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Introduction
to Jeremiah
Summary of the Book of Jeremiah
This summary of
the book of Jeremiah provides information about the title, author(s), date of
writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the
chapters of the Book of Jeremiah.
The book
preserves an account of the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah, whose personal life
and struggles are shown to us in greater depth and detail than those of any
other OT prophet. The meaning of his name is uncertain. Suggestions include
"The Lord exalts" and "The Lord establishes," but a more
likely proposal is "The Lord throws," either in the sense of
"hurling" the prophet into a hostile world or of "throwing
down" the nations in divine judgment for their sins. Jeremiah's prophetic
ministry began in 626 b.c. and ended sometime after 586 (see notes on 1:2-3).
His ministry was immediately preceded by that of Zephaniah. Habakkuk was a
contemporary, and Obadiah may have been also. Since Ezekiel began his ministry
in Babylon in 593, he too was a late contemporary of the great prophet in
Jerusalem. How and when Jeremiah died is not known; Jewish tradition, however,
asserts that while living in Egypt he was put to death by being stoned (cf. Heb 11:37).
Jeremiah was a
member of the priestly household of Hilkiah. His hometown was Anathoth (1:1), so he may have
been a descendant of Abiathar (1Ki 2:26), a priest
during the days of King Solomon. The Lord commanded Jeremiah not to marry and
raise children because the impending divine judgment on Judah would sweep away
the next generation (16:1-4).
Primarily a prophet of doom, he attracted only a few friends, among whom were
Ahikam (26:24),
Gedaliah (Ahikam's son, 39:14)
and Ebed-Melech (38:7-13;
cf. 39:15-18).
Jeremiah's closest companion was his faithful secretary, Baruch, who wrote down
Jeremiah's words as the prophet dictated them (36:4-32).
He was advised by Jeremiah not to succumb to the temptations of ambition but to
be content with his lot (ch. 45). He also received from
Jeremiah and deposited for safekeeping a deed of purchase (32:11-16),
and accompanied the prophet on the long road to exile in Egypt (43:6-7).
It is possible that Baruch was also responsible for the final compilation of
the book of Jeremiah itself, since no event recorded in chs. 1 - 51 occurred after 580 b.c.
(ch. 52 is
an appendix added by a later hand).
Given to
self-analysis and self-criticism (10:24),
Jeremiah has revealed a great deal about himself. Although timid by nature (1:6), he received
the Lord's assurance that he would become strong and courageous (1:18; 6:27; 15:20).
In his "confessions" (see 11:18-23;
12:1-4;
15:10-21;
17:12-18;
18:18-23;
20:7-18
and notes) he laid bare the deep struggles of his inmost being, sometimes
making startling statements about his feelings toward God (12:1; 15:18).
On occasion, he engaged in calling for redress against his personal enemies (12:1-3;
15:15; 17:18; 18:19-23;
see note on Ps 5:10)
-- a practice that explains the origin of the English word
"jeremiad," referring to a denunciatory tirade or complaint.
Jeremiah, so often expressing his anguish of spirit (4:19; 9:1; 10:19-20;
23:9),
has justly been called the "weeping prophet." But it is also true
that the memory of his divine call (1:17)
and the Lord's frequent reaffirmations of his commissioning as a prophet (see,
e.g., 3:12; 7:2,27-28;
11:2,6;
13:12-13;
17:19-20)
made Jeremiah fearless and faithful in the service of his God (cf. 15:20).
Jeremiah began
prophesying in Judah halfway through the reign of Josiah (640-609 b.c.) and
continued throughout the reigns of Jehoahaz (609), Jehoiakim (609-598),
Jehoiachin (598-597) and Zedekiah (597-586). It was a period of storm and
stress when the doom of entire nations -- including Judah itself -- was being
sealed. The smaller states of western Asia were often pawns in the power plays
of such imperial giants as Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, and the time of
Jeremiah's ministry was no exception. Ashurbanipal, last of the great Assyrian
rulers, died in 627. His successors were no match for Nabopolassar, the founder
of the Neo-Babylonian empire, who began his rule in 626 (the year of Jeremiah's
call to prophesy). Soon after Assyria's capital city Nineveh fell under the
onslaught of a coalition of Babylonians and Medes in 612, Egypt (no friend of
Babylon) marched northward in an attempt to rescue Assyria, which would soon be
destroyed. King Josiah of Judah made the mistake of trying to stop the Egyptian
advance, and his untimely death near Megiddo in 609 at the hands of Pharaoh
Neco II was the sad result (2Ch 35:20-24).
Jeremiah, who had found a kindred spirit in the godly Josiah and perhaps had
proclaimed the messages recorded in 11:1-8;
17:19-27
during the king's reformation movement, lamented Josiah's death (see 2Ch 35:25
and note).
Josiah's son
Jehoahaz (see NIV text note on 22:11),
also knwn as Shallum, is mentioned only briefly in the book of Jeremiah (22:10b-12),
and then in an unfavorable way. Neco put Jehoahaz in chains and made Eliakim,
another of Josiah's sons, king in his place, renaming him Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz
had ruled for a scant three months (2Ch 36:2),
and his reign marks the turning point in the king's attitude toward Jeremiah.
Once the friend and confidant of the king, the prophet now entered a dreary
round of persecution and imprisonment, alternating with only brief periods of
freedom (20:1-2;
26:8-9;
32:2-3;
33:1; 36:26; 37:12-21;
38:6-13,28).
Jehoiakim
remained relentlessly hostile toward Jeremiah. On one occasion, when an early
draft of the prophet's writings was being read to Jehoiakim (36:21),
the king used a scribe's knife to cut the scroll apart, three or four columns
at a time, and threw it piece by piece into the firepot in his winter apartment
(vv. 22-23). At the Lord's command, however, Jeremiah simply dictated his
prophecies to Baruch a second time, adding "many similar words" to
them (v. 32).
Just prior to
this episode in Jeremiah's life, an event of extraordinary importance took
place that changed the course of history: In 605 b.c., the Egyptians were
crushed at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar (46:2),
the gifted general who succeeded his father Nabopolassar as ruler of Babylon
that same year. Neco returned to Egypt after heavy losses, and Babylon was
given a virtually free hand in western Asia for the next 70 years.
Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in 605, humiliating Jehoiakim (Da 1:1-2)
and carrying off Daniel and his three companions to Babylon (Da 1:3-6).
Later, in 598-597, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem again, and the rebellious
Jehoiakim was heard of no more. His son Jehoiachin ruled Judah for only three
months (2Ch 36:9).
Jeremiah foretold the captivity of Jehoiachin and his followers (22:24-30),
a prediction that was later fulfilled (24:1; 29:1-2).
