Author and Date
The book of Jeremiah records the ministry of a prophet who lived through some of the most traumatic events of Israel’s history. He was called to communicate God’s words of judgment and hope during the turbulent years that led up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The book that bears his name includes not only his prophecies but also a window into his own personal struggles as a prophet. It is the longest book of the Bible.
Jeremiah was born to a priestly family in the town of Anathoth (1:1), a few miles/kilometers from Jerusalem, probably around 650 BC. His call to be a prophet came in 628/27 BC, in the 13th year of King Josiah (1:2), at a time when, along with the hope brought by Josiah’s reforms, there was a growing threat from the rising power of the Babylonians. The bulk of his ministry took place between then and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC (39:1–10). Jeremiah was not deported with those taken to exile in Babylon but initially remained in Judah and was taken down to Egypt against his will by those who fled there after the death of the Babylonian-appointed governor, Gedaliah (chs. 42–44). He presumably died in Egypt. The last event recorded in the book is Jehoiachin’s release from a Babylonian prison, which took place in 561/560 BC (52:31–34; 2 Kgs 25:27–30). The last chapter of the book of Jeremiah summarizes the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem and provides a historical framework demonstrating the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s words.
The book itself was probably written in several stages. God instructed Jeremiah to commit some of his prophecies to writing in 605 BC, using Baruch as his scribe (36:1–4). This was done so the words of judgment could be read to the people (36:2–6) and eventually to King Jehoiakim, who responded by burning them (36:23). This scroll was then rewritten (36:28, 32). This early edition was expanded to include many of Jeremiah’s later prophecies, along with various biographical accounts of incidents from his life, whether written by the prophet himself or by Baruch or another scribe.
This multistage expansion of the book of Jeremiah may account for the differences between the present Hebrew text and the Greek translation of Jeremiah that is found in the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT). The Greek version is much shorter than the Hebrew text, and the messages against the nations are placed after 25:13 rather than toward the end of the book. Hebrew equivalents of both versions have been found among the manuscripts at Qumran. The Greek version may represent an earlier edition of the book, though some scholars have argued that it is an abridged version of the Masoretic Text, omitting material that is redundant or repeated elsewhere.
Jeremiah’s Life and Times
Jeremiah lived during a time of great stress and upheaval in the life of God’s people. King Josiah came to the throne in 641/40 BC as a boy of only eight years old (2 Kgs 22:1), inheriting a nation that his father, Amon, and his grandfather, Manasseh (2 Kgs 21), had led away from the Lord. Josiah set his heart on following the Lord, and external factors initially helped him to pursue that goal. The major power in the region, the Assyrian Empire, was then in its last days under Ashurbanipal. Ashurbanipal was able to retain power and maintain the boundaries of his empire until his death in 627 BC, but the empire then began to fragment. Nabopolassar took over the province of Babylon, which became independent in 626 BC. In 614 the Medes captured the old capital of Ashur, and in 612 Nineveh itself fell to the Medes and the Babylonians. The remaining Assyrian forces retreated to Harran, where they were subsequently routed.
The turmoil within Assyria left King Josiah free to pursue his own path in Judah, and he took full advantage of the opportunity. In 622 BC, an old law book was discovered during temple renovation work (2 Kgs 22:8). This book must have been or contained parts of the book of Deuteronomy, for its rediscovery led to a renewed focus on reforming worship in line with the teachings of that book. Local altars were torn down, non-Levitical priests were dismissed, and the other priests were relocated closer to Jerusalem so that they could properly carry out their ministry in the temple (2 Kgs 23). The nation renewed the covenant and memorably celebrated the Passover (2 Kgs 23:21–23). In his early prophetic ministry, in keeping with these reforms, Jeremiah sought to bring this covenant message back to the center of his people’s life. Yet even during Josiah’s days, it appears that Jeremiah’s message was out of step with popular sentiment. As a result, there were plots against Jeremiah’s life, and the community greeted him with broad ostracism. The lack of support for Jeremiah’s message highlights the difficulty that the reform movement faced in Judah, even with royal support.
