Introduction to Jeremiah

Jeremiah is called the "weeping prophet" because he prophesied during the terrible time of God's judgment against the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah 8:18-9:2 provides a good sense of his dismay over his people. Jeremiah also wrote the Book of Lamentations, whose very title reveals the depressing character of the message. More specifically Jeremiah prophesied from the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign (627/626 B,C.), through the reigns of his sons Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, until the eleventh year and fifth month of Zedekiah when Jerusalem was sacked and plundered by Nebuchadnezzar and the last of remnant of Judah was exiled to Babylon (586 BC).

Josiah was a good king and introduced many reforms to correct the wickedness of his fathers, Manasseh and Amon. However, while peace and partial divine favor rested upon Judah during Josiah's reign, the people's hearts did not fully turn toward God,  and it was only a matter of time that they returned to their idolatry, greed, and injustice, forgetting once again their covenant with God. Like the prophet Isaiah, Jeremiah intersperses judgment oracles with historical events and prophecies of future restoration.

During Jeremiah's ministry Judah had rejected the Lord for idols (2:13,32; 5:19; 7:18,31; 17:1-2; 19:4-5). They were guilty of gross personal unrighteousness (5:1,7-8,25-28; 6:13). The Jews hypocritically claimed to be God's people (5:2; 7:9-11), but they refused God's word (6:16-19; 7:25-26; 25:3-7; 36:20-24), refused to be corrected (5:3,21; 6:15; 17:23; 44:15-18) and followed false prophets who spoke what the people wanted to hear (5:30-31; 6:14; 7:8; 14:13-14).

In the time of Jeremiah, there wasa kind of finality in the oracle of judgment, so that no amount of prayer or intercession would change God's mind about this judgment. It was certain to happen. Even the length of it was determined, 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10), which the prophet Daniel would reference in his prayer for restoration (cf. Daniel 9:2). In the course of time, Jeremiah would counsel the remnant of Judah that the best that they could do now was to surrender to the conquering nation of Babylon and submit to exile (cf. Jeremiah 38:1-3). Jeremiah would also counsel those exiled already to live peacably among the Babylonians (cf. Jeremiah 29:3-7). Some of the people wanted to join Egypt against Babylon, but this too was contrary to what God commanded and destined to fail. To fight against the Babylonians was to fight against God.

Along with the judgment against Judah, God also revealed judgment against the nations surrounding Judah. Babylon would be used to judge them all for their idolatry. Many of them would be totally destroyed while some would be restored. Furthermore, in the same way that Assyria was judged for her wickedness and pride after God finished using her against Israel and the sinful nations of her day, Babylon too would be judged for her idolatry and pride. Assyria was left a desolation, never to rise again as a world power; however, the judgment against Babylon was never completely fulfilled in history (Jeremiah 50-51). We discover the reason for this in the prophecy of John in the Book of Revelation, where a revitalized Babylon would once again take center stage in the time of the end, and at that time, the desolation and final judgment due her would be fulfilled (cf. Revelation 17-18).

In the course of his ministry Jeremiah experienced many hardships because he preached an unpopular message. Yet, God rescued him from every calamity, and he was not killed. In the end, he was offered peace and prosperity by the Babylonian king; however, he chose to remain with his people in the land - a testament to the integrity of this prophet as well as his deep concern for his people.

Jeremiah is perhaps best known as the prophet who gave the clearest exposition in the Old Testament of the New Covenant, which would replace the Old Covenant of the Mosaic Law and be inaugurated by the blood of Christ (cf. Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8-10). The central text is Jeremiah 31:31-34,

³¹ "The days are coming," declares the LORD,
       "when I will make a new covenant
       with the house of Israel
       and with the house of Judah.

    ³² It will not be like the covenant
       I made with their ancestors
       when I took them by the hand
       to lead them out of Egypt,
       because they broke my covenant,
       though I was a husband to them,"
       declares the LORD.

    ³³ "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
       after that time," declares the LORD.
       "I will put my law in their minds
       and write it on their hearts.
       I will be their God,
       and they will be my people.

    ³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbors,
       or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,'
       because they will all know me,
       from the least of them to the greatest,"
       declares the LORD.
       "For I will forgive their wickedness
       and will remember their sins no more."

We Gentiles have been grafted into this New Covenant, so that through Christ we have become one people with Israel (cf. Ephesians 2:11-22). The lesson of the Mosaic Law was that no one could be justified by it. It only revealed the sinfulness of people and their need for God's grace (cf. Romans 3:20). So whereas the Old Covenant brought death, the New Covenant, which was known only in shadow in the OT, has brought life through Jesus Christ. What people could not do, God did for us: "I will put my law into their minds and write it on their hearts..." Praise the LORD.