Difference between revisions of "Jeremiah"

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== Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_51973" /> ==
== People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70308" /> ==
<p> <strong> JEREMIAH. 1. </strong> A warrior of the tribe of Gad, fifth in reputation ( 1 Chronicles 12:10 ). <strong> 2. </strong> The tenth in reputation ( 1 Chronicles 12:13 ) of the same [[Gadite]] band. <strong> 3. </strong> A bowman and slinger of the tribe of [[Benjamin]] ( 1 Chronicles 12:4 ). <strong> 4. </strong> The head of a family in E.Manasseh ( 1 Chronicles 5:24 ). <strong> 5. </strong> A Jew of Libnah, whose daughter, [[Hamutal]] or Hamital, was one of the wives of Josiah, and mother of [[Jehoahaz]] ( 2 Kings 23:31 ) and [[Zedekiah]] ( 2 Kings 24:18 , Jeremiah 52:1 ). <strong> 6. </strong> The son of [[Habazziniah]] and father of Jaazaniah, the head of the [[Rechabites]] ( Jeremiah 35:3 ) in the time of the prophet Jeremiah 7:1-34 . A priest who returned with [[Zerubbabel]] ( Nehemiah 12:1 ). His name was given to one of the twenty-two courses of priests ( Ezra 2:38-39 , Nehemiah 7:39-42; Nehemiah 12:13 ). <strong> 8. </strong> A priest who sealed the covenant ( Nehemiah 10:2 ) and took part in the dedication of the wall of [[Jerusalem]] ( Nehemiah 12:34 ). <strong> 9. </strong> The prophet. See next article. </p> <p> <strong> JEREMIAH </strong> </p> <p> 1. The times . Jeremiah the prophet was born towards the close of Manasseh’s long and evil reign ( <em> c </em> <em> [Note: circa, about.] </em> . b.c. 696 641), the influence of which overshadowed his life ( Jeremiah 15:4 , 2 Kings 23:26 ). He prophesied under [[Josiah]] and his sons from the year 626 to the fall of Jerusalem in b.c. 586 ( 2 Kings 1:2 f.), and for some short time after this until he vanishes from sight amongst the fugitive [[Jews]] in [[Egypt]] (chs. 40 44). </p> <p> Through Josiah’s minority (see Josiah) the ethnicizing régime of [[Manasseh]] continued; Jeremiah’s earliest preaching (chs. 2 6), and the prophecies of his contemporary Zephaniah (wh. see), reveal a medley of heathen worships in Jerusalem, gross oppression and profligacy, insolence and insensibility characterizing both court and people. Meanwhile an international crisis is approaching. The giant power of Asshur, which for a century had dominated Israel’s world, is in rapid decline, and is threatened by the new [[Median]] State on its eastern border; Nahum (wh. see) had already celebrated Nineveh’s downfall in his splendid verses. The [[Assyrian]] capital was saved for the time by the irruption of the [[Scythian]] nomads (Ezekiel’s [[Gog]] and Magog), who were swarming southwards from the [[Oxus]] plains and over the [[Caucasus]] passes. These hordes of wild horsemen overran [[Western]] Asia for a generation, leaving a lasting horror behind them. [[Nineveh]] avoided capture by the [[Medes]] in 625 only at the expense of seeing her lands wasted and her dependencies stripped from her. The war-cloud of <em> the Scythian invasion </em> overhangs the sky of Zephaniah, and of Jeremiah at the outset of his ministry. The territory of [[Judah]] seems, after all, to have escaped the Scythian deluge, which swept to the borders of Egypt. The nomad cavalry would reach with difficulty the Judæan highlands; and if Josiah, coming of age about this time, showed a bold front against them and saved his country from their ravages, we can account for the prestige that he enjoyed and used to such good purpose. At the same date, or even earlier, the Assyrian over-lordship had been renounced; for we find Josiah exercising independent sovereignty. It was not as the vassal of Nineveh, but in the assertion of his hereditary rights and as guardian of the old territory of Israel, that he challenged Pharaoh-necho, who was attempting to seize the lost western provinces of Assyria, to the fatal encounter of [[Megiddo]] in the year 608 ( 2 Kings 22:2; 2 Kings 23:15-20 , 2 Chronicles 35:20 ). The [[Pharaoh]] pointedly calls him ‘thou king of Judah,’ as if bidding him keep within his bounds ( 2 Chronicles 35:21 ). Jeremiah praises Josiah, in contrast to his son, as an upright and prosperous king, good to the poor and commending his religion by his rule ( Jeremiah 22:15-17 ). </p> <p> The great event of Josiah’s reign was the reformation effected by him in its eighteenth year (b.c. 621), upon the discovery of ‘the book of the law’ in the [[Temple]] (2 Kings 22:8 to 2 Kings 23:25; see Deuteronomy). So far as concerned outward religion, this was a drastic and enduring revolution. Not merely the later idolatries imported from the East under the Assyrian supremacy, but also the indigenous rites of [[Molech]] and the [[Baalim]] were abolished. Above all, an end was put to the immemorial cultus of the local ‘high places,’ at which the service of [[Jehovah]] had been corrupted by mixture with that of the [[Canaanite]] divinities. [[Worship]] was centralized at the royal Temple of Jerusalem; and the ‘covenant’ with Jehovah made by king and people there in the terms of Deuteronomy, followed by the memorable [[Passover]] feast, was designed to inaugurate a new order of things in the life of the people; this proved, in fact, a turning-point in Israel’s history. However disappointing in its immediate spiritual effects, the work of Josiah and his band of reformers gave the people a written law-book and a definitely organized religious system, which they carried with them into the [[Exile]] to form the nucleus of the OT [[Scriptures]] and the basis of the later Judaism. </p> <p> The fall of Josiah in battle concluded the interval of freedom and prosperity enjoyed by Judah under his vigorous rule. For three years the country was subject to the victorious Pharaoh, who deposed and deported Shalum-Jehoahaz, the national choice, replacing him on the throne of Judah by his brother Eliakim-Jehoiakim. The great battle of [[Carchemish]] (605), on the Euphrates, decided the fate of [[Syria]] and Palestine; the empire of Western Asia, quickly snatched from Egypt, passed into the strong hands of the Chaldæan king Nebuchadrezzar, the destined destroyer of Jerusalem. From this time ‘Babylon’ stands for the tyrannous and corrupting powers of the world; she becomes, for [[Scripture]] and the Church, the metropolis of the kingdom of Satan, as ‘Jerusalem’ of the kingdom of the saints. The Chaldæan empire was a revival of the Assyrian, less brutal and destructive, more advanced in civilization, but just as sensual and sordid, and exploiting the subject races as thoroughly as its predecessor. The prophecies of Habakkuk (chs. 1 and 2) reveal the intense hatred and fear excited by the approach of the Chaldæans; the ferocity of Nebuchadrezzar’s troops was probably aggravated by the incorporation with them of Scythian cavalry, large bodies of which still roamed south of the Caspian. The repeated and desperate revolts made by the Judæans are accounted for by the harshness of Nebuchadrezzar’s yoke, to escape which [[Tyre]] endured successfully a thirteen years’ siege. His enormous works of building (see Habakkuk 2:12-13 ) must have involved crushing exactions from the tributaries. </p> <p> Jehoiakim, after Carchemish, transferred his allegiance to Babylon. For three years he kept faith with Nebuchadrezzar, and then apparently without allies or reasonable hope of support rebelled (2 Kings 24:1 ). [[Jehoiakim]] was a typical Eastern despot, self-willed, luxurious, unprincipled, oppressive towards his own people, treacherous and incompetent in foreign policy. Jeremiah denounces him vehemently; the wonder is that he did not fall a victim to the king’s anger, like his disciple [[Uriah]] ( Jeremiah 26:20-24; Jeremiah 36:26-30; Jeremiah 22:13-19 ). The revived national faith in Jehovah, which had rested on Josiah’s political success, was shaken by his fall; the character of the new king, and the events of his reign, furthered the reaction. A popular [[Jehovist]] party existed; but this was the most dangerous factor in the situation. Its leaders the prophet [[Hananiah]] amongst them ( Jeremiah 28:1-17 ) preached out of season Isaiah’s old doctrine of the inviolability of Zion; even after the capture of Jerusalem in 597 and the first exile, ‘the prophets’ promised in Jehovah’s name a speedy re-instatement. The possession of the Temple and the observance of the Law, they held, bound Jehovah to His people’s defence. The fanaticism thus excited, of which the [[Jewish]] race has given so many subsequent examples, brought about the second, and fatal, rupture with Babylon. </p> <p> [[Nebuchadrezzar]] showed a certain forbearance towards Judah. On Jehoiakim’s first revolt, in 601, he let loose bands of raiders on the Judæan territory (2 Kings 24:2; cf. Jeremiah 12:9; Jeremiah 12:14 ); four years later be marched on the capital. Jehoiakim died just before this; his youthful son [[Jehoiachin]] (called also <em> [[Jeconiah]] </em> and <em> [[Coniah]] </em> ) surrendered the city, and was carried captive, with the queen-mother and the élite of the nobles and people, to Babylon, where he lived for many years, to be released upon Nebuchadrezzar’s death in 561 ( 2 Kings 24:6-17; 2 Kings 25:27-30 , Jeremiah 22:24-30 ). </p> <p> The reign of Mattaniah-Zedekiah, raised to the throne by Nebuchadrezzar, was in effect a repetition of that of his elder brother. Zedekiah failed through weakness more than through wickedness; he sought Jeremiah’s advice, but lacked decision to follow it. Early in his reign a conspiracy was on foot in [[Palestine]] against the Chaldæans, which he was tempted to join (Jeremiah 27:1-11; see RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] on Jeremiah 27:1 ). The Judæans, instead of being cowed by the recent punishment, were eager for a rising; public opinion expressed itself in Hananiah’s contradiction to Jeremiah’s warnings (ch. 28). The same false hopes were exciting the exiles in [[Babylon]] (ch. 29). Nebuchadrezzar, aware of these movements, summoned Zedekiah to Babylon ( Jeremiah 51:59 ); the latter was able, however, to clear himself of complicity, and returned to Jerusalem. At last Zedekiah yielded to the tide; he broke his oaths of allegiance to Nebuchadrezzar conduct sternly condemned by Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 17:11-21 ) as well as by Jeremiah and the Jewish people were launched on a struggle almost as mad as that which it undertook with Rome 650 years later. The siege of Jerusalem was stubbornly prolonged for two years (588 586). The [[Egyptians]] under the new and ambitious Pharaohhophra (Apries, 588 569), effected a diversion of the Chaldæan troops ( Jeremiah 37:5-10 , Ezekiel 17:15 ); but, as often before, Pharaoh proved ‘a broken reed to those who trusted in him.’ Reduced by famine, Jerusalem was stormed, Zedekiah being captured in his attempt to escape, and meeting a pitiable death ( 2 Kings 25:1-7 ). This time Nebuchadrezzar made an end of the rebels. Jerusalem was razed to the ground; the survivors of the siege, and of the executions that followed, were carried into exile. A remnant, of no political importance, was left to till the ground; the bulk of these, after the tragic incidents related in Jeremiah 39:1-18; Jeremiah 40:1-16; Jeremiah 41:1-18; Jeremiah 42:1-22; Jeremiah 43:1-13 , fled to Egypt. Jeremiah, who had in vain resisted this migration, was carried with the runaways; he had the distress of seeing his companions relapse into open idolatry, protesting that they had fared better when worshipping ‘the queen of heaven’ than under the national Jehovah. Jewish tradition relates that he died at the hands of his incensed fellow-exiles. The prophet’s prediction that the sword of Nebuchadrezzar would follow the fugitives, was fulfilled by the Chaldæan invasion of Lower Egypt in the year 569, if not earlier than this. The [[Babylonian]] empire lasted from b.c. 605 to 538, a little short of the ‘70 years’ assigned to it, in round numbers, by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 29:10 ). </p> <p> <strong> 2. The man </strong> . The Book of Jeremiah is largely autobiographical. The author became, unconsciously, the hero of his work. This prophet’s temperament and experience have coloured his deliverances in a manner peculiar amongst OT writers. His teaching, moreover, marks an evolution in the [[Israelite]] religion, which acquires a more personal stamp as its national framework is broken up. In Jeremiah’s life we watch the spirit of revelation being <em> driven inwards </em> , taking refuge from the shipwreck of the State in the soul of the individual. Jeremiah is the prophet of that ‘church within the nation,’ traceable in its beginnings to Isaiah’s time, to which the future of revealed religion is henceforth committed. This inner community of heart-believers survived the Exile; it gave birth to the [[Bible]] and the synagogue. </p> <p> Jeremiah was a native of Anathoth, a little town some 3 1 / 2 miles N. E.from Jerusalem, perched high on the mountain-ridge and commanding an extensive view over the hills of [[Ephraim]] and the [[Jordan]] valley, towards which his memory often turned (Jeremiah 4:15; Jeremiah 7:14-15; Jeremiah 12:5; Jeremiah 31:4-5; Jeremiah 31:18; Jeremiah 49:19 ). Jeremiah had no mere Judæan outlook; the larger [[Israel]] was constantly in his thoughts. His father was ‘Hilkiah [not the [[Hilkiah]] of 2 Kings 22:4 ], of the priests that were in [[Anathoth]] in the land of Benjamin’ ( 2 Kings 1:1 ); but he does not show, like the contemporary priest-prophet Ezekiel, the sacerdotal mind. Anathoth had been the settlement of Abiathar, the last high priest of Eli’s house, who was banished thither by [[Solomon]] ( 1 Kings 2:26 ); Jeremiah may have been a scion of this deposed line. His mission brought him, probably at an early period, into conflict with ‘the men of Anathoth,’ who sought his life ( 1 Kings 11:18-23 ). His attempt to visit Anathoth during the last siege of Jerusalem, and the transaction between himself and his cousin over the field at Anathoth ( Jeremiah 32:6 ff., Jeremiah 37:11-14 ), go to show that he was not entirely cut off from friendly relations with his kindred and native place. </p> <p> Jeremiah’s call (ch. 1) in b.c. 626 found him a diffident and reluctant young man, not wanting in devotion, but shrinking from publicity, and with no natural drawing towards the prophetic career; yet he is ‘set over the nations, to pluck up and to break down, and to build and to plant’! [[Already]] there begins the struggle between the implanted word of Jehovah and the nature of the man, on which turns Jeremiah’s inner history and the development of his heroic character, all things considered, the noblest in the OT. His ministry was to be a long martyrdom. He must stand as ‘a fenced city and an iron pillar and brazen walls against the whole land,’ a solitary and impregnable fortress for Jehovah. The manner of his call imports an intimacy with God, an identification of the man with his mission, more close and complete than in the case of any previous prophet (see Jeremiah 1:5; Jeremiah 1:9 ). No intermediary not even ‘the spirit of Jehovah,’ no special vehicle or means of prophetical incitement, is ever intimated in his case: simply ‘the word of Jehovah came to’ him. He conceives the true prophet as ‘standing in Jehovah’s council, to perceive and hear his word’ ( Jeremiah 23:18; cf. Isaiah 50:4 ). So that he may be in person, as well as in word, a prophet of the coming tribulation, marriage is forbidden him and all participation in domestic life ( Jeremiah 16:1-13 ), a sentence peculiarly bitter to his tender and affectionate nature. Jeremiah’s imagination was haunted by his lost home happiness ( Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 16:9; Jeremiah 25:10; Jeremiah 33:11 ). Endowed with the finest sensibilities, in so evil a time he was bound to be a man of sorrows. </p> <p> [[Behind]] the contest waged by Jeremiah with kings and people there lay an interior struggle, lasting more than twenty years. So long it took this great prophet to accept with full acquiescence the burden laid upon him. We may trace through a number of self-revealing passages, the general drift of which is plain notwithstanding the obscurity of some sentences and the chronological uncertainty, Jeremiah’s progress from youthful consecration and ardour, through moods of doubt and passionate repugnance, to a complete self-conquest and settled trust (see, besides chs. 1, 11, 16 already cited, Jeremiah 8:18 to Jeremiah 9:2; Jeremiah 15:10-11 and Jeremiah 15:15-21; Jeremiah 17:14-18; Jeremiah 18:18-23; Jeremiah 20:1-18; Jeremiah 26:1-24; Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah 31:1-40; Jeremiah 32:1-44 ). The discipline of Jeremiah may be divided into four stages, following on his supernatural call: ( <em> a </em> ) the youthful period of fierce denunciation, b.c. 626 621; ( <em> b </em> ) the time of disillusion and silence, subsequent to Josiah’s reforms, 621 608; ( <em> c </em> ) the critical epoch, 608 604, opened by the fall of Josiah at Megiddo and closing in the fourth year of Jehoiakim after the battle of Carchemish and the advent of Nebuchadrezzar, when the paroxysm of the prophet’s soul was past and his vision of the future grew clear; ( <em> d </em> ) the stage of full illumination, attained during the calamities of the last days of Jerusalem. </p> <p> To ( <em> a </em> ) belongs the teaching recorded in chs. 2 6, subject to the modifications involved in condensing from memory discourses uttered 20 years before. Here Jeremiah is on the same ground as Zephaniah. He strongly recalls Hosea, whose love for ‘Ephraim’ he shares, and whose similitude of the marriage-union between Jehovah and Israel supplies the basis of his appeals. Judah, he insists, has proved a more faithless bride than her northern sister; a divorce is inevitable. Ch. 5 reflects the shocking impression made by Jeremiah’s first acquaintance with Jerusalem; in ch. 6 Jehovah’s scourge in the first instance the [[Scythians]] is held over the city. With rebukes mingle calls to repentance and, more rarely, hopes of a relenting on the people’s part ( Jeremiah 3:21-25; in other hopeful passages critics detect interpolation). Jeremiah’s powerful and pathetic preaching helped to prepare the reformation of 621. But as the danger from the northern hordes passed and Josiah’s rule brought new prosperity, the prophet’s vaticinations were discounted; his pessimism became an object of ridicule. </p> <p> ( <em> b </em> ) Jeremiah’s attitude towards Josiah’s reformation is the enigma of his history. The collection of his prophecies made in 604 (see chs. 1 12), apart from the doubtful allusion in Jeremiah 11:1-8 , ignores the subject; Josiah’s name is but once mentioned, by way of contrast to Jehoiakim, in Jeremiah 22:13-19 . From this silence we must not infer condemnation; and such passages as Jeremiah 7:22-23 and Jeremiah 8:8 do not signify that Jeremiah was radically opposed to the sacrificial system and to the use of a written law. We may fairly gather from Jeremiah 11:1-8 , if not from Jeremiah 17:19-27 (the authenticity of which is contested), that Jeremiah commended the Deuteronomic code. His writings in many passages show a Deuteronomic stamp. But, from this point of view, the reformation soon showed itself a failure. It came from the will of the king, not from the conscience of the people. It effected no ‘circumcision of the heart,’ no inward turning to Jehovah, no such ‘breaking up of the fallow ground’ as Jeremiah had called for; the good seed of the Deuteronomic teaching was ‘sown among thorns’ ( Jeremiah 4:3-4 ), which sprang up and choked it. The cant of religion was in the mouths of ungodly men; apostasy had given place, in the popular temper, to hypocrisy. [[Convinced]] of this, Jeremiah appears to have early withdrawn, and stood aloof for the rest of Josiah’s reign. Hence the years 621 608 are a blank in the record of his ministry. For the time the prophet was nonplussed; the evil he had foretold had not come; the good which had come was a doubtful good in his eyes. He could not support, he would not oppose, the work of the earnest and sanguine king. Those twelve years demonstrated the emptiness of a political religion. They burnt into the prophet’s soul the lesson of <em> the worthlessness of everything without the law written on the heart </em> . </p> <p> ( <em> c </em> ) Josiah’s death at Megiddo pricked the bubble of the national religiousness; this calamity recalled Jeremiah to his work. Soon afterwards he delivered the great discourse of Jeremiah 7:1 to Jeremiah 8:3 , which nearly cost him his life (see ch. 26). He denounces <em> the false reliance on the Temple </em> that replaced the idolatrous superstitions of 20 years before, thereby making ‘the priests and the prophets,’ to whose ears the threat of Shiloh’s fate for [[Zion]] was rank treason, from this time his implacable enemies. The post-reformation conflict now opening was more deadly than the pre-reformation conflict shared with Zephaniah. A false Jehovism had entrenched itself within the forms of the Covenant, armed with the weapons of fanatical self-righteousness. To this phase of the struggle belong chs. 7 10 (subtracting the great interpolation of Jeremiah 9:23 to Jeremiah 10:16 , of which Jeremiah 10:1-16 is surely post-Jeremianic); so, probably, most of the matter of chs. 14 20, identified with the ‘many like words’ that were added to the volume of Jeremiah burnt by Jehoiakim in the winter of 604 ( Jeremiah 36:27-32 ). </p> <p> The personal passages of chs. 15, 17, 18, 20 belong to this decisive epoch (608 605, between Megiddo and Carchemish). The climax of Jeremiah’s inward agony was brought about by the outrage inflicted on him by Pashhur, the Temple overseer (ch. 20), when, to stop his mouth, the prophet was scourged and put in the stocks. He breaks out,’ O Jehovah, thou hast befooled me, and I have been befooled!’ and ends by ‘cursing the day of his birth’ (Jeremiah 20:7-18 ). Jehovah has used His almighty power to play with a weak, simple man, and to make him a laughing-stock! Jehovah’s word is ‘a fire in his bones’; he is compelled to speak it, only to meet ridicule and insult! His warnings remain unfulfilled, and God leaves him in the lurch! He desires nothing but the people’s good; yet they count him a traitor, and put down his terrifying visions to malignity! This last reproach cut Jeremiah to the heart; again and again he had repelled it ( Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 17:16; Jeremiah 18:20 ). The scene of ch. 20 was Jeremiah’s Gethsemane. It took place not long before the crisis of ‘the fourth year of Jehoiakim,’ the occasion when the roll of doom was prepared (ch. 36) which was read to the people and the king, and when, after the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadrezzar was hailed as Jehovah’s servant and executioner (ch. 25). At this juncture the conclusive breach with Jehoiakim came about, when the faithless king, by running his knife through Jeremiah’s book, severed the ties which had bound prophecy to the secular throne of David since Samuel’s day. Recalling at this date his misgivings and inward fightings against God, the prophet virtually tells us that they are past. From the years 605 4 he marches with firm step to the goal; he sees the end of God’s kingdom, and the way. Jeremiah is at last equal to his office, ready ‘to pluck up and to break down the nations, and to build and to plant.’ [[Master]] of himself, he is master of the world. </p> <p> ( <em> d </em> ) Chs. 30 33 ( Jeremiah 33:14-26 are wanting in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.]; the remainder of 33, along with Jeremiah 32:16-44 , lies under grave critical suspicion) contain a distinct ‘word of Jehovah,’ committed to a separate ‘book.’ This is ‘the Book of the Future of Israel and Judah’ (Duhm), and the crown of Jeremiah’s life-work. Like the [[Christian]] prophet who wrote the [[Epistle]] to the Hebrews, Jeremiah fled to the ideal and eternal from the horrors of the national downfall; as the earthly Zion sinks, the image of God’s true city rises on his soul. The long foreseen catastrophe has arrived; Jeremiah meets it bravely, for ‘days are coming,’ Jehovah tells him, ‘when I will restore the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, and I will cause them to return to the land of their fathers’ ( Jeremiah 30:3 ff.). The prophet adds deeds to words: he takes the opportunity of buying, before witnesses, a field at Anathoth offered during the siege by his cousin Hanameel, in token that ‘houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land’ ( Jeremiah 32:15 ). But the restoration means something far better than recovery of the land; it will be a spiritual renovation, a change <em> of heart </em> going deeper than Josiah’s renewal of the old covenant. ‘They shall be my people,’ Jehovah promises, ‘and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever.… And I will make <em> an everlasting covenant </em> with them, and <em> I will put my fear in their hearts </em> ’ ( Jeremiah 32:38-39; Jeremiah 32:31-44 of this disputed chapter are full of Jeremianic traits). The announcement of the ‘new covenant’ in ch. Jeremiah 31:31-34 is the kernel of the ‘Book of the Future’; this is Jeremiah’s greatest contribution to the progress of the [[Kingdom]] of God. This passage touches the high-water mark of OT prophecy; it was appropriated by the Lord Jesus at the Last Supper, and supplied the basis of the NT doctrine of salvation (see Hebrews 10:14-18 ). To deprive Jeremiah of the New-Covenant oracle (as B. Duhm, <em> e.g. </em> , would do) is to remove the top-stone of his life’s edifice; it is to make his rôle one of ‘plucking up and breaking down,’ with no commensurate ‘building and planting’ ( Jeremiah 1:10 ) upon the desolated site. Jeremiah had read first in his own heart the secret thus conveyed to Israel. The mission which he had borne for long as a painful yoke, he learnt to rest in with entire contentment. He is able to say, ‘I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart’; and he prophesies that, under the new covenant, every man shall say this. </p> <p> Jeremiah’s style and powers as a writer have been underestimated; better justice is done to them by recent scholars. The gloom overshadowing many of his pages has been repellent; and the mistaken attachment of his name to ‘Lamentations’ has brought on him the disparaging epithet of ‘the weeping prophet.’ Much of the book comes to us from other pens; in its narrative parts we recognize the hand of Baruch; and allowance should be made for editorial glosses and additions, here and there interrupting the flow and impairing the force of the original. Jeremiah’s language is touched with occasional Aramaisms, and shows some falling off from the perfection of the classical [[Hebrew]] of the 8th century. Jeremiah has neither the sublimity and sustained oratorical power of Isaiah, nor the pungency of Amos, nor the poignancy of Hosea, nor the fire and verve of Nahum, nor the subtlety of Habakkuk; but in richness of imagery, in fulness of human interest, in lucidity and naturalness, in his command of the various resources of poetry, eloquence, pathos, and practical appeal, by virtue of the combination of excellences he presents and the value of his total output, Jeremiah is the greatest of the writing prophets. </p> <p> <strong> 3. The Book </strong> . We owe the Book of Jeremiah to his collaborator <strong> [[Baruch]] </strong> (ch. 36). In fairness, this should be entitled ‘The Book of Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the scribe.’ With Baruch’s help Jeremiah issued in 604 ‘a roll of a book,’ containing the sum of his public teaching up to that date. This volume was not too large to be read to the assembled people, and read aloud twice more in the course of the same day. In size and contents it corresponded to chs. 2 12 of the existing book (the two fragments of Jeremiah 9:23-26 seem to be a later Jeremianic, and Jeremiah 10:1-16 a post-Jeremianic insertion; some would also refer Jeremiah 12:7-17 to a subsequent date). The destruction of the first roll by Jehoiakim called for a new edition, containing ‘many like words,’ which added to the bulk of the first publication: chs. 1 and 14 20, with (possibly) 25, may be taken to contain the supplementary matter referred to in Jeremiah 36:32 , extending and illustrating chs. 2 12 (ch. 13 is out of place, since it bears in the allusion of Jeremiah 36:18-19 manifest reference to the captivity of 597). With the exceptions named, and some others of less moment, chs. 1 20 may be read as the re-written roll of Jeremiah 36:32 , which dated from the winter of b.c. 604. </p> <p> In chs. Jeremiah 21:11 to Jeremiah 23:40 we find a distinct collection of oracles, relating to the kings (down to Jehoiachin) and prophets, associated under the designation of ‘shepherds’; it is prefaced by a story (in 3rd person: Jeremiah 21:1-10 ) about king Zedekiah, germane to the later collection of chs. 37 39. Chs. 13 and 24 and 27 29 are reminiscences of Jeremiah relative to the early years of Zedekiah’s reign, subsequent to the First [[Captivity]] (597) surely ch. 35, the story of the Rechabites (in 1st person), relating to Jehoiakim’s closing years, should come in here. This added matter may have gone to make up a <em> third edition </em> of Jeremiah-Baruch’s work, published about this date, extending over chs. 1 29, with the deductions and addition previously noted (ch. 26 is mentioned below). </p> <p> Chs. 30 33 form a totally distinct work from the Book of [[Doom]] thus far analyzed; this is Jeremiah’s <em> book of promise </em> or <em> consolation </em> , recording the revelation of his people’s future given to him during the last slege of Jerusalem. Chs. 37 39, to which Jeremiah 21:1-10 should be attached, and 40 44, are two distinct memoirs, bearing on Jeremiah’s history ( <em> a </em> ) in the final siege, and ( <em> b </em> ) after the capture of Jerusalem; the authorship of his secretary is indicated by the fact that the short oracle concerning <em> Baruch </em> (ch. 45) is set at the end of these narratives, though the event related took place earlier, in 604. It is to be noted that the data of Jeremiah 1:1-3 do not cover the matter of chs. 40 44. It looks as though that superscription was drawn up when the book extended only from ch. 1 39, and as though we ought to recognize a <em> fourth </em> stage in the growth of Jeremiah’s book a redaction made soon after the fall of Jerusalem, which was supplemented afterwards when Baruch added chs. 40 45, making the <em> fifth </em> (enlarged) edition. To ( <em> a </em> ) is prefixed the supremely important Baruch story (ch. 36), of the same date as the above-mentioned (ch. 45) which concludes ( <em> b </em> ). Ch. 26 is a detached narrative piece, out of place where it stands; this appears to be Baruch’s account of the crisis in Jeremiah’s work to which Jeremiah 7:1 to Jeremiah 8:3 relates (b.c. 608). Altogether, we may credit to Baruch’s memoirs of Jeremiah chs. 26, 36, 37 39 and 40 45; to some extent he probably worked over and edited the matter received by dictation from his master. </p> <p> This leaves remaining only the collection of Foreign Oracles, which have been separately placed at the end of Jeremiah’s works, in chs. 46 51; and the [[Historical]] Appendix, ch. 52, borrowed by his editors from the Book of Kings (or by the compilers of Kings from this place). The great <em> doom of the Chaldæans and Babylon </em> in chs. Jeremiah 50:1 to Jeremiah 51:58 , judged by internal evidence, was certainly a postscript to Jeremiah’s work and a product of the Exile; critical doubts, of less gravity, attach to other parts of the Foreign Oracles. In Jeremiah 38:28-39:10 we find already inserted, in shorter form, the first part of the narrative incorporated in ch. 52. Ch. Jeremiah 52:28-30 supplies a valuable bit of tradition about the Captivity wanting in Kings, missing also in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] text of Jeremiah. The final redaction of the canonical ‘Jeremiah’ (the <em> sixth </em> edition?) dates considerably posterior to the Exile; for Jeremiah 50:2 to Jeremiah 51:58 , if written by an exilic prophet, could hardly have been ascribed to Jeremiah until a late age. On the other hand, chs. 50 52 are found in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , which dated <em> c </em> <em> [Note: circa, about.] </em> . b.c. 200, and must therefore have been incorporated in the book before this time. </p> <p> The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] departs from the Massoretic text in two main respects: (1) <em> in arrangement </em> , the Foreign [[Oracles]] (chs. 46 51) being let in between vv.13 and 14 of ch. 25, and running in a different order. It is not unlikely that the Dooms of the [[Nations]] were originally associated with ch. 25; but their Greek position cannot possibly be sustained. (2) Again, the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] text differs from the MT [Note: Massoretic Text.] <em> in quantity </em> , being shorter by some 2700 words, or one-eighth of the whole. The subtracted matter consists partly of <em> omissions </em> of paragraphs and sentences amongst the chief of these being Jeremiah 11:7-8 , Jeremiah 17:1-4 , Jeremiah 29:16-20 , Jeremiah 33:14-26 , Jeremiah 48:45-47 , Jeremiah 51:45-48 , Jeremiah 52:2-3; Jeremiah 52:28-30; partly of <em> abbreviations </em> , titles shortened, proper names dispensed with, synonyms dropped and descriptions curtailed. The former phenomena point, in a number of instances, to accretions gathered by the MT [Note: Massoretic Text.] subsequently to the date of translation; the abbreviations betray in the translator a studied attempt at conciseness. It has been supposed that the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] rested on an older and purer recension of the Hebrew text, preserved in Egypt; but this theory is abandoned. ‘Both texts’ of Jeremiah ‘have the same archetype; but this archetype underwent a gradual process of expansion, and the process is represented at an earlier stage in the MS or MSS underlying the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , and at a more advanced stage in those at the basis of the MT [Note: Massoretic Text.] .… [[Speaking]] generally, the MT [Note: Massoretic Text.] is qualitatively greatly superior to the Greek; but, on the other hand, quantitatively, the Greek is nearer the original text. This judgment is general, admitting many exceptions, that is, cases where the quality of the Greek text is better, and its readings more original than the Hebrew; and also cases where, in regard to quantity, the Hebrew is to be preferred, the omissions in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] being due to faults in the translator’s MS, to his own oversight, or to his tendency to scamp and abridge’ (A. B. Davidson). </p> <p> Synopsis of the Book </p> <p> <strong> I. </strong> <strong> The great Book of Doom </strong> , dictated by Jeremiah in b.c. 604: chs. 1 20, 25, with parts (probably) of 46 51, corresponding to the original volume read by Baruch ( Jeremiah 36:2; Jeremiah 36:10 ) and the ‘many like words’ added on re-writing ( Jeremiah 36:32 ). </p> <p> ( <em> a </em> ) The book burnt by Jehoiakim: chs. 2 12 ( <em> minus </em> Jeremiah 9:23 to Jeremiah 10:16 etc.). This included </p> <p> 1. <em> The [[Judgment]] upon Judah’s treachery towards Jehovah: </em> chs. 2 6, embodying Jeremiah’s pre-reformation teaching [ Jeremiah 3:6-18 has slipped out of its place; this oracle should come either before (Cornill), or after (Bruston), the rest of chs. 2, 3]. </p> <p> 2. <em> The Judgment upon Judah’s hypocrisy </em> . chs. 7 12 (? Jeremiah 12:7-17; <em> minus </em> Jeremiah 9:23 to Jeremiah 10:15 ); belonging to the post-reformation preaching of 608 and onwards. </p> <p> ( <em> b </em> ) The ‘many like words,’ illustrating ( <em> a </em> ): chs. Jeremiah 1:14-19 , and probably 25, etc.; consisting of <em> scenes and reminiscences from Jeremiah’s earlier ministry </em> , up to b.c. 604 [ch. 13 was later; it has been displaced; see § V.]. </p> <p> <strong> II. </strong> <strong> The Judgment on the [[Shepherds]] </strong> (kings, priests, and prophets): chs. 21 23 [ Jeremiah 21:1-10 has been transferred from § V.: the remainder of this section need not have been later than <em> c </em> <em> [Note: circa, about.] </em> . b.c. 597]. </p> <p> <strong> III. </strong> <strong> Later memoranda of Jeremiah </strong> , extending from <em> c </em> <em> [Note: circa, about.] </em> . 600 to 593: chs. Jeremiah 12:7-17 (?) 13, 24, 27 29 and 35. §§ II. and III. may have been added to § I. to form a <em> third </em> (enlarged) edition of the great Book of Doom, issued in the middle of Zedekiah’s reign and before the final struggle with Nebuchadrezzar. </p> <p> <strong> IV. </strong> <strong> The little Book of [[Consolation]] </strong> : chs. 30 33, dating from the second siege. </p> <p> <strong> V. </strong> <strong> Baruch’s Memoirs of Jeremiah </strong> : </p> <p> ( <em> a </em> ) Before the Fall of Jerusalem (covered by the title in Jeremiah 1:1-3 ): chs. 26, 36, 34, 37 39, with Jeremiah 21:1-10 . </p> <p> ( <em> b </em> ) After the Fall of Jerusalem: chs. 40 44. </p> <p> ( <em> c </em> ) Baruch’s personal note: ch. 45. </p> <p> Whether the above memoirs were introduced by Barocbor extracted later by other editors from a separate work of his, cannot be determined with certainty. The position of ch. 45 speaks for his editing up to this point; but if so, some later hand has disturbed his arrangement of the matter. In some instances the displacements we have noted may be due to accidents of transcription. </p> <p> <strong> VI. </strong> <strong> The [[Collection]] of Foreign Oracles </strong> : chs. 46 49 [ Jeremiah 50:2 to Jeremiah 51:58 ] Jeremiah 51:59-64 against Egypt (2), Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, [[Kedar]] and Hazor, [[Elam]] [Babylon]. In the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] the Dooms are differently arranged, attached to Jeremiah 25:13 , and slightly shorter. The <em> Babylon </em> Doom admittedly betrays the hand of a late compiler; additions to Jeremiah’s work are suspected in other parts of the section, particularly in the Dooms of <em> Egypt </em> and <em> [[Moab]] </em> . </p> <p> <strong> VII. </strong> <strong> The Historical Appendix </strong> : ch. 52, nearly identical, by general admission, with 2 Kings 24:18 to 2 Kings 25:30 . </p> <p> The above must be taken as a <em> general </em> outline and sketch of the growth of the work. There are a number of detached fragments, such as Jeremiah 9:23-26 , the true connexion of which is lost. And post-Jeremianic interpolations and annotations, relatively numerous, must be recognized; the most conspicuous of these, besides the last three chapters, are Jeremiah 10:1-16 and Jeremiah 33:14-26 . </p> <p> G. G. Findlay. </p>
<p> '''Jeremiah, Book of.''' This prophecy embraces a period of upwards of 40 years, between b.c. 628 and b.c. 586. It 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 and forsake their sins; and to the glory which would arise on the church in future times. Melancholy, tender sensibility, and a tone of grief, are the distinguishing characteristics of Jeremiah's style. The several prophecies may be arranged thus: I. The introduction, chap. 1. II. Reproofs of the sins of the Jews, consisting of seven sections—a, &nbsp;Jeremiah 2:1-37, ''B.'' 3-6, ''C.'' 7-10, ''D.'' 11-13, ''E.'' &nbsp;Jeremiah 14:1 to &nbsp;Jeremiah 17:18, ''F.'' &nbsp;Jeremiah 17:19-20, ''G.'' 21-24. [[Iii. A]]  general review of the heathen nations, and also of the people of Israel, consisting of two sections— ''A'' . 46-49, which may have been transposed, ''B'' . 25, and an historical appendix in three sections— ''A'' . 26, ''B.'' 27, c. 28, 29. IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of brighter times— ''A'' . 30, 31, ''B'' . 32, 33, to which is added an historical appendix in three sections— ''A'' . &nbsp;Jeremiah 34:1-7, ''B.'' &nbsp;Jeremiah 34:8-22, ''C'' . 35. V. The conclusion, in two sections— ''A'' . 36, ''B'' . 45. [[Added]] some time afterwards— ''A.'' 37-39, ''B.'' 40-43, ''C'' . &nbsp;Jeremiah 46:13-26. The fifty-second chapter of Jeremiah is nearly the same with &nbsp;2 Kings 24:18 to &nbsp;2 Kings 25:30. Both were mainly drawn from the same sources. The order of the prophecies of Jeremiah, from chap. 21:15 to the end of the book, is different in the [[Septuagint]] version from that of the [[Hebrew]] text; for those prophecies which, in the Hebrew, occupy the last place—46-51—are found in the Greek translation after chap. &nbsp;2 Kings 25:14, and in a different order. In some editions of the Septuagint the chapters are as in the Hebrew. </p>
          
