The Book of Jeremiah 1 ‘The Book of Jeremiah’ ‘His surroundings and ancestry’ We know from the first verse of chapter 1 that Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. ‘The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.’ Anathoth was about 5 miles from Jerusalem. ‘And from the tribe of Benjamin they were given Gibeon, Geba, Alemeth and Anathoth, together with their pasturelands. The total number of towns distributed among the Kohathite clans came to thirteen.’ 1 Chronicles 6:60 Jeremiah had many enemies, from all classes of society: kings, idolatrous priests, false prophets. The priests and prophets at that time were only out for gain. His friends were few and far between, although he was friendly with a powerful group, influential in Josiah’s day, Gedaliah son of Ahikam being mentioned by name. ‘So, Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.’ Jeremiah 40:6 ‘Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon.’ Jeremiah 41:16 ‘They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women, the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them.’ Jeremiah 43:6 Jeremiah is like Hosea the prophet. He had some conflicting emotions He had intense love for his country and deep convictions of sin. He didn’t have Hosea’s unwavering faith in God. Jeremiah often doubted and struggled. His weaknesses were only overcome by the power of God. There were times when he Isolated himself from others, mainly because of messages of doom and hopelessness. And partly because he just wanted to be alone. He loved nature. He lacked self-confidence. This made it difficult for him to deal with people. He was prone to bursts of anger. Of all the prophets he was the frailest and most human. His call came in his youth. He was about 20 years old. This was one of the main reasons why he thought himself insufficient for the task. His ministry lasted about 40 years. And we know how successful he was. Date and Author We cannot date the book accurately. It covers far too much ground in terms of years. And there is also some question as to authorship. Jeremiah had a scribe called Baruch and some credit the authorship to him. ‘So, Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.’ Jeremiah 36:32 Jewish tradition, however, has it that the author was Jeremiah himself. They also credit him as being responsible for writing 1+ 2 Kings. Message of the Book It’s a two-fold message: 1. A message of doom and destruction. 2. A message of hope. Background Thoughts 1. Historical. 2 Nabopolassar is king of Babylon. In 625 B.C. he declared Babylon independent, which led to war with Assyria. There was a revolt against Judah at that time. Nineveh fell in 612 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar. War between Babylon and Egypt followed. Pharaoh Neco was the only rival left to Babylon at that time for world supremacy. So, Babylon was interested in demolishing them. With the fall of some of the areas of Assyria, Neco marched northwards to regain them. They should have met at Carchemish, but Josiah meets him halfway. 2 Chronicles 35 / 2 Kings 24 / Jeremiah 46. The fourth year of Jehoikim’s reign is very significant. Nebuchadnezzar has become king. God has selected this man, not only to execute judgment on Judah but also on Assyria. Jeremiah tells of this in chapter 25. All of these prophesies were written on a scroll and read by Baruch. But they didn't want to hear these unutterable things. Judah came under Babylonian control in 606/605 B.C. This was when the first of the captives went into exile. The third deportation was about 586 B.C. No-one would return until about 536 B.C. Some date the captivity from 586 to 536 and say that this is 50 years, Jeremiah must therefore have been wrong when he said 70 years. But the first captivity was in 6O6 B.C. which makes 70 years, give or take a day. 2. Biblical. Read 2 Kings 20-25 and 2 Chronicles 34-36. Josiah began his reign when he was only 8 years old. And he reigns for about 31 years, from 640 B.C. In the 13th year of his reign the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ‘The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah.’ Jeremiah 1:2 Josiah was a good king. The High Priest at the time was Hilkiah, it isn’t believed that this Hilkiah was the father of Jeremiah, although he too was a priest. Jeremiah 1:1. Hilkiah, the high priest, finds the book of the Law, the Law of Moses. The book is read to the people. There was an immediate concern amongst the people. There was also an immediate investigation and inquiry of God. And there were also immediate warnings, and immediate promises of peace. Josiah’s heart was tender. He humbled himself before the Lord. Because of what Josiah did, God said that he would go to his grave in peace and net see the evil that was to come upon the land. Reformation in Josiah's time The covenant was made with God, from the Law of Moses. All of the people were to keep his commandments. a. Commandments. The Hebrew word simply meant all of God's commandments, 46 times it is used. It usually refers to one or all the Ten Commandments. It therefore relates to both Man and God. b. Testimonies. This word occurs about 34 times. In a sense it is a witness. Generally, laws between man and man, close to our civil/criminal laws where witnesses are required. This, of course, relates more to man. c. Statutes. Things that aren’t wrong of themselves. Things one has to do because God has said so. They deal more with the functions by priests. They would relate more to God. All of these things they were to keep in their hearts, with devotion. The correction of the Covenant: a. Religious reforms. b. Moral reforms. c. Home reforms. (Their house gods). d. Civil reforms. Some of the things they got involved with: 3 Religion God that was made Sidonians Ashterith Moabites Chemish Ammonites Milcum Bethel/Samaria Golden calves of Jeroboam The Passover was to be kept. Some 33,000 bulls and 2,600 small cattle were sacrificed during the Passover. It’s said that a total of 41,400 beasts were killed during Passover. Josiah turned to the Lord with all of his heart, soul and mind. He diligently sought-after God. But it didn’t last long. Therefore, there was going to be retribution upon the rebellious. Josiah lost his life because he didn’t listen to God. This is one of things Jeremiah laments about in chapter 35. Pharaoh Neco didn’t want to fight Josiah. He was journeying from Egypt to Carchemish to join the Assyrians in their battle against the Babylonians. Neco told Josiah. ‘What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so, stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.’ 2 Chronicles 35:21 Josiah didn’t heed the warning. They met on the plain of Megiddo and Josiah loses the battle. He later dies of the wounds he received in battle. Other Kings a. Jehoahaz, also called Shallum. He was Josiah’s younger son. And he was only 23 years old when he began to reign. Jehoahaz was only king for three months. His was a short but evil reign. He was taken into Egypt and, we believe, died there. This was the work of Neco who, on his way back from Carchemish, hammered Judah, took Jehoahaz, and replaced him with Jehoiakim, as king. Jehoiakim was 25 years old. ‘Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his predecessors had done. Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.