Mattaniah,
Jehoiachin's uncle and a son of Josiah, was renamed Zedekiah and placed on
Judah's throne by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 b.c. (37:1; 2Ch 36:9-14).
Zedekiah, a weak and vacillating ruler, sometimes befriended Jeremiah and
sought his advice but at other times allowed the prophet's enemies to mistreat
and imprison him. Near the end of Zedekiah's reign, Jeremiah entered into an
agreement with him to reveal God's will to him in exchange for his own personal
safety (38:14-27).
Even then the prophet was under virtual house arrest until Jerusalem was
captured in 586 (38:28).
While trying to
flee the city, Zedekiah was overtaken by the pursuing Babylonians. In his presence
his sons were executed, after which he himself was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar (39:1-7).
Nebuzaradan, commander of the imperial guard, advised Jeremiah to live with Gedaliah,
whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor over Judah (40:1-6).
After a brief term of office, Gedaliah was murdered by his opponents (41:1-9).
Others in Judah feared Babylonian reprisal and fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah
and Baruch with them (43:4-7).
By that time the prophet was probably over 70 years old. His last recorded
words are found in 44:24-30,
the last verse of which is the only explicit reference in the Bible to Pharaoh
Hophra, who ruled Egypt from 589 to 570 b.c.
Theological Themes and
Message
Referred to
frequently as "Jeremiah the prophet" in the book that bears his name
(20:2; 25:2; 28:5,10-12,15;
29:1,29;
32:2; 34:6; 36:8,26;
37:2,3,6;
38:9-10,14;
42:2,4;
43:6; 45:1; 46:1,13;
47:1; 49:34; 50:1)
and elsewhere (2Ch 36:12;
Da 9:2;
Mt 2:17;
27:9;
see Mt 16:14),
Jeremiah was ever conscious of his call from the Lord (1:5; 15:19)
to be a prophet. As such, he proclaimed words given him by God himself (19:2)
and therefore certain of fulfillment (28:9; 32:24).
Jeremiah had only contempt for false prophets (14:13-18;
23:13-40;
27:14-18)
like Hananiah (ch. 28) and
Shemaiah (29:24-32).
Many of his own predictions were fulfilled in the short term (e.g., 16:15; 20:4; 25:11-14;
27:19-22;
29:10; 34:4-5;
43:10-11;
44:30; 46:13),
and others were -- or will yet be -- fulfilled in the long term (e.g., 23:5-6;
30:8-9;
31:31-34;
33:15-16).
As hinted
earlier, an aura of conflict surrounded Jeremiah almost from the beginning. He
lashed out against the sins of his countrymen (44:23), scoring them severely
for their idolatry (16:10-13,20;
22:9; 32:29; 44:2-3,8,17-19,25)
-- which sometimes even involved sacrificing their children to foreign gods
(see 7:30-34
and notes). But Jeremiah loved the people of Judah in spite of their sins, and
he prayed for them (14:7,20)
even when the Lord told him not to (7:16; 11:14; 14:11).
Judgment is one
of the all-pervasive themes in Jeremiah's writings, though he was careful to
point out that repentance, if sincere, would postpone the otherwise inevitable.
His counsel of submission to Babylon and his message of "life as
usual" for the exiles of the early deportations branded him as a traitor
in the eyes of many. Actually, of course, his advice not to rebel against
Babylon marked him as a true patriot, a man who loved his own people too much
to stand by silently and watch them destroy themselves. By warning them to
submit and not rebel, Jeremiah was revealing God's will to them -- always the
most sensible prospect under any circumstances.
For Jeremiah,
God was ultimate. The prophet's theology conceived of the Lord as the Creator
of all that exists (10:12-16;
51:15-19),
as all-powerful (32:27; 48:15; 51:57),
as everywhere present (23:24).
Jeremiah ascribed the most elevated attributes to the God whom he served (32:17-25),
viewing him as the Lord not only of Judah but also of the nations (5:15; 18:7-10;
25:17-28;
chs. 46 - 51).
At the same
time, God is very much concerned about individual people and their
accountability to him. Jeremiah's emphasis in this regard (see, e.g., 31:29-30)
is similar to that of Ezekiel (see Eze 18:2-4),
and the two men have become known as the "prophets of individual
responsibility." The undeniable relationship between sin and its
consequences, so visible to Jeremiah as he watched his beloved Judah in her
death throes, made him -- in the pursuit of his divine vocation -- a fiery
preacher (5:14; 20:9; 23:29)
of righteousness, and his oracles have lost none of their power with the
passing of the centuries.
Called to the
unhappy task of announcing the destruction of the kingdom of Judah (thoroughly
corrupted by the long and evil reign of Manasseh and only superficially
affected by Josiah's efforts at reform), it was Jeremiah's commission to lodge
God's indictment against his people and proclaim the end of an era. At long
last, the Lord was about to inflict on the remnant of his people the ultimate
covenant curse (see Lev 26:31-33;
Dt 28:49-68).
He would undo all that he had done for them since the day he brought them out
of Egypt. It would then seem that the end had come, that Israel's stubborn and
uncircumcised (unconsecrated) heart had sealed her final destiny, that God's
chosen people had been cast off, that all the ancient promises and covenants
had come to nothing.
But God's
judgment of his people (and the nations), though terrible, was not to be the
last word, the final work of God in history. Mercy and covenant faithfulness
would triumph over wrath. Beyond the judgment would come restoration and
renewal. Israel would be restored, the nations that crushed her would be
crushed, and the old covenants (with Israel, David and the Levites) would be
honored. God would make a new covenant with his people in which he would write
his law on their hearts (see 31:31-34
and notes; see also Heb 8:8-12
and note) and thus consecrate them to his service. The new covenant was cast in
the form of ancient Near Eastern royal grant treaties and contained
unconditional, gracious and profoundly spiritual, moral, ethical and relational
promises. The house of David would rule God's people in righteousness, and
faithful priests would serve. God's commitment to Israel's redemption was as
unfailing as the secure order of creation (ch. 33).
Jeremiah's
message illumined the distant as well as the near horizon. It was false
prophets who proclaimed peace to a rebellious nation, as though the God of
Israel's peace was indifferent to her unfaithfulness. But the very God who
compelled Jeremiah to denounce sin and pronounce judgment was the God who
authorized him to announce that the divine wrath had its bounds, its 70 years.
Afterward forgiveness and cleansing would come -- and a new day, in which all
the old expectations, aroused by God's past acts and his promises and
covenants, would yet be fulfilled in a manner transcending all God's mercies of
old.