Judah’s independence movement did not last long. In 609 BC, the Egyptians marched out in support of the Assyrians, hoping to prop them up as a buffer against the rising tide of Babylonian power. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Josiah marched out to try to block their advance at Megiddo (2 Kgs 23:29–30). It was a catastrophic error: he was killed in the battle, and the Egyptians controlled Judah for the next four years. They replaced the new Judahite king, Jehoahaz, with his brother Jehoiakim, during whose reign all of the reforms of Josiah were suspended or reversed (2 Kgs 23:34–37).
The Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish in 605 BC. From then on, the Judahites had to pay tribute to Babylon instead of Egypt. In 602, Jehoiakim rebelled against the Babylonians, only to be swiftly defeated (2 Kgs 24:1–5). Four years later, Jehoiakim died and was replaced by his son Jehoiachin, who also adopted an anti-Babylonian stance. Nebuchadnezzar returned and besieged Jerusalem. He captured the city, deposed Jehoiachin, and deported him to Babylon, replacing him with his uncle, Zedekiah (2 Kgs 24:10–17). The Babylonians treated Jehoiachin himself kindly in exile, and he remained the true king of Judah in the eyes of some Judahites. Far from being grateful to the Babylonians who had placed him on the throne, Zedekiah led a revolt against them when the opportunity presented itself in 589 BC. Nebuchadnezzar subsequently returned in force with the Babylonian army and besieged Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25). After a long siege, which was only briefly lifted to deal with an Egyptian advance, the Babylonians broke through the walls in 586 BC and Zedekiah and his troops fled. The Babylonians captured Zedekiah near Jericho, forced him to watch as they slaughtered his sons, and then put out his eyes (2 Kgs 25:7). Jerusalem itself was destroyed, the temple was burned to the ground, and the vast majority of the remaining population was taken off to exile in Babylon.
Jeremiah lived through all of these terrible events. If life was difficult for him in the days of Josiah (when he was at least in line with official royal policy), it must have been far more difficult under Josiah’s successors. Jeremiah’s prophecies of the coming of the Babylonian army from the north (e.g., 1:13–15) and the certainty of the Babylonian victory (e.g., 37:7–10) would have sounded deeply treasonous. He advocated that Judah immediately submit to the Babylonians at a time when the king was trying to persuade people to make the necessary sacrifices to endure the great ordeal of the Babylonian siege. As a result, Jeremiah spent a considerable time imprisoned for his convictions. When a group of men went to Zedekiah seeking Jeremiah’s death for his morale-sapping message, the king responded, “He is in your hands . . . The king can do nothing to oppose you” (38:5). The men then took Jeremiah and tossed him into a cistern, where Jeremiah sank “into the mud” (38:6). They intended for him to die there and only the intervention of Ebed-Melek, a Cushite eunuch, saved his life (38:7–11).
After Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, the new rulers offered Jeremiah a comfortable retirement in Babylon (40:4), yet he chose to remain in his homeland with the lowest ranks of the people, whom the Babylonians had left behind to tend the soil. But the respite for Jeremiah was brief: a failed coup attempt ended with the assassination of Gedaliah, the Judahite governor whom the Babylonians had appointed (41:1–3). Those who remained in the land determined to flee to Egypt, and though the Lord’s word through Jeremiah warned against such action (42:9–22), he was carried to Egypt against his will. Presumably he died there, before his prophecies were fulfilled and the exiles in Babylon were allowed to return home (Ezra 1:1–3). In confirmation of Jeremiah’s warnings to his fellow countrymen, as far as we know, very few of those who went down to Egypt ever came back to the province of Judah.
Purpose and Themes
Like all of the prophets, Jeremiah built on the foundation established by Moses (Deut 18:18). He therefore brought together old truths—the nature of God and the obligations imposed by the covenant made at Mount Sinai—with the present realities that faced the people of his day.
