jeremiah Summary and Overview

raised up or appointed by Jehovah. (1.) A Gadite who joined David in the wilderness (1 Chr. 12:10). (2.) A Gadite warrior (1 Chr. 12:13). (3.) A Benjamite slinger who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:4). (4.) One of the chiefs of the tribe of Manasseh on the east of Jordan (1 Chr. 5:24). (5.) The father of Hamutal (2 Kings 23:31), the wife of Josiah. (6.) One of the "greater prophets" of the Old Testament, son of Hilkiah (q.v.), a priest of Anathoth (Jer. 1:1; 32:6). He was called to the prophetical office when still young (1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah (B.C. 628). He left his native place, and went to reside in Jerusalem, where he greatly assisted Josiah in his work of reformation (2 Kings 23:1-25). The death of this pious king was bewailed by the prophet as a national calamity (2 Chr. 35:25). During the three years of the reign of Jehoahaz we find no reference to Jeremiah, but in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the enmity of the people against him broke out in bitter persecution, and he was placed apparently under restraint (Jer. 36:5). In the fourth year of Jehoiakim he was commanded to write the predictions given to him, and to read them to the people on the fast-day. This was done by Baruch his servant in his stead, and produced much public excitement. The roll was read to the king. In his recklessness he seized the roll, and cut it to pieces, and cast it into the fire, and ordered both Baruch and Jeremiah to be apprehended. Jeremiah procured another roll, and wrote in it the words of the roll the king had destroyed, and "many like words" besides (Jer. 36:32). He remained in Jerusalem, uttering from time to time his words of warning, but without effect. He was there when Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city (Jer. 37:4, 5), B.C. 589. The rumour of the approach of the Egyptians to aid the Jews in this crisis induced the Chaldeans to withdraw and return to their own land. This, however, was only for a time. The prophet, in answer to his prayer, received a message from God announcing that the Chaldeans would come again and take the city, and burn it with fire (37:7, 8). The princes, in their anger at such a message by Jeremiah, cast him into prison (37:15-38:13). He was still in confinement when the city was taken (B.C. 588). The Chaldeans released him, and showed him great kindness, allowing him to choose the place of his residence. He accordingly went to Mizpah with Gedaliah, who had been made governor of Judea. Johanan succeeded Gedaliah, and refusing to listen to Jeremiah's counsels, went down into Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with him (Jer. 43:6). There probably the prophet spent the remainder of his life, in vain seeking still to turn the people to the Lord, from whom they had so long revolted (44). He lived till the reign of Evil-Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar, and must have been about ninety years of age at his death. We have no authentic record of his death. He may have died at Tahpanhes, or, according to a tradition, may have gone to Babylon with the army of Nebuchadnezzar; but of this there is nothing certain.

JEREMI'AH (whom Jehovah sets up). 1. The father of Hamutal, the wife of Josiah. 2 Kgs 23:31; 2 Kgs 24:18. 2. The head of a house in Manasseh. 1 Chr 5:24. 3. A Benjamite who came to David at Ziklag. 1 Chr 12:4. 4., 5. Gadite warriors. 1 Chr 12:10, 1 Chr 12:13. 1. One of the priests who sealed the covenant. Neh 10:2. 7. One of the Rechabites. Jer 35:3. 1. Jeremiah, one of the four great prophets. He was the son of Hilkiah of Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, Jer 1:1, and lived under various kings from Josiah to the Captivity. In the English Version he is, by unnecessary variation, called "Jeremy" in Matt 2:17, and "Jeremias," Matt 16:14. "There is no one in the 'goodly fellowship of the prophets' of whom, in his work, feelings, and sufferings, we have so distinct a knowledge, although it is derived almost exclusively from his book. He is for us the great example of the prophetic life. It is not to be wondered at that he should have seemed to the Christian feeling of the early Church a type of Him in whom that life received its highest completion." Prof. Phumptre. He was not only the prophet of sorrow and public calamity, but also the prophet of a new and better covenant of the heart. Jeremiah was very young when he was called to the prophetic office, and on that account declined it, Jer 1:6; but God promised him grace and strength sufficient for his work, and for forty-two years he persisted in this arduous service with unwearied diligence and fidelity, in the midst of the severest trials and persecutions. It was probably owing to his youth at the time, and his residence in Anathoth, that when the book of the Law was found in the house of the Lord the king sent to Huldah the prophetess, instead of to him, to inquire of the Lord. 2 Kgs 22:14. Jeremiah's task was a thankless one. He was the divine