          
== Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_41565" /> ==
==
<p> 1. The head of a clan of the tribe of [[Manasseh]] in East
          
          
==References ==
==References ==
<references>
<references>


<ref name="term_51973"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-bible/jeremiah Jeremiah from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
<ref name="term_70308"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/people-s-dictionary-of-the-bible/jeremiah+(2) Jeremiah from People's Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_41565"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_35993"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/fausset-s-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Fausset's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_18737"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/bridgeway-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Bridgeway Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_80939"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/watson-s-biblical-theological-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_73220"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/smith-s-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Smith's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_47986"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hawker-s-poor-man-s-concordance-and-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_32188"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/easton-s-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Easton's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_70306"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/people-s-dictionary-of-the-bible/jeremiah Jeremiah from People's Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_16439"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_66963"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/morrish-bible-dictionary/jeremiah Jeremiah from Morrish Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_46052"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/jeremiah Jeremiah from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_15979"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/kitto-s-popular-cyclopedia-of-biblial-literature/jeremiah Jeremiah from Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature]</ref>
          
          
<ref name="term_75326"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/the-nuttall-encyclopedia/jeremiah Jeremiah from The Nuttall Encyclopedia]</ref>
<ref name="term_5381"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/international-standard-bible-encyclopedia/jeremiah+(2) Jeremiah from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]</ref>
          
          
</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 15:25, 16 October 2021

People's Dictionary of the Bible [1]