Jeremiah is the
longest book in the Bible, containing more words than any other book. Although
a number of chapters were written mainly in prose (chs. 7; 11; 16; 19; 21; 24-29; 32-45),
including the appendix (ch. 52), most sections are
predominantly poetic in form. Jeremiah's poetry is lofty and lyrical. A creator
of beautiful phrases, he has given us an abundance of memorable passages (e.g.,
2:13,26-28;
7:4,11,34;
8:20,22;
9:23-24;
10:6-7,10,12-13;
13:23; 15:20; 17:5-9;
20:13; 29:13; 30:7,22;
31:3,15,29-30,31-34;
33:3; 51:10).
Poetic
repetition was used by Jeremiah with particular skill (see, e.g., 4:23-26;
51:20-23).
He understood the effectiveness of repeating a striking phrase over and over.
An example is "sword, famine and plague," found in 15 separate verses
(14:12; 21:7,9;
24:10; 27:8,13;
29:17-18;
32:24,36;
34:17; 38:2; 42:17,22;
44:13).
He made use of cryptograms (see NIV text notes on 25:26; 51:1,41)
on appropriate occasions. Alliteration and assonance were also a part of his
literary style, examples being zarim wezeruha ("foreigners . . . to winnow
her," 51:2)
and pah∆ad wapah∆at wapah∆ ("Terror and pit and snare," 48:43;
see note on Isa 24:17).
Like Ezekiel, Jeremiah was often instructed to use symbolism to highlight his
message: a ruined and useless belt (13:1-11),
a smashed clay jar (19:1-12),
a yoke of straps and crossbars (ch. 27), large stones in a
brick pavement (43:8-13).
Symbolic value is also seen in the Lord's commands to Jeremiah not to marry and
raise children (16:1-4),
not to enter a house where there is a funeral meal or where there is feasting (16:5-9),
and to buy a field in his hometown, Anathoth (32:6-15).
Similarly, the Lord used visual aids in conveying his message to Jeremiah:
potter's clay (18:1-10),
two baskets of figs (ch. 24).
Unlike Ezekiel,
the oracles in Jeremiah are not arranged in chronological order. Had they been
so arranged, the sequence of sections within the book would have been
approximately as follows: 1:1 -- 7:15;
ch. 26; 7:16 --
20:18;
ch. 25;
chs. 46 - 51; 36:1-8;
ch. 45; 36:9-32;
ch. 35;
chs. 21 - 24; chs. 27 - 31; 34:1-7;
37:1-10;
34:8-22;
37:11
-- 38:13; 39:15-18;
chs. 32 - 33; 38:14
-- 39:14; 52:1-30;
chs. 40 - 44; 52:31-34.
The outline below represents an analysis of the book of Jeremiah in its present
canonical order.
I.
Call of the Prophet (ch.
1)
A.
Earliest Discourses (chs. 2-6)
III.
Sufferings and Persecutions of the Prophet (chs. 36-38)
IV.
The Fall of Jerusalem and Its Aftermath (chs. 39-45)
V.
Judgment against the Nations (chs. 46-51)
VI.
Historical Appendix (ch.
52)
──《New
International Version》
Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah was a priest, a native of Anathoth,
in the tribe of Benjamin. He was called to the prophetic office when very
young, about seventy years after the death of Isaiah, and exercised it for
about forty years with great faithfulness, till the sins of the Jewish nation
came to their full measure and destruction followed. The prophecies of Jeremiah
do not stand as they were delivered. Blayney has endeavoured to arrange them in
more regular order, namely, ch. 1-20; 22; 23; 25; 26; 35; 36; 45; 24; 29; 30;
31; 27; 28; 21; 34; 37; 32; 33; 38; 39; (ver. 15-18, 1-14.) 40-44; 46-52. The
general subject of his prophecies is the idolatry and other sins of the Jews;
the judgments by which they were threatened, with references to their future
restoration and deliverance, and promises of the Messiah. They are remarkable
for plain and faithful reproofs, affectionate expostulations, and awful
warnings.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
00 Overview
JEREMIAH
INTRODUCTION
The
prophet’s name and descent
The name Jeremiah was not uncommon (1 Chronicles 12:13; 2 Kings 23:31; cf. Jeremiah 35:3). Our prophet is more
precisely described as “son of Hilkiah” (Jeremiah 1:1), by whom we are not to
understand the high priest of this name who held office in Josiah’s days (2 Kings 22:1-20; 2 Kings 23:1-37), since, instead of
the definite statement which we should then expect, we have only a general
account: “of the priests at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin”; the high priest
without doubt had his seat at Jerusalem; on the other hand, the priests settled
at Anathoth, the old Levitical town (Joshua 21:18), the present Anata (a good
hour northeast of Jerusalem; according to Josephus, twenty stadia from
Jerusalem), probably belonged, according to 1 Kings 2:26, to the line of
Ithamar, not to that of Zadok. (C. Von Orelli.)
The name of Jeremiah is significant. Some have supposed that it
means that he was exalted by the Lord. Others assert with more probability that
it means set by the Lord, as solid foundation; or sent forth by the Lord, as
lightning from the cloud, or as an arrow from a bow. Whichever etymology we
adopt, the name Jeremiah intimates that, whatever he did and suffered, all was
from the Lord. He was set by God’s hand as a solitary beacon on a lofty tower,
in a dark night, in a stormy sea; lashed by waves and winds, but never shaken
from his foundations. (Bishop Chris. Wordsworth)
Political
state of affairs
His call to the prophetic office came in the thirteenth year of
Josiah. Danger was once again gathering round Judah, and to Jeremiah was
assigned a more directly political position than to any other prophet. The
destruction of Sennacherib’s army in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (B.C.
693), though it had not freed the land from predatory incursions, had
nevertheless put an end to all serious designs on the part of the Assyrians to
reduce it to the same condition as that to which Shalmaneser had reduced
Samaria. The danger of Judea really rose from Egypt on the one hand and Babylon
on the other. In Egypt, Psammetichus put an end to the subdivision of the
country, and made himself sole master in B.C. 649. As he reigned for fifty-four
years he was--during the last eighteen or nineteen years of his
life--contemporary with Josiah, but it was his successor Necho who slew Josiah
at Megiddo. Meanwhile, as Egypt grew in strength, so Nineveh declined, partly
from the effects of the Scythian invasion, but still more from the growing
power of the Medes, and from Babylon having achieved its independence. Two
years after the battle of Megiddo, Nineveh fell before a combined attack of the
Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopalassar. But Nabopalassar
does not seem to have been otherwise a warlike king, and Egypt remained the
dominant power till the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In that year (B.C. 586)
Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish. Having peaceably succeeded his
father, he returned to Judea, and Jehoiakim became his vassal. After three
years of servitude Jehoiakim rebelled (2 Kings 24:1), and died. Three
months after his son Jehoiachin, the queen-mother, and a large number of nobles
and artificers were carried captive to Babylon. The growth of Egypt into a
first-rate power under Psammetichus (2:18, 36) raised the question of a close
alliance with him. The youthful Jeremiah gave his voice against it. Josiah recognised
that voice as inspired, and obeyed. His obedience cost him his life at Megiddo;
but four years later Necho was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish. On
that day the fate of the Jewish nation was decided, and the primary object of
Jeremiah’s mission then ceased. The ministry of Jeremiah really belonged to the
last eighteen years of Josiah’s reign. Judah’s probation was then going on, her
salvation still possible; though each year Judah’s guilt became heavier, her
condemnation more certain. But to the eye of man her punishment seemed more
remote than ever. Jehoiakim was the willing vassal of Egypt, the supreme power.