means, not of encouragement, but of discouragement. His voice was constantly heard calling upon the people to submit to their enemies. During all this time Jerusalem was in a most distracted and deplorable condition, and the prophet was calumniated, imprisoned, and often in danger of death. But no ill-treatment or threatenings could deter him from denouncing the judgments of God, which were coming upon the nation and that devoted city. His exhortations to the king and rulers were to submit at once to the arms of Nebuchadnezzar, for by that means they would preserve their lives; and he assured them, as a message received from God, that their continued resistance would have no other effect than to bring certain and dreadful destruction upon Jerusalem and on themselves. At this time Jerusalem swarmed with false prophets, who contradicted the words of Jeremiah and flattered the king and his courtiers that God would rescue them from the impending danger; and after the city was taken and part of the people carried away to Babylon, these prophets confidently predicted a speedy return. On the other hand, Jeremiah sent word to the captives that the time of their captivity would be long, and that their best course was to build houses and plant vineyards in the land to which they were carried, and to pray for the peace of the country in which they resided. Indeed, he expressly foretold that the captivity would endure for seventy years; which duration, he intimated, was to make up for the sabbatical years which they had neglected to observe. He also foretold the deliverance of the people and their return to their own country. Toward the close of his life he was carried into Egypt against his will by the Jews who remained in Judaea after the murder of Gedaliah. On this occasion he was requested by Johanan and his followers to inquire of the Lord whether they should flee into Egypt; in answer, after accusing them of hypocrisy, he warned them in the most solemn manner, from the Lord, not to go down to Egypt, but they disregarded the commandment of God and went, and took Jeremiah forcibly with them, where, in all probability, he died, some think as a martyr. "It is to Jeremiah, even more than to Isaiah, that the writers of the apostolic age, Heb 8:8, 2 Kgs 11:13; Heb 10:16-17, look back when they wish to describe the dispensation of the Spirit. He is the prophet, beyond all others of the N.T. covenant, which first appears in his writings; and the knowledge of this new truth shall no longer be confined to any single order or caste, but 'all shall know the Lord, from the least unto the greatest.'" Stanley. The Prophecy of Jeremiah is a faithful reflection of his sad and tender character and the calamities of his age. It embraces a period of upward of 40 years, between b.c. 626 and b.c. 586. Jeremiah entered upon the office of a prophet in the thirteenth year of the reign of Joash, Jer 1:2, and his prophecy relates to the judgments that were to come upon the people for their gross idolatry and corruption; to the restoration which awaited them whenever they would repent of their sins and forsake them; and to the future glory which would arise on the Church of God and on such as were steadfast in his service when all flesh should see the salvation of God. The order of this book is as follows: 1. The prophecies uttered in Josiah's reign, chs. 1-12. b.c. 629-608. 2. In Jehoiakim's, chs. 13, 20, 22, 23, 35, 36, 45-48, 49:1-33. b.c. 607-597. 3. In Zedekiah's, chs. 21, 24, 27-34, 37-39, 49:34-39; 50, 51. b.c. 597-586. 4. In Gedaliah's, chs. 40-44. The Lamentations of Jeremiah (the book immediately succeeding the prophecy) are a series of four elegiac poems, in which the fate of Jerusalem is described, with one, the third, of a personal character, written, it has been reasonably conjectured, when Jeremiah was in Ramah, whither he had been carried as a captive, but where he was released by Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard under Nebuchadnezzar. The poems are artistically composed. Chs. 1, 2, and 4 consist of 22 verses each, as many as there are letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and each successive verse begins with a successive letter of that alphabet. Ch. 3 has three verses under each letter, following them down in the same way. In ch. 5 there is the same number of verses, but not the peculiar alphabetic order. The prophet's theme is sorrow, but his genius keeps him from triteness, while the reality and intensity of his grief give the utmost variety to his pictures of the condition of his passionately beloved land. The poem is a fit companion of the prophecies of Jeremiah, a sort of a funeral dirge of the fall of Jerusalem. By giving free vent to the grief of the soul, it is at the same time a source of comfort to the Church, especially in seasons of public calamity. The place where it is said to have been composed is called "the Grotto of Jeremiah," a few yards north of the Damascus gate, in Jerusalem, and is by some modern writers (Fisher Howe, Conder,) identified with the true Calvary.