Jeremiah, Book of. This prophecy embraces a period of upwards of 40 years, between b.c. 628 and b.c. 586. It 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 and forsake their sins; and to the glory which would arise on the church in future times. Melancholy, tender sensibility, and a tone of grief, are the distinguishing characteristics of Jeremiah's style. The several prophecies may be arranged thus: I. The introduction, chap. 1. II. Reproofs of the sins of the Jews, consisting of seven sections—a,  Jeremiah 2:1-37, B. 3-6, C. 7-10, D. 11-13, E.  Jeremiah 14:1 to  Jeremiah 17:18, F.  Jeremiah 17:19-20, G. 21-24. Iii. A general review of the heathen nations, and also of the people of Israel, consisting of two sections— A . 46-49, which may have been transposed, B . 25, and an historical appendix in three sections— A . 26, B. 27, c. 28, 29. IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of brighter times— A . 30, 31, B . 32, 33, to which is added an historical appendix in three sections— A .  Jeremiah 34:1-7, B.  Jeremiah 34:8-22, C . 35. V. The conclusion, in two sections— A . 36, B . 45. Added some time afterwards— A. 37-39, B. 40-43, C .  Jeremiah 46:13-26. The fifty-second chapter of Jeremiah is nearly the same with  2 Kings 24:18 to  2 Kings 25:30. Both were mainly drawn from the same sources. The order of the prophecies of Jeremiah, from chap. 21:15 to the end of the book, is different in the Septuagint version from that of the Hebrew text; for those prophecies which, in the Hebrew, occupy the last place—46-51—are found in the Greek translation after chap.  2 Kings 25:14, and in a different order. In some editions of the Septuagint the chapters are as in the Hebrew.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]

jer - ē̇ - mı̄´a  :

1. Name and Person

2. Life of Jeremiah

3. The Personal Character of Jeremiah

4. The Prophecies of Jeremiah

5. The Book of Jeremiah

6. Authenticity and Integrity of the Book

7. Relation to the Septuagint (Septuagint)

Literature

1. Name and Person

The name of one of the greatest prophets of Israel. The Hebrew ירמיהוּ , yirmeyāhū , abbreviated to ירמיה , yirmeyāh , signifies either "Yahweh hurls" or "Yahweh founds." Septuagint reads Ἰερμίας , Iermı́as , and the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible , 390-405 ad) Jeremias . As this name also occurs not infrequently, the prophet is called "the son of Hilkiah" (  Jeremiah 1:1 ), who is, however, not the high priest mentioned in 2 Ki 22 and 23, as it is merely stated that he was "of the priests that were in Anathoth" in the land of Benjamin In Anathoth, now Anâta , a small village 3 miles Northeast of Jerusalem, lived a class of priests who belonged to a side line, not to the line of Zadok (compare  1 Kings 2:26 ).

2. Life of Jeremiah

Jeremiah was called by the Lord to the office of a prophet while still a youth ( Jeremiah 1:6 ) about 20 years of age, in the 13th year of King Josiah ( Jeremiah 1:2;  Jeremiah 25:3 ), in the year 627 bc, and was active in this capacity from this time on to the destruction of Jerusalem, 586 bc, under kings Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. Even after the fall of the capital city he prophesied in Egypt at least for several years, so that his work extended over a period of about 50 years in all. At first he probably lived in Anathoth, and put in his appearance publicly in Jerusalem only on the occasion of the great festivals; later he lived in Jerusalem, and was there during the terrible times of the siege and the destruction of the city.

Although King Josiah was God-fearing and willing to serve Yahweh, and soon inaugurated his reformation according to the law of Yahweh (in the 18th year of his reign), yet Jeremiah, at the time when he was called to the prophetic office, was not left in doubt of the fact that the catastrophe of the judgment of God over the city would soon come ( Jeremiah 1:11 ); and when, after a few years, the Book of the Law was found in the temple (2 Ki 22 and 23), Jeremiah preached "the words of this covenant" to the people in the town and throughout the land ( Jeremiah 11:1-8;  Jeremiah 17:19-27 ), and exhorted to obedience to the Divine command; but in doing this then and afterward he became the object of much hostility, especially in his native city, Anathoth. Even his own brethren or near relatives entered into a conspiracy against him by declaring that he was a dangerous fanatic ( Jeremiah 12:6 ). However, the condition of Jeremiah under this pious king was the most happy in his career, and he lamented the latter's untimely death in sad lyrics, which the author of Chronicles was able to use ( 2 Chronicles 35:25 ), but which have not come down to our times.

Much more unfavorable was the prophet's condition after the death of Josiah. Jehoahaz-Shallum, who ruled only 3 months, received the announcement of his sentence from Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 22:10 ). Jehoiakim (609-598 bc) in turn favored the heathen worship, and oppressed the people through his love of luxury and by the erection of grand structures ( Jeremiah 22:13 ). In addition, his politics were treacherous. He conspired with Egypt against his superior, Nebuchadnezzar. Epoch- making was the 4th year of Jehoiakim , in which, in the battle of Carchemish, the Chaldeans gained the upper hand in Hither Asia, as Jeremiah had predicted ( Jeremiah 46:1-12 ). Under Jehoiakim Jeremiah delivered his great temple discourse (Jer 7 through 9;  Jeremiah 10:17-25 ). The priests for this reason determined to have the prophet put to death (Jer 26). However, influential elders interceded for him, and the princes yet showed some justice. He was, however, abused by the authorities at the appeal of the priests (Jer 20). According to  Jeremiah 36:1 , he was no longer permitted to enter the place of the temple. For this reason the Lord commanded him to collect his prophecies in a bookroll, and to have them read to the people by his faithful pupil Baruch (Jer 36; compare  Jeremiah 45:1-5 ). The book fell into the hands of the king, who burned it. However, Jeremiah dictated the book a second time to Baruch, together with new additions.

Jehoiachin or Coniah ( Jeremiah 22:24 ), the son of Jehoiakim, after a reign of 3 months, was taken into captivity to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, together with a large number of his nobles and the best part of the people ( Jeremiah 24:1;  Jeremiah 29:2 ), as the prophet had predicted ( Jeremiah 22:20-30 ). But conditions did not improve under Zedekiah (597-586 bc). This king was indeed not as hostile to Jeremiah as Jehoiakim had been; but all the more hostile were the princes and the generals, who were now in command after the better class of these had been deported to Babylon. They continually planned rebellion against Babylon, while Jeremiah was compelled to oppose and put to naught every patriotic agitation of this kind. Finally, the Babylonian army came in order to punish the faithles s vassal who had again entered into an alliance with Egypt. Jeremiah earnestly advised submission, but the king was too weak and too cowardly as against his nobles. A long siege resulted, which caused the direst sufferings in the life of Jeremiah. The commanders threw him into a vile prison, charging him with being a traitor ( Jeremiah 37:11 ). The king, who consulted him secretly, released him from prison, and put him into the "court of the guard" ( Jeremiah 37:17 ), where he could move around freely, and could agai n prophesy. Now that the judgment had come, he could again speak of the hopeful future (Jer 32; 33). Also Jer 30 and 31, probably, were spoken about this time. But as he continued to preach submission to the people, those in authority cast him into a slimy cistern, from which the pity of a courtier, Ebed-melech, delivered him ( Jeremiah 39:15-18 ). He again returned to the court of the guard, where he remained until Jerusalem was taken.

After the capture of the city, Jeremiah was treated with great consideration by the Babylonians, who knew that he had spoken in favor of their government ( Jeremiah 39:11;  Jeremiah 40:1 ). They gave him the choice of going to Babylon or of remaining in his native lan d. He decided for the latter, and went to the governor Gedaliah, at Mizpah, a man worthy of all confidence. But when this man, after a short time, was murdered by conscienceless opponents, the Jews who had been left in Palestine, becoming alarmed and fearing the vengeance of the Chaldeans, determined to emigrate to Egypt. Jeremiah advised against this most earnestly, and threatened the vengeance of Yahweh, if the people should insist upon their undertaking ( Jeremiah 42:1 ). But they insisted and even compelled the aged prophet to go with them ( Jeremiah 43:1 ). Their first goal was Tahpanhes (Daphne), a town in Lower Egypt. At this place he still continued to preach the word of God to his fellow-Israelites; compare the latest of his preserved discourses in  Jeremiah 43:8-13 , as also the sermon in Jer 44, delivered at a somewhat later time but yet before 570 bc. At that time Jeremiah must have been from 70 to 80 years old. He probably died soon after this in Egypt. The church Fathers report that he was stoned to death at Daphne by the Jews (Jerome, Adv. Jovin , ii, 37; Tertullian, Contra Gnost ., viii; Pseudepiphan. De Proph ., chapter viii; Dorotheus, 146; Isidorus, Ort. et Obit. Patr ., chapter xxxviii). However, this report is not well founded. The same is the case with the rabbinical tradition, according to which he, in company with Baruch, was taken from Egypt to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and died there ( Ṣedher ‛Ōlām Rabbā' 26).