The central focus of the book of Jeremiah is the Lord’s relationship with his rebellious people, Israel. Even though the kingdom had long since been divided into two and the former northern kingdom had been taken away into exile 100 years earlier, the Lord was still the God of Israel (7:3), and his commitment to that relationship was unbreakable (33:26). As a result, a remnant of Judah would survive the tumultuous times in which they found themselves as a representative “Israel” of God, and ultimately the divided people would be reunited under a descendant of David. The Lord was also committed to being present in the midst of his people, so even though Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed for the people’s sins, there would once again come a time when the Levitical priests would stand before the Lord and offer sacrifices in his house in Jerusalem (33:14–22). God is faithful to all of his promises, which will certainly come to fruition.
Yet the reality in Jeremiah’s own time was one of a deeply troubled relationship between Israel and her God. He was “the Holy One of Israel” (50:29), and she was deeply defiled by sin, an unfaithful wife. During the early days in the wilderness, she had followed him like a devoted bride (2:2–3), but by Jeremiah’s time Judah had wandered far away, forsaking the Lord in favor of other gods (2:11–13). Virgin Israel had become defiled (18:13).
The result of that unfaithfulness on Judah’s part was inevitably judgment and disaster. Their idols could not protect them when the Lord brought upon them the judgment they deserved (2:18–19). This was a central part of Jeremiah’s message: the Lord had appointed him “to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow” (1:10). Jeremiah’s opening vision depicted a flowering almond tree, the first tree to blossom in the spring, indicating that the Lord was about to act against Judah and Jerusalem (1:11–12). Immediately afterward he saw a boiling pot tilting from the north, about to pour its scalding contents over the unprepared people (1:13–16). The Babylonians were about to invade Judah from the north as a judgment from God against Judah’s idolatry.
Jeremiah’s hearers were, for the most part, unresponsive. They rejected his message, preferring to trust in the symbols of their religion rather than the reality of a living relationship with God. They believed that the presence of the temple in Jerusalem meant that they were secure, no matter how they lived (7:4). Yet Jeremiah reminded the people that the Lord had earlier abandoned Shiloh, even though the ark of the covenant had been housed there (7:12–14), and he told them that Jerusalem would share Shiloh’s fate if they did not change their ways (7:3–8). The covenant the Lord had made with his people at Mount Sinai promised blessing to those who obeyed its terms and curses on those who disobeyed (11:3–5). The stubborn disobedience of Judah’s ancestors had led to disaster before (11:6–8) and would do so again in their own day (11:9–17).
Yet in the midst of an unresponsive people destined for judgment, some responded to the prophet’s message and heard words of hope. God did not instruct Jeremiah merely to uproot and tear down but also “to build and to plant” (1:10). Though many of the people were like bad figs, too rotten to eat, there were others who were like good figs (24:2–3). In Jeremiah’s day, most of the “good figs” were not in Jerusalem but among those already taken into exile (24:5). Though those who remained at home regarded the exiles as being under God’s curse, the exiles were actually the ones for whom God had a positive future, a plan to prosper and bless them (29:11). Their exile would be protracted, extending for 70 years (25:11)—an entire lifetime. Nonetheless, they were to seek the prosperity of the place where God had put them while they awaited the distant day of their return to Judah (29:4–10). In contrast, God planned an immediate future of dire judgment on those who remained in Jerusalem, along with their king (29:16–19). God’s purpose was not purely linked to a person’s geographic location: those among the exiles who were false prophets or who rejected Jeremiah’s message faced the same fate as those back in Jerusalem (29:20–32), while others who lived in Jerusalem but supported Jeremiah’s ministry, like Ebed-Melek and Baruch, heard words of comfort and life (39:16–18; 45:5).