No wonder that, being an irreligious man, he scorned all Jeremiah’s predictions
of utter and early ruin; no wonder that he destroyed Jeremiah’s roll, as the
record of the outpourings of mere fanaticism. It was his last chance, his last
offer of mercy; and as he threw the torn fragments of the roll on the fire he
threw there in symbol his royal house, his doomed city, the temple, and all the
people of the land. It was in this fourth year of Jehoiakim that Jeremiah
boldly foretold the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire, and the wide limits
over which it would extend. This prophecy (chap. 25) placed his life in danger,
so that “the Lord hid” him and Baruch (Jeremiah 36:26). When Jeremiah appears
again, Nebuchadnezzar was advancing upon Jerusalem to execute the prophecy
contained in Jeremiah 36:30-31. And with the death of
Jehoiakim the first period of Judah’s history was brought to a close. Though
Jeremiah remained with Zedekiah, and tried to influence him for good, yet his
mission was over. He testifies himself that the Jewish Church had gone with
Jehoiachin to Babylon. Zedekiah and those who remained in Jerusalem were but
the refuse of a fruit basket from which everything good had been culled (chap.
24), and their destruction was a matter of course. Jeremiah held no distinctive
office towards them. (Dean Payne Smith.)
Jeremiah’s
personal characteristics
The personality of Jeremiah looks out on us from his book in more
individual distinctness than that of any other prophet. He reveals himself as a
soul of gentle nature, yielding, tender-hearted, affectionate, with almost a
woman’s thirst for love, with which certainly the iron, unbending firmness and
immovable power of resistance belonging to him in his prophetic sphere are in
strange contrast. There were in turn two different, widely diverging
potencies,--the human flesh in its weakness, yet with all its lawful generous
impulses; and the Divine Spirit, with its boundless strength. Thou h the former
was thoroughly subject to the latter, it suffered, sighed, bled under the
heavy, almost intolerable, burden laid upon it by God’s Spirit and Word. No
doubt the youth received the Divine revelations with delighted eagerness (Jeremiah 15:16); but it went hard with
him to be obliged to renounce every joy of youth on account of the hand of the
Lord that came upon him, and to be obliged to experience and proclaim to his
people nothing but wrath, ruin, woe. How utterly all this cut across his
natural inclination (Jeremiah 15:17 f.). Moreover, the office
of this witness of Jehovah was in itself highly tragical; he had to preach
repentance to a people unfaithful to its God, while knowing that this final
call to salvation would pass away unheeded! He had to picture to the nation and
its God-forgetting leaders the terrible danger accruing to it from its guilt,
and he was not understood, because no one wished to understand him! Thus he
himself suffered most under the disobedience of the nation which he loved,
without being able to save it. And at the same time he, the warmest, noblest
friend of his country, was forced to let himself be counted among traitors, as
though in league with the enemy! And yet it was God’s inspiration that
compelled him again and again to beat down without mercy every deceitful hope
to which sinking courage strove to cling; not cowardice, but courage, made him
dissuade those eager for war; not treachery, but love for people and city, made
him enjoin submission to the conqueror chosen of God. If such a position in
some respects like the one forced on Hosea in the last days of the northern
kingdom--would have been terribly hard for any one, for the deeply sensitive
Jeremiah, who felt the wounds of his nation as his own, it was almost crushing!
That he who interceded with priestly heart for Judah saw himself rejected in
his constant intercession before God’s throne (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11; Jeremiah 18:20); that he who consumed
himself for the salvation of his country, and strove only to avert the ruin
threatened by God, had to listen to the bitterest suspicions and revilings (Jeremiah 9:1 ff; Jeremiah 12:5 f., 15:10, 17:14-18, 18:23,
etc.), often brought him to despair; nor does he restrain his feelings. Nothing
can again cheer him and heal his inner wounds (Jeremiah 8:18; Jeremiah 8:21); he wishes he could
dissolve in tears for his poor people (Jeremiah 9:1; Jeremiah 13:17); he would fain dwell
alone in the wilderness to escape the wickedness of his surroundings (Jeremiah 9:2); he wishes God had never
persuaded him to enter His service, since God’s words make him reel like wine (Jeremiah 23:9), and burn in him like
fire, when he would suppress them (Jeremiah 20:7 ff.). Yea, in this conflict
between his heart of human feeling and God’s inexorable word he wishes he had
never been born (Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 20:14-18), like Job (Job 3:1 ff.). But just because what the
Lord announces to him is so painful and contrary to his natural feelings and
wishes, he is so certain that a stronger one has come upon him; and he opposes
with invincible certainty of triumph the false prophets, who publish the
flattering dreams of their own heart as revelations from above. Over against
all outward attacks he stands as an iron pillar and brazen wall (Jeremiah 1:18; Jeremiah 15:20), whilst inwardly mourning
the ruin of Judah and Jerusalem as none else does. (C. Von Orelli.)
Jeremiah has been likened to several characters in profane
history--to Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess, whose fate it was never to be
believed, though prophesying nothing but the truth; to Phocion, the rival of
Demosthenes in the last generation of Athenian greatness, who maintained the
unpopular but sound doctrine that, if Athens were to escape worse evils, she
must submit peaceably to the growing power of Macedon; to Dante, whose native
state, Florence, was in relation to France and the empire as Palestine was to
Egypt and Babylon, while the poet, like the prophet, could only protest without
effect against the thickening ills. (A. W. Streane, D. D.)
Jeremiah faithful as a prophet
In the midst of his own sorrow, and even in the deepest despondency,
Jeremiah is faithful to his task as a prophet, and bold in declaring the Word
of the Lord. Though his message was largely directed to immediate affairs, it
pointed forward to a better dispensation, and his words have a meaning for all
time.
1. We see fidelity to his calling triumphing over natural timidity
throughout his life. See his own words (Jeremiah 20:8-9). He seems ever to have
been conscious of the assurance given to him at his call (Jeremiah 1:8; Jeremiah 15:20). And his faith in God’s
promise is illustrated in his purchase of a field when the ruin of the country
was imminent (32).
