 – Jeremiah returns to Jerusalem
  • Ch.41 – Rebellion, murder, conflicts & escape
  • Ch.42 – Jeremiah brings a word to the remnant
  • Ch.43 – In Egypt another warning
  • Ch.44 – Coming Disaster in Egypt because of Idolatry
• PART 5: Misc. Prophecies, mostly to the nations
  • Ch.45 – A Word to Baruch
  • Ch.46 – A Word against Egypt
  • Ch.47 – A Word against the Philistines
  • Ch.48 – A Word against Moab
  • Ch.49 – A Word against five peoples
  • Ch.50 – A Word against Babylon (1)
  • Ch.51 – A Word against Babylon (2)
• PART 6: An Historical Appendix
  • Ch.52 – A final recap of the end of Jerusalem at this time

References to the invader coming from the north

1:13-15, 3:18, 4:6,15-17, 6:1,22, 8:16 

References to the coming destruction  

4:7,16,20,25-29, 5:6,15-17, 6:2,19, 7:20, 9:10,11,19-22,  11:11, 12:12, 14:12,16, 15:2,3,7-9, 16:16, 25:9-11

References to their idolatry 

1:16, 2:8,23-25,27,28, 3:13,23, 4:1, 5:7, 7:9,18,31, 9:14, 13:10, 16:18, 17:2

References to a coming exile

5:19, 10:17,18, 13:19, 16:13-15, 17:4, 23:8, 25:9-11, 29:10

References to a hope for a new future

3:16-18, 12:14-17, 16:15, 23:8

References to prophetic pictures given to Jeremiah

• the almond branch [1:11,12]
• the boiling pot [1:13,14]
• the linen belt [13:1-11]
• full wineskins [13:12-14]
• the Potter [18:1-11]
• the smashed clay Jar [19:1-15]
• the two baskets of figs [24:1-10]

References to growing Opposition to Jeremiah

• plotting starts against him [11:18,19]
• they plot to slander him [18:18]
• Pashhur has him beaten and put in the stocks [20:1,2]
• threatened with death by the people [26:7-9]
• thrown in a cistern [38:1-13]
• kept in house arrest [38:28]

Dates

Because so much of Jeremiah must be seen in the context of history, it is important that we try to anchor his words and activities, wherever possible in the history of his day.

1:2,3 tells us that,

“The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.”

Josiah had come to the throne in 639BC and so it was about 626BC that Jeremiah received his first word from the Lord. Twelve appears to so often be the age of maturity for a Jewish family and so it is possible that Jeremiah was born about 638, possibly about a year after the start of Josiah’s reign. To get a picture of the context of Jeremiah’s ministry we need to note both the last kings of Judah before the Exile, and the international politics of that time.

The early days of Jeremiah’s ministry

From above we note

• 639 – start of Josiah’s reign at 8 years old
• 638 – possible year of Jeremiah’s birth
• 627 – Josiah starts his first restoration moves [2 Chron 34:1-8] – in the 12^th year of his reign when he must be about 20.
• 636 – Jeremiah gets his first word for Judah – see 3:6- that presumably further encourages Josiah in his reforms. Perhaps more as a word to the people it is aimed at touching their hearts to go along with the reforms that young Josiah [now 20] is instigating. Perhaps it is difficult for us to understand the resistance of the pagan idol-worshipping to Josiah who needed all the help he could get to carry through that which the Lord has obviously put on his heart. 
• It took him another six years before he started cleansing the temple [2 Chron 34:8] and established the first Passover for a long time [2 Chron 35:19]

Reigns of the kings of Judah

Josiah

• came to the throne in 639BC aged 8.
• Eight years later [about 631], Josiah sought the Lord (2 Chron 34:2)
• our years later he went on to cleanse the land (34:3,4)
• When he was about 26, he restored the temple (34:8-13), later renewed the Covenant (34:14-33) and celebrated the Passover (35:12-19). 
• Sadly he became involved in a battle with the Egyptians and died in battle in 609BC

Jehoahaz

• son of Joash – only reigned 3 months [and was thus not mentioned in 1:2,3] after being deposed by the king of Egypt.

Jehoiakim

• son of Josiah – replacement by the king of Egypt, reigned 11 years. [2 Chron 36:5,6]
• for the last three years of his reign he became a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar but rebelled and was put in chains to be taken to Babylon in 598BC [2 Kings 24:1] where he died

Jehoiachin

• his son, ruled for just three months [therefore not mentioned in 1:2,3] before Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem for the first time [597BC] when he took large numbers – including Daniel and his three friends – to Babylon.

Zedekiah

• youngest son of Josiah – made king by Nebuchadnezzar [2 Chron 36:10],
• ruled for 11 years but, having rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar suffered a nearly two-year siege of Jerusalem before it fell in 587BC, when he fled, was captured, and taken to Babylon where he eventually died.