="exalted of Jehovah" (Jerome); "appointed of Jehovah"(Gesenius); "Jehovah throws" (Hengstenberg); compare 1:10. 1. Son of Hilkiah, a priest in Anathoth of Benjamin; not the high priest Hilkiah who discovered the book of the law in Josiah's reign (2 Kings 22:8), for Jeremiah's father is not designated as "the priest" or "the high priest." Moreover, the Anathoth priests were of the line of Abiathar, who was deposed by Solomon (1 Kings 2:26-35). Thenceforward the high priesthood was in Eleazar's and Zadok's line. The independent history (2 Chronicles 35:25; 36:12,21) mentions his "lamentation for Josiah," Zedekiah's "not humbling himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Jehovah," and the Babylonian captivity "to fulfill Jehovah's word by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths, for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill threescore and ten years" (Jeremiah 27:7; 25:9-12; 26:6,7; 29:10). In 629 B.C., the 13th of Josiah's reign, while a mere youth at Anathoth, three miles from Jerusalem (Jeremiah 1:2), "the word of Jehovah came to him" just as manhood was opening out to him, calling him to lay aside his natural sensitiveness and timid self distrust, and as Jehovah's minister, by the might of Jehovah's efficacious word, to "root out ... throw down, build and plant." "Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." To his pleas of childlike inability to speak (as Moses, Exodus 3:11,12; 4:10-12; and Isaiah, 6:5-8), Jehovah opposes His mission and His command: "thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak." To his fear of men's faces Jehovah declares "I am with thee to deliver thee." Touching Jeremiah's mouth (as Isaiah's; compare Jesus' touch, Matthew 9:21,29), Jehovah put His words in the prophet's mouth, so that the prophetic word became divinely efficient to produce its own fulfillment; even as the Word was the efficient cause of creation. Jeremiah must have at first exercised his office incontemplation rather than action, for he is not mentioned in connection with Josiah's reforms, or the great Passover held in the 18th year of his reign, five years subsequent to Jeremiah's call. It is from the prophetess Huldah, not from him, that the godly king sought counsel. Yet he must have warmly sympathized with this great revival. Indications of affinity or friendship with some of the actors in it occur in the sameness of names: Jeremiah's father bearing the name of Hilkiah, Josiah's high priest; his uncle that of Shallum, Huldah's husband (Jeremiah 32:7; compare 2 Kings 22:14); Ahikam, Jeremiah's protector (Jeremiah 26:24), was also the fellow worker with Huldah in the revival; moreover Maaseiah, governor of Jerusalem, sent by Josiah as ally of Hilkiah in repairing the temple (2 Chronicles 34:8), was father of Neriah, the father of both Baruch and Seraiah, Jeremiah's disciples (Jeremiah 36:4; 51:59). The finding of the book of the law, the original temple copy (see HILKIAH ) exercised a palpable effect on his later writings. (Compare Jeremiah 11:3-5 with Deuteronomy 7:12; 4:20; 27:26; Jeremiah 34:14 with Deuteronomy 15:12; 32:18 with Exodus 20:6; 32:21 with Exodus 6:6). He saw that the reformation was but a surface one, and would not ensure the permanent peace which many anticipated from it (Jeremiah 7:4), for while "the temple" was restored the spirit of apostasy still prevailed, so that even Israel seemed just in comparison with what Judah had become (Jeremiah 3:11), a seeker of the truth was scarcely to be found, and self seeking was the real aim, while "the prophets prophesy falsely, the priests hear rule by their means, and God's people (!) love to have it so"(Jeremiah 5:1,31). Five years after his call to prophesy the book of the law was found in the temple by Hilkiah (2 Kings 22:8; 23:25); then Jeremiah in Jehovah's name proclaimed, "Hear ye this covenant, and speak (it in your turn to others, namely,) unto the men of Judah and Jerusalem."Next Jehovah commanded Jeremiah to take a prophetic tour, proclaiming the covenant through the cities of Judah, as well as in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 11:1,2,6). Apparently, he lived at first in Anathoth, repairing thence from time to time to prophesy in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 2:2), until the enmity of his townsmen and even his brethren, because of his godly faithfulness (Jeremiah 11:18-21; 12:6), drove him to Jerusalem. He knew not of their plotting against his life until Jehovah revealed it. His personal experiences were providentially ordered to qualify him to be the type in his own person, as well as the prophet, of Messiah (compare Isaiah 53:7). So Hisbrethren, and the Nazarenes His townsmen, treated Christ (Luke 4:24-29; John 1:11; 7:5; Psalm 69:8). By Jehovah's direction Jeremiah was to have neither wife or children (Jeremiah 16:2), in order to symbolize the coming of calamities on Judea so severe that the single state (contrary to the natural order) would be preferable to the married (1 Corinthians 7:8,26,29; Matthew 24:19; Luke 23:29). Eighteen years after his first call king Josiah died. During this period, when others thought evil distant, the vision of the see ALMOND tree, the emblem of wakefulness, showed Jeremiah that evil was hastening, and the seething pot that it should come from the N., namely, the Babylonians entering into the Holy Land from the N. by way of Hamath (Jeremiah 1:11-15). Jeremiah, like Isaiah (Isaiah 30:1-7), foresaw that the tendency of many to desire an alliance with Egypt, upon the dissolution of the Assyrian empire whose vassal Manasseh was, would end in sorrow (Jeremiah 2:18): "what hast thou to do in the way of (with going down to) Egypt? to drink the waters of Sihor (to seek hosts as allies from the Nile land)?"1-45, concerning Israel; (2) Jeremiah 46-51, concerning the nations. Jeremiah 1-23, are prophetic as to Israel; Jeremiah 24-45. combine prophecy and history; Jeremiah 24-29, set forth Nebuchadnezzar as God's instrument of chastising Israel and the nations, irresistible for the time, submission the wisest policy, the exiles better in position than the people at home; Jeremiah 30-33, the most Messianic portion, sets forth Israel restored under Messiah reigning upon David's throne; Jeremiah 34-45, mainly historical, illustrating from the people's unbelief the need of God's judgments. The New Testament by quotations stamps Jeremiah's canonicity (Matthew 2:17; 16:14; Hebrews 8:8-12). Philo quotes Jeremiah as an "oracle." Melito, Origen, Jerome, and the Talmud similarly include it in the canon. 1 Chronicles 23:23; J ERIMOTH , 24:30. Ezra 10:29, "and Ramoth" in the Hebrew margin (Qeri), but Jeremoth in the Hebrew original text (Kethib).