Ark of the Covenant - Bible History Online
Bible History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary


Definitions in Biblical History
 

A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z   



Who is Jeremiah?
        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.


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'jeremiah' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
bible-history.com - Schaff's

Copyright Information
© Schaff's Bible Dictionary


Schaff's Bible Dictionary Home
Bible History Online Home

 

Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
Online Bible (KJV)
Naves Topical Bible
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Matthew Henry Bible Commentary
Hitchcock's Bible Dictionary