Jeremiah lived in a “dark” time: the time of the fall of the Jewish empire. Ten tribes had long since been captured and deported by the king of Assyria (in 722 BC, 2 Kings 17). Two tribes were still in the land of Israel. This article briefly describes who Jeremiah was and what message he was to pass on.
The prophet Jeremiah – background
Jeremiah lived in a place called Anathoth (or Anathoth). On the map, you can see that Anathoth was not far from Jerusalem (about 5 km). Priests lived in Anathoth. Jeremiah grew up there.
Jeremiah was active at the time of King Josiah and his descendants: Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah are mentioned here (verses 2 and 3). Zedekiah was the last king of Judah; during his reign, the kingdom of Judah came to an end.
In the 9th year of the reign of this godless king, Zedekiah, the hostile Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar went to war (for the third time) against Jerusalem. He “slew her young men with the sword in the house of her sanctuary: … And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and his princes: all these he carried to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and break down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the precious vessels thereof. And he carried away the remnant of the sword to Babylon” (2 Chr. 36:17-20).
Jeremiah’s childhood and youth
When Jeremiah was born (around 647 BC), the godless King Manasseh reigned. He shed a lot of innocent blood. He also made the people serve idols. He did it so badly that God had to say in comparison with a wicked, pagan people: “He has done evil, more than all that the Amorites did who were in the land before him” (2 Kings 21:11). God announces that He must judge Jerusalem (“I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl” – 2 Kings 21:13).
When Jeremiah was still a child, King Manasseh died. His son Amon, who succeeded him on the throne, was unfortunately no better. After reigning for two years, he was murdered in an uprising. Strangely enough, however, his son Josiah was completely different. He did “what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and he walked in all the ways of his father David” (2 Kings 22:2). You have probably already heard about the great revival that was set in motion by this young king: The house of God was renovated; the Book of the Law was found again “by chance” – and read. Josiah loved to cleanse the land of idols.
However, the state of the people was still bad. Idolatry was the order of the day [1]. During this time, Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet. He was still very young (it is assumed that he was around 20 years old).
Jeremiah’s calling
God tells this young man that He had called him to be a prophet even before he was born (!): “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you: I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Even before Jeremiah could do good or evil, God had chosen him. This was also the case with Paul (Gal. 1:15).
When Jeremiah received the commission, he must have rejoiced – or so one might think. But Jeremiah’s reaction was completely different. He knows what a difficult task lies ahead of him, and he does not take it lightly. So he says: “Oh, Lord, Lord! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am young” (Jer. 1:6).
But that doesn’t change God’s plan. On the contrary, God likes to choose people who don’t think much of themselves (like Moses and Gideon) and often people who people don’t think much of (like David). This is why He repeats and reaffirms His commission: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am young,” for to all where I will send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak’” (Jer. 1:7).
So, God makes no compromises. Jeremiah was to bring the whole message, without ifs and buts, to all the places where God would send him. To encourage him for this task, God gives this young man a special promise: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” These four words (“I am with you“) count more than anything else for Jeremiah and also for us.
What happens next is extremely remarkable: God stretches out his hand and touches Jeremiah’s mouth (Jer. 1:9a). God immediately says what this means: “Behold, I put my words in your mouth” (Jer. 1:9b). This is exactly what makes a true prophet. He receives words from God that he must faithfully pass on to the people. In Jeremiah’s case, the message was initially a negative one: it was about “eradicating and tearing down and destroying and demolishing” (Jer. 1:10). However, a positive message was then to follow: “to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah’s message
In Jeremiah 1:11-19, we notice that God shows Jeremiah two things:
- an almond stick and
- a pot of boiling water.
Both had an important meaning for Jeremiah’s mission: the almond tree is the first tree to blossom after winter. That is why it is called the watchful one in Hebrew. Thus, God says, “You have seen rightly, for I will watch over my word to perform it” (Jer. 1:12). We will see how important this almond rod would be in relation to Jeremiah’s message.
Secondly, God shows Jeremiah “a boiling pot with its front facing south.” This pot meant disaster, and it was coming from the north. Jeremiah would have to warn again and again that the Babylonians would come (their empire was mainly north of Judah), take the land, and lead the Jews away captive (see, for example, Jer. 25:8-11). This message was not welcomed. The false prophets who “made fair weather” were far more popular. But Jeremiah was faithful. He brought the message that God had told him to bring. And this part of his message was fulfilled during Jeremiah’s lifetime. God had watched over it (the “almond rod”).
It was all very frightening. So where was the positive part of his message (see above: “to build and to plant”)? It actually existed. Jeremiah’s message could be summarized like this:
- God’s people had sinned grievously.
- Again and again, God had warned them (the phrase “early to arise and seek” or similar occurs again and again in this prophet [2].
- That is why enemies will come (from Babylon) and conquer Jerusalem. Resistance is useless.
- The enemies will take the land from the people of Israel (of which there were only two tribes left in the land).
BUT:
- The captivity will come to an end after 70 years.
- God will give the land back to Israel.
- God will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah.
- Under this covenant, Israel will be blessed again in their land of Canaan (Jer. 31:31 ff.).
- This will be possible because God will assume all responsibility: The new covenant between God and his people is always “I will” instead of “you shall” (as had been the case in the Old Covenant).
What Jeremiah could not yet the answer was the question of how God could make a new covenant and bless Israel again, even though the people had abandoned and dishonored Him. How can God forgive this guilt? For centuries, this question had remained unanswered. It was only when Christ came that this veil was lifted by Himself. He said to his disciples: “This is My blood, the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many” (Mark 14:24). We still remember this blood today when we celebrate the memorial meal (1 Cor. 11:25). No covenant has been or will be made with us Christians, neither personally nor with the assembly, but only “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31). But we already know the basis for this covenant today: the shed blood of Christ. He gave His life. This has given us all the blessings – and the day will come when the people of Israel can also be blessed through this shed blood, just as the suffering prophet Jeremiah had announced. Here, too, God will watch over the fulfillment of His Word (the “almond rod”).
Jeremiah was often given little or no attention at the time. Many were annoyed by his message. He was fought and insulted, ridiculed and persecuted, beaten and imprisoned. It was not for nothing that this rather timid and suffering man – who later also wrote Lamentations – became known as “the weeping prophet.”
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Footnotes:
[1] As early as the time of Hezekiah (a few years before Jeremiah was born), the runners were ridiculed in several areas of Israel when they invited people to the Passover and to repentance (2 Chr. 30:10). Things had hardly improved under Manasseh and Amon. A few years later, in the 13th year of Josiah, Jeremiah began his ministry. It was not until the 18th year of Josiah that the Book of the Law was rediscovered in the temple, and the widespread idolatry was (largely) abolished: see 2 Kings 22:8-23:10 and 2 Chronicles 34:33.
[2] Jer. 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4 etc.
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