Opposition from false prophets was a continual challenge for Jeremiah. Many preached words of a peaceful and prosperous future in spite of the gathering storm clouds (8:11). While Jeremiah prophesied a lengthy period of exile, others spoke of an imminent return for both the people and the sacred property that had been carried off to Babylon (27:16). When Jeremiah made a wooden yoke for himself to wear as a sign of the coming yoke of Babylon, the false prophet Hananiah broke it, proclaiming that the Lord would break Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke within two years (28:10–11). Jeremiah then prophesied that the Lord would replace it with an unbreakable iron yoke and declared Hananiah’s imminent death, which happened within a few months (28:12–17). But the false prophets remained popular with the people who resented or resisted Jeremiah’s messages. In the face of such hostility, Jeremiah frequently got his message across by resorting to dramatic sign-acts, such as buying and burying an expensive linen belt so that it would be ruined (13:1–11), shattering a clay jar in front of witnesses (19:1–11), and buying a field located in enemy-held territory (32:7–12). Each of these actions communicated Jeremiah’s message in an unforgettable way to a reluctant audience.
Even though the immediate future was bleak for God’s people, nonetheless the Lord had made an unbreakable promise to bless them and their king. That did not mean that the present Davidic kings could rest secure. Jehoiachin had been comprehensively rejected by God and would be recorded as if childless (22:24–30). Yet the Lord would eventually raise up a “righteous Branch” (23:5) to take Jehoiachin’s place, a good shepherd who would rule in place of the oppressive shepherds of Jeremiah’s day (23:1–6). The Lord would accomplish a new act of salvation that would eclipse even the exodus from Egypt (23:7–8). In place of the old covenant, which failed because the people broke it through their long history of sin, the Lord would enact a new covenant that would succeed because he would put the law in the people’s minds and write it on their hearts (31:32–33). In place of the old external obedience that merely covered hypocritical hearts, now there would be true heart-motivated obedience that would bring with it the Lord’s blessing in place of his curse. This new covenant anticipates the restored relationship between God and human beings promised in Gen 3:15 and accomplished through the ministry of Jesus Christ.
The unbreakable commitment of God to his people, first given to Abraham, is also evident in the various messages against the nations (chs. 46–51). In Gen 12:1–3, God promised to bless those who blessed his people and curse those who cursed or assaulted them. Even when the nations attacked Judah as the agents of the Lord’s wrath, as the Babylonians did, they were not exempt from punishment under the terms of the Abrahamic covenant. Because the Lord is the “Holy One of Israel” (50:29; 51:5), he would not only punish his own people when they strayed but also bring judgment upon those who harmed his people, as he had promised to do. The Babylonians, with their pride and their trust in their own gods, would be humbled once they had served the Lord’s purposes of judgment. This certainty also reassured God’s people that the positive purposes of the Abrahamic covenant would be accomplished. In the end, the Lord would establish a people belonging to him, in whom all nations on earth would ultimately find their blessing.
This promise reaches its goal in the NT, where the new covenant finds its fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the promised righteous Branch, the new shoot from David’s broken line (Luke 1:32–33), who establishes his kingdom in justice and righteousness. Like Jeremiah (7:9–11), Jesus warned against turning the temple into a “den of robbers” (Matt 21:12–13), yet also like Jeremiah (9:1), Jesus wept over those who were condemned by his words of judgment (Luke 19:41). Jesus is himself the Good Shepherd of whom Jeremiah spoke (23:3–4), the shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep instead of abusing them and taking advantage of them (John 10:11). The new covenant is established in Jesus’ own blood (Luke 22:20) and is made effective through the work of the Holy Spirit in giving believers hearts of flesh that now desire to keep God’s holy law; this is something the old covenant could never do (2 Cor 3:2–6; cf. Jer 31:33). Those who have the Spirit’s anointing have no need for anyone to teach them, just as Jeremiah anticipated (1 John 2:27; cf. Jer 31:34), though God still gives pastors and teachers as a gift to his church (Eph 4:11). The covenant of which Christ is the high priest now brings the blessings that God promised, in ch. 31 to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, to the new Israel of God, the church (Heb 8), for in Christ we have access to the heavenly reality toward which the OT types and shadows pointed.