2. The truths mainly insisted on by Jeremiah are
(a)--That mere attention to worship or veneration for its forms is
worthless (Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 7:8-11; Jeremiah 7:21-23). The law must be
written on the heart (Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 4:14; Jeremiah 17:9; Jeremiah 31:33).
(b) Consequently the individual rather than the state is the object of
Divine regard (Jeremiah 5:1; Jeremiah 9:1-6; Jeremiah 9:18).
(c) In thus condemning the old, Jeremiah anticipates a new order of
things. Though he says little of a personal Messiah, he prepares His way (see Jeremiah 23:5-8; Jeremiah 30:4-11; Jeremiah 33:14-26). (James Robertson,
D. D.)
The
teaching of jeremiah
The distinctive advance of Jeremiah’s teaching on that of his
predecessors is due to his clear recognition of the fact that the Divine
purpose could not be realised under the forms of the Hebrew state, that the
continuity and victory of the true faith could not be dependent on the
continuity of the nation. Israel must be wholly dispersed, and can only be
gathered again by a Divine call addressed to individuals, and bringing them one
by one into a new covenant with their God, written on their hearts. Here for
the first time in history the ultimate problem of faith is based on the
relation of God to the individual soul; and it is to Jeremiah’s idea of the new
covenant that the New Testament teaching directly attaches itself. (Chambers’s
Encyclopaedia.)
Jeremiah’s
literary style
So far as style can be spoken of in Jeremiah, his style perfectly
reflects all the articulations of thought and all the hues of emotion of his
mind. His was a nature characterised by simplicity, reality, pathos,
tenderness, and a strange piety, but subject to his emotions, which were liable
to rise into passions. His mind was set on a minor key, and his temper elegiac.
And to all this his language is true. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Arrangement
of the prophecies of Jeremiah
The prophecies of Jeremiah are not arranged m chronological order.
The earlier portion (chaps. 1-20) has a general character, and is a prelude to
the rest. Some of these earlier chapters belong to the days of Josiah (Jeremiah 3:6); others to the time of
Jeremiah (Jeremiah 13:18). But at the beginning of
chap. 21, which is introductory to the second great portion of the book, we are
carried forward to the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. The prophet
hastens, as it were, to the end, and sets before us the fate of that king of
Judah, to be delivered into the hands of the Babylonian monarch,
Nebuchadnezzar; and the fate of Jerusalem, to be destroyed by fire; and of the
whole land, to be spoiled by Nebuchadnezzar and by the armies of the Chaldeans
(Jeremiah 21:1-14). The next chapter (22)
contains prophecies delivered in earlier times concerning the predecessors of
Zedekiah, namely, Shallum or Joash, the son and successor of the good king
Josiah (Jeremiah 22:10-12); and Jehoiakim the
elder brother and successor of Shallum (Jeremiah 22:13-19); and concerning
Jehoiakim’s son and successor--Jehoiachin, Jeconiah, or Coniah, the immediate
predecessor of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 22:24; Jeremiah 22:30). What is the reason of
such an arrangement? It was intended to show that Zedekiah, the last king of
Judah, had ample notice from God, by the ministry of Jeremiah, with regard to
the fatal consequences of his own acts, both to his country and to himself. If
he persisted in his rebellion against God, speaking to him by the voice of the
prophet. The fulfilment, which Zedekiah himself had seen, of Jeremiah’s
prophecies concerning his three predecessors on the throne, was a solemn
warning to him that unless he himself repented, the predictions of the same
prophet concerning himself would be fulfilled also; and it contained also a
merciful assurance that if he listened to the prophet’s voice, and turned to
God with a true penitent heart from his evil ways, he would thus escape the
punishments hanging over his head. This is a specimen of the principle on which
the prophecies of Jeremiah are arranged; and if we bear this principle in mind,
and apply it to the rest, we shall see that these prophecies are not thrown
together without method and system, but that they have been disposed in such a
manner as to exhibit in a clear light the wisdom, justice, and mercy of God in
dealing with His own people, and to justify His dispensations in executing His
sentence upon them; which, after His other methods of correction had been
exhausted, led at length, by the severe but salutary discipline of their
captivity of seventy years, to their conversion from idolatry, and to their
restoration to God’s favour and to their own land. (Bishop Chris.
Wordsworth.)
The unchronological arrangement of Jeremiah’s prophecies is not
without its teachings.
1. As showing that during the length of tune over which the prophet’s
work was spread but little care was taken by him to provide for their
transmission in any definite order. Like the sibyl of classical antiquity, he
gave his writings, as it were, to the winds, careless of their fate, and left
it to others, through his long career, to collect, copy, and arrange them as
they could.
2. As suggesting the probability that what happened in his case may
have befallen the writings of other prophets also, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Hosea, Amos, whose labours were spread over a considerable period of time; and
consequently, as leaving it open to us to deal freely with the order in which
we find them, so as to convert them, as we best can, with the successive stages
of the prophet’s life. (Dean Plumptre.)
The very lack of order which is displayed here serves a valuable
end, in showing that we possess the words of Jeremiah put together in those
same troublous times in the course of which they were spoken, not arranged with
the care and method which would have been afterwards employed to remodel and
fit them to men’s notions of propriety. It is not the Book of Jeremiah, edited
by a future generation, but, his words, as they fell from the inspired lips
themselves, that are thus in God’s providence preserved to us. (A. W.
Streane, D. D.)
Contents of the book.--
1. Jeremiah 1:1-19; Jeremiah 2:1-37; Jeremiah 3:1-25; Jeremiah 4:1-31; Jeremiah 5:1-31; Jeremiah 6:1-30; Jeremiah 7:1-34; Jeremiah 8:1-22; Jeremiah 9:1-26; Jeremiah 10:1-25; Jeremiah 11:1-23; Jeremiah 12:1-17; Jeremiah 13:1-27; Jeremiah 14:1-22; Jeremiah 15:1-21; Jeremiah 16:1-21; Jeremiah 17:1-27; Jeremiah 18:1-23; Jeremiah 19:1-15; Jeremiah 20:1-18; Jeremiah 21:1-14. Containing probably the
substance of the book of Jeremiah 36:32, and including prophecies
from the thirteenth year of Josiah (with a long interval of silence) to the
fourth year of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 1:3, however, indicates a later
revision, and the whole of chap. 1 may have been added as the prophet’s
retrospect of his whole work from this its first beginning. Jeremiah 21:1-14 belongs to a later
period, but may have been placed here, as connected by the recurrence of the
name of Pashur with Jeremiah 20:2. Jeremiah 22:1-30; Jeremiah 23:1-40; Jeremiah 24:1-10; Jeremiah 25:1-38. Short prophecies
against the kings of Judah and the false prophets. Jeremiah 25:13-14, evidently marks the
conclusion of a series, and that which follows (Jeremiah 25:15-38), the germ of the
fuller predictions of Jeremiah 46:1-28; Jeremiah 47:1-7; Jeremiah 48:1-47; Jeremiah 49:1-39, has apparently been
placed here as a completion to that of the seventy years of exile.