The ‘International Politics’ of the time

Assyria

In the north, this empire grew & focused on the Tigris and upper Mesopotamia. It went through many phases through ancient history, but was strong and started to expand about 900BC, lasting until the fall of its capital, Nineveh, at the hands of the Medes/Persians and Babylonians, Chaldeans in 609 BC.

Babylonia

Babylonia had earlier been part of Assyria, but the rise of the city state under Nabopolasser [625-605] meant the end of Assyria in 609 and the ascension of Babylonia under Nebuchadnezzar [605-562] and subsequent kings.

Babylon fell in 539BC to the Persian, Cyrus, [539-530], who eventually sent the remnant of Israel back [538] to start to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem [537].

Egypt

In Josiah’s time: Although a lessor player on the playing field of politics affecting Judah, pharaoh Neco [610-594] had taken his army onto the Palestinian coastal plain to support the weakening Assyrians against the growing power of the Babylonians. This was what caused Josiah concern and resulted in him joining in battle where he was killed. [609BC].

Jeremiah: Remember, from our age calculations above, if Jeremiah had been born about 638, he was about 29 when Josiah’s reign ended. Egypt obtained power over Judah and we have seen Neco was responsible for deposing Jehoahaz and replacing him with Jehoiakim.

Egypt versus Babylon: In the following three years after Josiah’s departure, Neco maintained a strong military presence in Palestine and Syria while the Babylonians were regrouping. Seeking to strengthen their status in the north, the Egyptians sought to take cities near the Euphrates but in 605BC were routed by Nebuchadnezzar who came south and invaded Jerusalem, the first of three invasions when Daniel and friends were taken. This was a turning point where the power of the Babylonians became beyond dispute. The Babylonians came south down the Palestinian coastal plain and in 604BC sacked Ashkelon and attacked Egyptian frontier posts but were repulsed.

Babylonian Invasion No.2: They returned home to regroup and re-equip which led Jehoiakim to throw in his lot with Egypt which eventually brought the wrath of Babylon on Judah when Nebuchadnezzar returned in 597BC and when Ezekiel and some ten thousand Jews were deported to Babylon (see 2 Kings 24:12-17).

More Egyptian interference: When Pharaoh Hophra came to the Egyptian throne in 589BC he too turned towards Palestine, offering to help Zedekiah against the possible Babylonian threat entering into negotiations with him. When Nebuchadnezzar heard of this ‘disloyalty’, his armies swept through the area, taking Judah and thrusting the Egyptians out, and finally took Jerusalem in 587BC.

Overall: Thus Egypt had been more of a player on the side-lines and causing Israel (Judah) to be distracted from their unique calling and eventually subject to the wrath of Babylon, the cause of their eventual exile.

Major Events during his ministry  

1. Battle of Megiddo (609BC) when Josiah was fatally wounded by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt    2 Chron 35:25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments.
2. Battle of Carchemish (605BC) where Nebuchadnezzar brought down Pharaoh Neco of Egypt Jer 46:2 Jeremiah prophesied over Egypt: “This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah
3. Fall of Jerusalem (586 or 587BC) where Jeremiah was fully involved.

Symbolic prophecies

Jeremiah uses a number of things to act as prophetic symbols:

• 1:11-12   The almond rod
• 1:13,14`   The boiling caldron
• 13:1-11   The marred girdle
• 13:12-14   The full bottle
• 14:1-12   The drought
• 18:1-6     The potter’s vessel
• 19:1,2     The broken bottle
• 24:1-10   Two baskets of figs
• 27:1-12   The yoke
• 32:6-15   Buying a field
• 43:9-13   The buried stones
• 51:59-64   The book buried in the Euphrates

Messianic Pictures in Jeremiah

• 2:13     Fountain of living water
• 8:22     Great Physician
• 31:10/23:4   Good Shepherd
• 23:5     the Righteous Branch
• 30:9     David the King
• 50:34     The Redeemer
• 23:6     The Lord our Righteousness

Concluding Comments

• The heart and happenings of Jeremiah are displayed more clearly than any of the other prophets.
• He lived through this incredibly difficult time (for a man of God) of the last kings of Judah, anguishing against their folly and warning against the coming judgment.
• Essentially he was ignored and even persecuted for being the Lord’s mouthpiece, but the Lord was there for him when the fall of Jerusalem occurred, and he was spared by the conqueror.
• The remaining remnant in the land reveal their ongoing folly and the last we see of Jeremiah is him being taken by them (but still prophesying!) as they flee the land to go to Egypt.
• The book is fascinating because of the historical nature of it, the things that Jeremiah went through. As the verses above show, he was still prophesying after he had been taken to Egypt.
• It is also amazing in that it reveals just how many times the Lord sought to speak to this people to stop them plunging to destruction. It was a destruction they brought on their own heads.
• Yet despite this there are a number of words of hope that the Lord WILL bring His people back to Jerusalem and to the Land. Hope is the all-important word. There IS a future, even after God has dealt with this rebellious and foolish people; yet He will redeem them!