3. The Personal Character of Jeremiah

The Book of Jeremiah gives us not only a fuller account of the life and career of its author than do the books of the other prophets, but we also learn more about his own inner and personal life and feelings than we do of Isaiah or any other prophet. From this source we learn that he was, by nature, gentle and tender in his feelings, and sympathetic. A decided contrast to this is found in the hard and unmerciful judgment which it was his mission to announce. God made him strong and firm and immovable like iron for his mission ( Jeremiah 1:18;  Jeremiah 15:20 ). This contrast between his naturally warm personal feelings and his strict Divine mission not rarely appears in the heart-utterances found in his prophecies. At first he rejoiced when God spoke to him ( Jeremiah 15:16 ); but soon these words of God were to his heart a source of pain and of suffering ( Jeremiah 15:17 ). He would have preferred not to utter them; and then they burned in his breast as a fire ( Jeremiah 20:7;  Jeremiah 23:9 ). He personally stood in need of love, and yet was not permitted to marry ( Jeremiah 16:1 f). He was compelled to forego the pleasures of youth (  Jeremiah 15:17 ). He loved his people as nobody else, and yet was always compelled to prophesy evil for it, and seemed to be the enemy of his nation. This often caused him to despair. The enmity to which he fell a victim, on account of his declaration of nothing but the truth, he deeply felt; see his complaints ( Jeremiah 9:1;  Jeremiah 12:5 f;   Jeremiah 15:10;  Jeremiah 17:14-18;  Jeremiah 18:23 , and often). In this sad antagonism between his heart and the commands of the Lord, he would perhaps wish that God had not spoken to him; he even cursed the day of his birth ( Jeremiah 15:10;  Jeremiah 20:14-18; compare  Job 3:1 ). Such complaints are to be carefully distinguished from that which the Lord through His Spirit communicated to the prophet. God rebukes him for these complaints, and demands of him to repent and to trust and obey Him ( Jeremiah 15:19 ). This discipline makes him all the more unconquerable. Even his bitter denunciations of his enemies ( Jeremiah 11:20;  Jeremiah 15:15;  Jeremiah 17:18;  Jeremiah 18:21-23 ) originated in part in his passionate and deep nature, and show how great is the difference between him and that perfect Sufferer, who prayed even for His deadly enemies. But Jeremiah was nevertheless a type of that Suffering Saviour, more than any of the Old Testament saints. He, as a priest, prayed for his people, until God forbade him to do so ( Jeremiah 7:16;  Jeremiah 11:14;  Jeremiah 14:11;  Jeremiah 18:20 ). He was compelled more than all the others to suffer through the anger of God, which was to afflict his people. The people themselves also felt that he meant well to them. A proof of this is seen in the fact that the rebellious people, who always did the contrary of what he had commanded them, forced him, the unwelcome prophet of God, to go along with them, to Egypt, because they felt that he was their good genius.

4. The Prophecies of Jeremiah

What Jeremiah was to preach was the judgment upon Judah. As the reason for this judgment Jeremiah everywhere mentioned the apostasy from Yahweh, the idolatry, which was practiced on bāmōth , or the "high places" by Judah, as this had been done by Israel. Many heathenish abuses had found their way into the life of the people. Outspoken heathenism had been introduced by such men as King Manasseh, even the sacrifice of children to the honor of Baal-Molech in the valley of Hinnom (  Jeremiah 7:31;  Jeremiah 19:5;  Jeremiah 32:35 ), and the worship of "the queen of heaven" ( Jeremiah 7:18;  Jeremiah 44:19 ). It is true that the reformation of Josiah swept away the worst of these abominations. But an inner return to Yahweh did not result from this reformation. For the reason that the improvement had been more on the surface and outward, and was done to please the king, Jeremiah charges up to his people all their previous sins, and the guilt of the present generation was yet added to this ( Jeremiah 16:11 f). Together with religious insincerity went the moral corruption of the people, such as dishonesty, injustice, oppression of the helpless, slander, and the like. Compare the accusations found in   Jeremiah 5:1 , Jeremiah 5:7 f,26ff;   Jeremiah 6:7 ,  Jeremiah 6:13;  Jeremiah 7:5 f,9;   Jeremiah 9:2 ,  Jeremiah 9:6 ,  Jeremiah 9:8;  Jeremiah 17:9;  Jeremiah 21:12;  Jeremiah 22:13;  Jeremiah 23:10;  Jeremiah 29:23 , etc. Especially to the spiritual leaders, the priests and prophets, are these things charged up.

The judgment which is to come in the near future, as a punishment for the sins of the people, is from the outset declared to be the conquest of the country through an enemy from abroad. In this way the heated caldron with the face from the North, in the vision containing the call of the prophet ( Jeremiah 1:13 ), is to be understood. This power in the North is not named until the 4th year of Jehoiakim (Jer 25), where Nebuchadnezzar is definitely designated as the conqueror. It is often thought, that, in the earlier years of his career, Jeremiah had in mind the Scythians when he spoke of the enemies from the North, especially in Jer 4 through 6. The Scythians (according to Herodotus i.103ff) had, probably a few years before Jeremiah's call to the prophetic office, taken possession of Media, then marched through Asia Minor, and even forced their way as far as Egypt. They crossed through Canaan, passing by on their march from East to West, near Beth-shean (Scythopolis). The ravages of this fierce people probably influenced the language used by Jeremiah in his prophecies (compare  Jeremiah 4:11;  Jeremiah 5:15;  Jeremiah 6:3 , Jeremiah 6:22 ). But it is unthinkable that Jeremiah expected nothing more than a plundering and a booty-seeking expedition of the Scythian nomad hordes. Chariots, such as are described in  Jeremiah 4:13 , the Scythians did not possess. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that Jeremiah from the outset speaks of a deportation of his people to this foreign land ( Jeremiah 3:18;  Jeremiah 5:19 ), while an exile of Israel in the country of the Scythians was out of the question. At all events from the 4th year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah regards the Chaldeans as the enemy who, according to his former announcement, would come from the North It is possible that it was only in the course of time that he reached a clear conviction as to what nation was meant by the revelation from God. But, upon further reflection, he must have felt almost certain on this subject, especially as Isaiah ( Isaiah 39:6 ), Micah ( Micah 4:10 ), and, soon after these, Habakkuk had named Babylon as the power that was to carry out the judgment upon Israel. Other prophets, too, regard the Babylonians as belonging to the northern group of nations (compare  Zechariah 6:8 ), because they always came from the North, and because they were the legal successors of the Assyrians.

In contrast to optimistic prophets, who had hoped to remedy matters in Israel ( Jeremiah 6:14 ), Jeremiah from the beginning predicted the destruction of the city and of the sanctuary, as also the end of the Jewish nation and the exile of the people through these enemies from abroad. According to  Jeremiah 25:11;  Jeremiah 29:10 , the Babylonian supremacy (not exactly the exile) was to continue for 70 years; and after this, deliverance should come. Promises to this effect are found only now and then in the earlier years of the prophet ( Jeremiah 3:14;  Jeremiah 12:14;  Jeremiah 16:14 f). However, during the time of the siege and afterward, such predictions are more frequent (compare   Jeremiah 23:1;  Jeremiah 24:6 f;   Jeremiah 47:2-7; and in the "Book of Comfort," chapters 30 through 33).

What characterizes this prophet is the spiritual inwardness of his religion; the external theocracy he delivers up to destruction, because its forms were not animated by God-fearing sentiments. External circumcision is of no value without inner purity of heart. The external temple will be destroyed, because it has become the hiding-place of sinners. External sacrifices have no value, because those who offer them are lacking in spirituality, and this is displeasing to God. The law is abused and misinterpreted ( Jeremiah 8:8 ); the words of the prophets as a rule do not come from God. Even the Ark of the Covenant is eventually to make way for a glorious presence of the Lord. The law is to be written in the hearts of men ( Jeremiah 31:31 ). The glories of the Messianic times the prophet does not describe in detail but their spiritual character he repeatedly describes in the words "Yahweh our righteousness" ( Jeremiah 23:6;  Jeremiah 33:16 ). However, we must not over-estimate the idealism of Jeremiah. He believed in a realistic restoration of theocracy to a form, just as the other prophets (compare Jer 31 through 32, 38 through 40).