3. Jeremiah 26:1-24; Jeremiah 27:1-22; Jeremiah 28:1-17. The two great
prophecies of the fall of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 26:1-24 belongs to the earlier, Jeremiah 27:1-22; Jeremiah 28:1-17, to the later portion of
the prophet’s work.
4. Jeremiah 29:1-32; Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah 31:1-40. The message of comfort
to exiles in Babylon.
5. Jeremiah 32:1-44; Jeremiah 33:1-26; Jeremiah 34:1-22; Jeremiah 35:1-19; Jeremiah 36:1-32; Jeremiah 37:1-21; Jeremiah 38:1-28; Jeremiah 39:1-18; Jeremiah 40:1-16; Jeremiah 41:1-18; Jeremiah 42:1-22; Jeremiah 43:1-13; Jeremiah 44:1-30. The history of
Jeremiah’s work immediately before and after the capture of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 35:1-19; Jeremiah 36:1-32 are remarkable as
interrupting the chronological order, which would otherwise have been followed
here more closely than elsewhere. The position of chap. 14 as an isolated
fragment suggests that it may have been added by Baruch at the close of his
narrative of his master’s life.
6. Jeremiah 46:1-28; Jeremiah 47:1-7; Jeremiah 48:1-47; Jeremiah 49:1-39; Jeremiah 50:1-46; Jeremiah 51:1-64. The prophecies against
foreign nations, ending with the great utterance against Babylon.
7. Jeremiah 52:1-34. Historical appendix. (Dean
Plumptre.)
.
JEREMIAH
INTRODUCTION
The
prophet’s name and descent
The name Jeremiah was not uncommon (1 Chronicles 12:13; 2 Kings 23:31; cf. Jeremiah 35:3). Our prophet is more
precisely described as “son of Hilkiah” (Jeremiah 1:1), by whom we are not to
understand the high priest of this name who held office in Josiah’s days (2 Kings 22:1-20; 2 Kings 23:1-37), since, instead of
the definite statement which we should then expect, we have only a general
account: “of the priests at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin”; the high priest
without doubt had his seat at Jerusalem; on the other hand, the priests settled
at Anathoth, the old Levitical town (Joshua 21:18), the present Anata (a good
hour northeast of Jerusalem; according to Josephus, twenty stadia from
Jerusalem), probably belonged, according to 1 Kings 2:26, to the line of
Ithamar, not to that of Zadok. (C. Von Orelli.)
The name of Jeremiah is significant. Some have supposed that it
means that he was exalted by the Lord. Others assert with more probability that
it means set by the Lord, as solid foundation; or sent forth by the Lord, as
lightning from the cloud, or as an arrow from a bow. Whichever etymology we
adopt, the name Jeremiah intimates that, whatever he did and suffered, all was
from the Lord. He was set by God’s hand as a solitary beacon on a lofty tower,
in a dark night, in a stormy sea; lashed by waves and winds, but never shaken
from his foundations. (Bishop Chris. Wordsworth)
Political
state of affairs
His call to the prophetic office came in the thirteenth year of
Josiah. Danger was once again gathering round Judah, and to Jeremiah was
assigned a more directly political position than to any other prophet. The
destruction of Sennacherib’s army in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (B.C.
693), though it had not freed the land from predatory incursions, had
nevertheless put an end to all serious designs on the part of the Assyrians to
reduce it to the same condition as that to which Shalmaneser had reduced
Samaria. The danger of Judea really rose from Egypt on the one hand and Babylon
on the other. In Egypt, Psammetichus put an end to the subdivision of the
country, and made himself sole master in B.C. 649. As he reigned for fifty-four
years he was--during the last eighteen or nineteen years of his
life--contemporary with Josiah, but it was his successor Necho who slew Josiah
at Megiddo. Meanwhile, as Egypt grew in strength, so Nineveh declined, partly
from the effects of the Scythian invasion, but still more from the growing
power of the Medes, and from Babylon having achieved its independence. Two
years after the battle of Megiddo, Nineveh fell before a combined attack of the
Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopalassar. But Nabopalassar
does not seem to have been otherwise a warlike king, and Egypt remained the
dominant power till the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In that year (B.C. 586)
Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish. Having peaceably succeeded his
father, he returned to Judea, and Jehoiakim became his vassal. After three
years of servitude Jehoiakim rebelled (2 Kings 24:1), and died. Three
months after his son Jehoiachin, the queen-mother, and a large number of nobles
and artificers were carried captive to Babylon. The growth of Egypt into a
first-rate power under Psammetichus (2:18, 36) raised the question of a close
alliance with him. The youthful Jeremiah gave his voice against it. Josiah
recognised that voice as inspired, and obeyed. His obedience cost him his life
at Megiddo; but four years later Necho was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at
Carchemish. On that day the fate of the Jewish nation was decided, and the
primary object of Jeremiah’s mission then ceased. The ministry of Jeremiah
really belonged to the last eighteen years of Josiah’s reign. Judah’s probation
was then going on, her salvation still possible; though each year Judah’s guilt
became heavier, her condemnation more certain. But to the eye of man her
punishment seemed more remote than ever. Jehoiakim was the willing vassal of Egypt,
the supreme power. No wonder that, being an irreligious man, he scorned all
Jeremiah’s predictions of utter and early ruin; no wonder that he destroyed
Jeremiah’s roll, as the record of the outpourings of mere fanaticism. It was
his last chance, his last offer of mercy; and as he threw the torn fragments of
the roll on the fire he threw there in symbol his royal house, his doomed city,
the temple, and all the people of the land. It was in this fourth year of
Jehoiakim that Jeremiah boldly foretold the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s
empire, and the wide limits over which it would extend. This prophecy (chap.
25) placed his life in danger, so that “the Lord hid” him and Baruch (Jeremiah 36:26). When Jeremiah appears
again, Nebuchadnezzar was advancing upon Jerusalem to execute the prophecy
contained in Jeremiah 36:30-31. And with the death of
Jehoiakim the first period of Judah’s history was brought to a close. Though
Jeremiah remained with Zedekiah, and tried to influence him for good, yet his
mission was over. He testifies himself that the Jewish Church had gone with
Jehoiachin to Babylon. Zedekiah and those who remained in Jerusalem were but
the refuse of a fruit basket from which everything good had been culled (chap.
