Jeremiah 1:1-3
The first three verses of c. 1 form the title or preface to a Hebrew scroll containing what is known today as the Book of Jeremiah. It was not uncommon for the prophetic books of the Old Testament to have such a title. The words here are designed to identify the contents of the book and to introduce the reader to that which is to follow. As we study these verses, they seem to fall into three parts.
The contents of this book are identified and distinguished from all other writings of Scripture as the words of Jeremiah (1). Authorship of the book is hereby established. Verse 1 identifies the prophet as to name, family, and birthplace. Several ideas have been advanced by scholars as to the meaning of Jeremiah (Heb., Yirmeyahu or Yirmeyah). 1 The most probable meaning is “the Lord shoots, or hurls.” It may be that the prophet's name refers to the thunderbolts of divine truth Jeremiah was to deliver to a wicked and sinful nation. The term could also be thought of as describing the career of the prophet, for he was hurled into the vortex of one of the most catastrophic periods in the history of the ancient world. But perhaps every age is a catastrophic age, and every true spokesman of God is hurled into the midst of political, moral, and spiritual tensions, in somewhat the same way Jeremiah was. The least that the name can teach is that God is active in the affairs of men.
Son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth (see map 2) gives us the prophet's birthplace and something concerning his family. His father, Hilkiah, has sometimes been identified as “Hilkiah the priest” who figured so prominently in the discovery of the book of the law in the Temple during the reign of Josiah (II Kings 22). While there is a slight possibility that this might be true, the weight of the evidence is against it. It seems clear, however, that Jeremiah's family were priests. Anathoth, his birthplace, was a priestly city as far back as the time of Joshua (Josh. 21:18). It is the city to which Abiathar, the high priest in David's reign, retired when dismissed by Solomon because he supported Adonijah for the kingship (I Kings 2:26-27). It is probable that Jeremiah was a member of the family of Abiathar, and if so, he could trace his ancestry back to Eli, who was high priest in the time of Samuel (I Sam. 2:27-36). With this kind of heritage, the prophet must have been steeped in all the traditions of the Hebrew religion.
Although it appears that Jeremiah came from a family of priests, he does not seem to follow in the priestly tradition. His perspective, bearing, and deportment fall clearly in the prophetic pattern. There is no indication that he ever filled the priestly office; in fact this is the only place where his priestly connections are mentioned in the book. He is embued with the prophetic spirit, and follows the prophetic tradition completely.
Jeremiah's career begins with the initiative of God—to whom the word of the Lord came (2). That God always takes the initiative in man's redemption is one of the singular features of Sacred Writ. Prevenient grace generates every movement for good in the world. The “grace that goes before” initiates the career of every man of God, be he prophet in the Old Testament, apostle in the New Testament, or a modern-day spokesman of God. It meant for Jeremiah, as it means for us today, that he was summoned to speak for God, and that his message was not his own. It meant that he had been chosen to stand in the inner councils of Deity, and to serve as the mouthpiece of the Eternal.2 God, then, was the Prime Mover behind the life and work of Jeremiah.
The contents of the Book of Jeremiah are solidly based in history. The message of the prophet is not a nebulous theory, the figment of a deranged mind, but rather the truth of the eternal God, enacted and set forth in the actual affairs of life. Jeremiah was a flesh-and-blood person whose life and ministry can be dated. His prophetic ministry began “in the days of Josiah … king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign” (2)—probably 626 B.C. The word of the Lord continued to come to him in the days of Jehoiakim … unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah (3). This was 586 B.C., the year that Jerusalem fell by the hand of the Chaldeans. Even after this we find Jeremiah still preaching. Other portions of scripture, as well as secular history, serve to corroborate what he wrote. The contents of the book are certified by the events of history, and indicate that God plays a part in the affairs of earth.