As far as the form of his prophetic utterances is concerned, Jeremiah is of a poetical nature; but he was not only a poet. He often speaks in the meter of an elegy; but he is not bound by this, and readily passes over into other forms of rhythms and also at times into prosaic speech, when the contents of his discourses require it. The somewhat monotonous and elegiac tone, which is in harmony with his sad message to the people, gives way to more lively and varied forms of expression, when the prophet speaks of other and foreign nations. In doing this he often makes use of the utterances of earlier prophets.

5. The Book of Jeremiah

The first composition of the book is reported in  Jeremiah 36:1 . In the 4th year of Jehoiakim, at the command of Yahweh, he dictated all of the prophecies he had spoken down to this time to his pupil Baruch, who wrote them on a roll. After the destruction of this book-roll by the king, he would not be stopped from reproducing the contents again and making additions to it ( Jeremiah 36:32 ). In this we have the origin of the present Book of Jeremiah. This book, however, not only received further additions, but has also been modified. While the discourses may originally have been arranged chronologically, and these reached only down to the 4th year of King Jehoiakim, we find in the book, as it is now, as early as  Jeremiah 21:1;  Jeremiah 23:1;  Jeremiah 26:1 , discourses from the times of Zedekiah. However, the 2nd edition ( Jeremiah 36:28 ) contained, no doubt, Jer 25, with those addresses directed against the heathen nations extant at that time. The lack of order, from a chronological point of view, in the present book, is attributable also to the fact that historical accounts or appendices concerning the career of Jeremiah were added to the book in later times, e.g. Jer 26; 35; 36 and others; and in these additions are also found older discourses of the prophet. Beginning with Jer 37, the story of the prophet during the siege of Jerusalem and after the destruction of the city is reported, and in connection with this are his words and discourses belonging to this period.

It is a question whether these pieces, which are more narrative in character, and which are the product of a contemporary, probably Baruch, at one time constituted a book by themselves, out of which they were later taken and incorporated in the book of the prophet, or whether they were inserted by Baruch. In favor of the first view, it may be urged that they are not always found at their proper places chronologically; e.g.  Jeremiah 26 is a part of the temple discourse in   Jeremiah 7 through 9. However, this "Book of Baruch," which is claimed by some critics to have existed as a separate book beside that of Jeremiah, would not furnish a connected biography, and does not seem to have been written for biographical purposes. It contains introductions to certain words and speeches of the prophet and statements of what the consequences of these had been. Thus it is more probable that Baruch, at a later time, made supplementary additions to the original book, which the prophet had dictated without any personal data. But in this work the prophet himself may have coöperated. At places, perhaps, the dictation of the prophet ends in a narrative of Baruch (  Jeremiah 19:14 through 20:6), or vice versa. Baruch seems to have written a historical introduction, and then Jeremiah dictated the prophecy (  Jeremiah 27:1;  Jeremiah 18:1;  Jeremiah 32:1 , and others). Of course, the portions of the book which came from the pen of Baruch are to be regarded as an authentic account.

6. Authenticity and Integrity of the Book

However, critics have denied to Jeremiah and his pupil certain sections of the present book, and they claim that these belong to a later date. Among these  Isaiah 10:1-16 , containing a warning to those in the exile against idolatry (and related to  Isaiah 40 ff) which, it is claimed, could not possibly in this form and fullness be the work of Jeremiah. Also  Jeremiah 17:19-27 is without reason denied to Jeremiah, upon the ground that he could not have thought of emphasizing the Sabbath law. He was, however, no modern idealist, but respected also the Divine ordinances (compare   Jeremiah 11:1-8 ). Then Jer 25 is rejected by some, while others attack especially  Jeremiah 25:12-14 and   Jeremiah 25:27-38; but in both cases without reason. On the other hand, we admit that  Jeremiah 25:25 and also   Jeremiah 25:13 f are later additions. The words, "all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations," are probably a superscription, which has found its way into the text. In   Jeremiah 25:26 the words, "and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them," are likewise considered spurious. Sheshach is rightly regarded here, as in   Jeremiah 51:41 , as a cipher for "Babel," but the use of 'At - bash (a cipher in which the order of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet is reversed, taw (ת , t) for 'aleph (א , '), shin (שׁ , sh) for beth (ב , b), etc., hence, SHēSHaKH = BāBHeL , see the commentaries) does not prove spuriousness. The sentence is not found in the Septuagint. The attacks made on Jer 30 and 31 are of little moment.  Jeremiah 33:14-26 is not found in the Septuagint, and its contents, too, belong to the passages in Jeremiah that are most vigorously attacked. Critics regard Jeremiah as too spiritual to have perpetuated the Levitical priesthood. In   Jeremiah 39:1 ,  Jeremiah 39:2 ,  Jeremiah 39:4-10 are evidently additions that do not belong to this place. The remaining portion can stand. Among the discourses against the nations, Jer 46 through 51, those in   Jeremiah 46:1-12 , spoken immediately preceding the battle of Carchemish, cannot be shown to be unauthentic; even 46:13-28 are also genuine. The fact, however, is that the text has suffered very much. Nor are there any satisfactory reasons against the prophecy in Jer 47 through 49, if we assume that Jeremiah reasserted some of his utterances against the heathen nations that did not seem to have been entirely fulfilled. Jer 50 and 51, the discourses against Babylon, have the distinct impress of Jeremiah. This impression is stronger than the doubts, which, however, are not without weight. The events in  Jeremiah 51:59 , which are not to be called into question, presuppose longer addresses of Jeremiah against Babylon. The possibility, however, remains that the editing of these utterances as found in the present book dates from the time after 586 bc. That any influence of Deutero-Isaiah or later authors can be traced in Jeremiah cannot be shown with any certainty. Jer 52 was written neither by Jeremiah nor for his book, but is taken from the Books of Kings, and is found there almost verbatim (2 Ki 24; 25).

7. Relation to the 70 (Septuagint)

A special problem is furnished by the relation of the text of Jeremiah to the Alexandrian version of the Seventy (Septuagint). Not only does the Hebrew form of the book differ from the Greek materially, much more than this is the case in other books of the Old Testament, but the arrangement, too, is a different one. The oracle concerning the heathen nations ( Jeremiah 46 through 51) is in the Septuagint found in the middle of   Jeremiah 25 , and that, too, in an altogether different order (namely,  Jeremiah 49:35 ,46; 50; 51;  Jeremiah 47:1-7; 49:7-22;  Jeremiah 49:1-5 ,  Jeremiah 49:28-33 ,  Jeremiah 49:13-27; 48). In addition, the readings throughout the book in many cases are divergent, the text in the Septuagint being in general shorter and more compact. The Greek text has about 2,700 Hebrew words less than the authentic Hebrew text, and is thus about one-eighth shorter.

As far as the insertion of the addresses against the heathen nations in  Jeremiah 29 is concerned, the Greek order is certainly not more original than is the Hebrew. It rather tears apart, awkwardly, what is united in   Jeremiah 25 , and has probably been caused by a misunderstanding. The words of  Jeremiah 25:13 were regarded as a hint that here the discourses against the heathen were to follow. Then, too, the order of these discourses in the Greek text is less natural than the one in Hebrew. In regard to the readings of the text, it has been thought that the text of the Septuagint deserves the preference on account of its brevity, and that the Hebrew text had been increased by additions. However, in general, the Greek version is very free, and often is done without an understanding of the subject; and there are reasons to believe that the translator shortened the text, when he thought the style of Jeremiah too heavy. Then, too, where he met with repetitions, he probably would omit; or did so when he found trouble with the matter or the language. This does not deny that his translation in many places may be correct, and that additions may have been made to the Hebrew text.

Literature

Calvin, Praelectiones in Librum Prophetiae Jer et Thren , Geneva, 1653; Sebastian Schmidt, Commentarii in libr. prophet. Jeremiah , Argent, 1685. Modern commentary by Hitzig, Ewald, Graf, Nägelsbach, Keil; also Cheyne ( Pulpit Comm .), Peake, Duhm, and von Orelli.

References

  1. ↑ Jeremiah from People's Dictionary of the Bible
  2. ↑ Jeremiah from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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