24), and their destruction was a matter of course. Jeremiah held no distinctive
office towards them. (Dean Payne Smith.)
Jeremiah’s
personal characteristics
The personality of Jeremiah looks out on us from his book in more
individual distinctness than that of any other prophet. He reveals himself as a
soul of gentle nature, yielding, tender-hearted, affectionate, with almost a
woman’s thirst for love, with which certainly the iron, unbending firmness and
immovable power of resistance belonging to him in his prophetic sphere are in
strange contrast. There were in turn two different, widely diverging
potencies,--the human flesh in its weakness, yet with all its lawful generous
impulses; and the Divine Spirit, with its boundless strength. Thou h the former
was thoroughly subject to the latter, it suffered, sighed, bled under the
heavy, almost intolerable, burden laid upon it by God’s Spirit and Word. No
doubt the youth received the Divine revelations with delighted eagerness (Jeremiah 15:16); but it went hard with
him to be obliged to renounce every joy of youth on account of the hand of the
Lord that came upon him, and to be obliged to experience and proclaim to his
people nothing but wrath, ruin, woe. How utterly all this cut across his
natural inclination (Jeremiah 15:17 f.). Moreover, the office
of this witness of Jehovah was in itself highly tragical; he had to preach
repentance to a people unfaithful to its God, while knowing that this final
call to salvation would pass away unheeded! He had to picture to the nation and
its God-forgetting leaders the terrible danger accruing to it from its guilt,
and he was not understood, because no one wished to understand him! Thus he
himself suffered most under the disobedience of the nation which he loved, without
being able to save it. And at the same time he, the warmest, noblest friend of
his country, was forced to let himself be counted among traitors, as though in
league with the enemy! And yet it was God’s inspiration that compelled him
again and again to beat down without mercy every deceitful hope to which
sinking courage strove to cling; not cowardice, but courage, made him dissuade
those eager for war; not treachery, but love for people and city, made him
enjoin submission to the conqueror chosen of God. If such a position in some
respects like the one forced on Hosea in the last days of the northern
kingdom--would have been terribly hard for any one, for the deeply sensitive
Jeremiah, who felt the wounds of his nation as his own, it was almost crushing!
That he who interceded with priestly heart for Judah saw himself rejected in
his constant intercession before God’s throne (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11; Jeremiah 18:20); that he who consumed
himself for the salvation of his country, and strove only to avert the ruin
threatened by God, had to listen to the bitterest suspicions and revilings (Jeremiah 9:1 ff; Jeremiah 12:5 f., 15:10, 17:14-18, 18:23,
etc.), often brought him to despair; nor does he restrain his feelings. Nothing
can again cheer him and heal his inner wounds (Jeremiah 8:18; Jeremiah 8:21); he wishes he could
dissolve in tears for his poor people (Jeremiah 9:1; Jeremiah 13:17); he would fain dwell
alone in the wilderness to escape the wickedness of his surroundings (Jeremiah 9:2); he wishes God had never
persuaded him to enter His service, since God’s words make him reel like wine (Jeremiah 23:9), and burn in him like fire,
when he would suppress them (Jeremiah 20:7 ff.). Yea, in this conflict
between his heart of human feeling and God’s inexorable word he wishes he had
never been born (Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 20:14-18), like Job (Job 3:1 ff.). But just because what the
Lord announces to him is so painful and contrary to his natural feelings and
wishes, he is so certain that a stronger one has come upon him; and he opposes
with invincible certainty of triumph the false prophets, who publish the
flattering dreams of their own heart as revelations from above. Over against
all outward attacks he stands as an iron pillar and brazen wall (Jeremiah 1:18; Jeremiah 15:20), whilst inwardly mourning
the ruin of Judah and Jerusalem as none else does. (C. Von Orelli.)
Jeremiah has been likened to several characters in profane
history--to Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess, whose fate it was never to be
believed, though prophesying nothing but the truth; to Phocion, the rival of
Demosthenes in the last generation of Athenian greatness, who maintained the
unpopular but sound doctrine that, if Athens were to escape worse evils, she
must submit peaceably to the growing power of Macedon; to Dante, whose native
state, Florence, was in relation to France and the empire as Palestine was to
Egypt and Babylon, while the poet, like the prophet, could only protest without
effect against the thickening ills. (A. W. Streane, D. D.)
Jeremiah faithful as a prophet
In the midst of his own sorrow, and even in the deepest
despondency, Jeremiah is faithful to his task as a prophet, and bold in
declaring the Word of the Lord. Though his message was largely directed to
immediate affairs, it pointed forward to a better dispensation, and his words
have a meaning for all time.
1. We see fidelity to his calling triumphing over natural timidity
throughout his life. See his own words (Jeremiah 20:8-9). He seems ever to have
been conscious of the assurance given to him at his call (Jeremiah 1:8; Jeremiah 15:20). And his faith in God’s
promise is illustrated in his purchase of a field when the ruin of the country
was imminent (32).
2. The truths mainly insisted on by Jeremiah are
(a)--That mere attention to worship or veneration for its forms is
worthless (Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 7:8-11; Jeremiah 7:21-23). The law must be
written on the heart (Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 4:14; Jeremiah 17:9; Jeremiah 31:33).
(b) Consequently the individual rather than the state is the object of
Divine regard (Jeremiah 5:1; Jeremiah 9:1-6; Jeremiah 9:18).
(c) In thus condemning the old, Jeremiah anticipates a new order of
things. Though he says little of a personal Messiah, he prepares His way (see Jeremiah 23:5-8; Jeremiah 30:4-11; Jeremiah 33:14-26). (James Robertson,
D. D.)
The
teaching of jeremiah
The distinctive advance of Jeremiah’s teaching on that of his
predecessors is due to his clear recognition of the fact that the Divine
purpose could not be realised under the forms of the Hebrew state, that the
continuity and victory of the true faith could not be dependent on the
continuity of the nation. Israel must be wholly dispersed, and can only be
gathered again by a Divine call addressed to individuals, and bringing them one
by one into a new covenant with their God, written on their hearts. Here for
the first time in history the ultimate problem of faith is based on the
relation of God to the individual soul; and it is to Jeremiah’s idea of the new
covenant that the New Testament teaching directly attaches itself. (Chambers’s
Encyclopaedia.)
Jeremiah’s
literary style
So far as style can be spoken of in Jeremiah, his style perfectly
reflects all the articulations of thought and all the hues of emotion of his
mind. His was a nature characterised by simplicity, reality, pathos,
tenderness, and a strange piety, but subject to his emotions, which were liable
to rise into passions. His mind was set on a minor key, and his temper elegiac.
And to all this his language is true. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Arrangement
of the prophecies of Jeremiah
The prophecies of Jeremiah are not arranged m chronological order.
The earlier portion (chaps. 1-20) has a general character, and is a prelude to
the rest. Some of these earlier chapters belong to the days of Josiah (Jeremiah 3:6); others to the time of
Jeremiah (Jeremiah 13:18). But at the beginning of
chap. 21, which is introductory to the second great portion of the book, we are
carried forward to the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. The prophet
hastens, as it were, to the end, and sets before us the fate of that king of
Judah, to be delivered into the hands of the Babylonian monarch,
Nebuchadnezzar; and the fate of Jerusalem, to be destroyed by fire; and of the
whole land, to be spoiled by Nebuchadnezzar and by the armies of the Chaldeans
(Jeremiah 21:1-14). The next chapter (22)
contains prophecies delivered in earlier times concerning the predecessors of
Zedekiah, namely, Shallum or Joash, the son and successor of the good king
Josiah (Jeremiah 22:10-12); and Jehoiakim the
elder brother and successor of Shallum (Jeremiah 22:13-19); and concerning
Jehoiakim’s son and successor--Jehoiachin, Jeconiah, or Coniah, the immediate
predecessor of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 22:24; Jeremiah 22:30). What is the reason of such
an arrangement? It was intended to show that Zedekiah, the last king of Judah,
had ample notice from God, by the ministry of Jeremiah, with regard to the
fatal consequences of his own acts, both to his country and to himself. If he
persisted in his rebellion against God, speaking to him by the voice of the
prophet. The fulfilment, which Zedekiah himself had seen, of Jeremiah’s
prophecies concerning his three predecessors on the throne, was a solemn
warning to him that unless he himself repented, the predictions of the same
prophet concerning himself would be fulfilled also; and it contained also a
merciful assurance that if he listened to the prophet’s voice, and turned to
God with a true penitent heart from his evil ways, he would thus escape the
punishments hanging over his head. This is a specimen of the principle on which
the prophecies of Jeremiah are arranged; and if we bear this principle in mind,
and apply it to the rest, we shall see that these prophecies are not thrown
together without method and system, but that they have been disposed in such a
manner as to exhibit in a clear light the wisdom, justice, and mercy of God in
dealing with His own people, and to justify His dispensations in executing His
sentence upon them; which, after His other methods of correction had been
exhausted, led at length, by the severe but salutary discipline of their
captivity of seventy years, to their conversion from idolatry, and to their
restoration to God’s favour and to their own land. (Bishop Chris.
Wordsworth.)
The unchronological arrangement of Jeremiah’s prophecies is not
without its teachings.
1. As showing that during the length of tune over which the
prophet’s work was spread but little care was taken by him to provide for their
transmission in any definite order. Like the sibyl of classical antiquity, he
gave his writings, as it were, to the winds, careless of their fate, and left
it to others, through his long career, to collect, copy, and arrange them as
they could.
2. As suggesting the probability that what happened in his case may
have befallen the writings of other prophets also, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Hosea, Amos, whose labours were spread over a considerable period of time; and
consequently, as leaving it open to us to deal freely with the order in which
we find them, so as to convert them, as we best can, with the successive stages
of the prophet’s life. (Dean Plumptre.)
The very lack of order which is displayed here serves a valuable
end, in showing that we possess the words of Jeremiah put together in those
same troublous times in the course of which they were spoken, not arranged with
the care and method which would have been afterwards employed to remodel and
fit them to men’s notions of propriety. It is not the Book of Jeremiah, edited
by a future generation, but, his words, as they fell from the inspired lips
themselves, that are thus in God’s providence preserved to us. (A. W.
Streane, D. D.)
Contents of the book.--
1. Jeremiah 1:1-19; Jeremiah 2:1-37; Jeremiah 3:1-25; Jeremiah 4:1-31; Jeremiah 5:1-31; Jeremiah 6:1-30; Jeremiah 7:1-34; Jeremiah 8:1-22; Jeremiah 9:1-26; Jeremiah 10:1-25; Jeremiah 11:1-23; Jeremiah 12:1-17; Jeremiah 13:1-27; Jeremiah 14:1-22; Jeremiah 15:1-21; Jeremiah 16:1-21; Jeremiah 17:1-27; Jeremiah 18:1-23; Jeremiah 19:1-15; Jeremiah 20:1-18; Jeremiah 21:1-14. Containing probably the
substance of the book of Jeremiah 36:32, and including prophecies
from the thirteenth year of Josiah (with a long interval of silence) to the
fourth year of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 1:3, however, indicates a later
revision, and the whole of chap. 1 may have been added as the prophet’s
retrospect of his whole work from this its first beginning. Jeremiah 21:1-14 belongs to a later
period, but may have been placed here, as connected by the recurrence of the
name of Pashur with Jeremiah 20:2. Jeremiah 22:1-30; Jeremiah 23:1-40; Jeremiah 24:1-10; Jeremiah 25:1-38. Short prophecies
against the kings of Judah and the false prophets. Jeremiah 25:13-14, evidently marks the
conclusion of a series, and that which follows (Jeremiah 25:15-38), the germ of the
fuller predictions of Jeremiah 46:1-28; Jeremiah 47:1-7; Jeremiah 48:1-47; Jeremiah 49:1-39, has apparently been
placed here as a completion to that of the seventy years of exile.
3. Jeremiah 26:1-24; Jeremiah 27:1-22; Jeremiah 28:1-17. The two great
prophecies of the fall of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 26:1-24 belongs to the earlier, Jeremiah 27:1-22; Jeremiah 28:1-17, to the later portion of
the prophet’s work.
4. Jeremiah 29:1-32; Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah 31:1-40. The message of comfort
to exiles in Babylon.
5. Jeremiah 32:1-44; Jeremiah 33:1-26; Jeremiah 34:1-22; Jeremiah 35:1-19; Jeremiah 36:1-32; Jeremiah 37:1-21; Jeremiah 38:1-28; Jeremiah 39:1-18; Jeremiah 40:1-16; Jeremiah 41:1-18; Jeremiah 42:1-22; Jeremiah 43:1-13; Jeremiah 44:1-30. The history of
Jeremiah’s work immediately before and after the capture of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 35:1-19; Jeremiah 36:1-32 are remarkable as
interrupting the chronological order, which would otherwise have been followed
here more closely than elsewhere. The position of chap. 14 as an isolated
fragment suggests that it may have been added by Baruch at the close of his
narrative of his master’s life.
6. Jeremiah 46:1-28; Jeremiah 47:1-7; Jeremiah 48:1-47; Jeremiah 49:1-39; Jeremiah 50:1-46; Jeremiah 51:1-64. The prophecies against
foreign nations, ending with the great utterance against Babylon.
7. Jeremiah 52:1-34. Historical appendix. (Dean
Plumptre.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》