Outline
Unlike the book of Ezekiel, the messages in Jeremiah are not arranged in chronological order. Insofar as it would be possible to put the messages in chronological sequence, the sections within the book would be ordered approximately as follows: 1:1—7:15; 26:1–24; 7:16—20:18; 25:1–38; 46:1—51:64; 36:1–8; 45:1–5; 36:9–32; 35:1–19; 21:1—24:10; 27:1—31:40; 34:1–7; 37:1–10; 34:8–22; 37:11—38:13; 39:15–18; 32:1—33:26; 38:14—39:14; 52:1–30; 40:1—44:30; 52:31–34. The outline below represents an analysis of the book of Jeremiah in its present canonical order.
I. The Call of Jeremiah (1:1–19)
A. Historical Setting (1:1–3)
B. Call Narrative (1:4–19)
II. Crime and Punishment (2:1—6:30)
A. Israel Forsakes the Lord (2:1—3:5)
B. Unfaithful Israel (3:6—4:4)
C. Disaster From the North (4:5–31)
D. Not One Is Upright (5:1–31)
E. Jerusalem Under Siege (6:1–30)
III. False Religion and a Deluded People (7:1—10:25)
A. False Religion Worthless (7:1–29)
B. The Valley of Slaughter (7:30—8:3)
C. Sin and Punishment (8:4—9:26)
D. The Lord and Idols (10:1–16)
E. Coming Destruction (10:17–22)
F. Jeremiah’s Prayer (10:23–25)
IV. The Broken Covenant and Its Consequences (11:1—15:21)
A. The Covenant Is Broken (11:1–17)
B. Plot Against Jeremiah (11:18–23)
C. Jeremiah’s Complaint (12:1–4)
D. The Lord’s Answer (12:5–17)
E. A Linen Belt (13:1–11)
F. Wineskins (13:12–14)
G. Threat of Captivity (13:15–27)
H. Drought, Famine, Sword (14:1—15:21)
V. Opposition to Jeremiah’s Messages of Judgment (16:1—29:32)
A. Day of Disaster (16:1—17:18)
B. Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy (17:19–27)
C. At the Potter’s House (18:1—19:15)
D. Jeremiah and Pashhur (20:1–6)
E. Jeremiah’s Complaint (20:7–18)
F. The Lord Rejects Zedekiah’s Request (21:1–14)
G. Judgment Against Wicked Kings (22:1–30)
H. The Righteous Branch (23:1–8)
I. Lying Prophets (23:9–32)
J. False Prophecy (23:33–40)
K. Two Baskets of Figs (24:1–10)
L. Seventy Years of Captivity (25:1–14)
M. The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath (25:15–38)
N. Jeremiah Threatened With Death (26:1–24)
O. Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar (27:1–22)
P. The False Prophet Hananiah (28:1–17)
Q. A Letter to the Exiles (29:1–23)
R. Message to Shemaiah (29:24–32)
VI. Restoration and a New Covenant (30:1—33:26)
A. Restoration of Israel (30:1—31:40)
B. Jeremiah Buys a Field (32:1–44)
C. Promise of Restoration (33:1–26)
VII. The Last Days of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (34:1—39:18)
A. Warning to Zedekiah (34:1–7)
B. Freedom for Slaves (34:8–22)
C. The Rekabites (35:1–19)
D. Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll (36:1–32)
E. Jeremiah in Prison (37:1–21)
F. Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern (38:1–13)
G. Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again (38:14–28)
H. The Fall of Jerusalem (39:1–18)
VIII. The Aftermath of Jerusalem’s Destruction (40:1—45:5)
A. Jeremiah Freed (40:1–6)
B. Gedaliah Assassinated (40:7—41:15)
C. Flight to Egypt (41:16—43:13)
D. Disaster Because of Idolatry (44:1–30)
E. A Message to Baruch (45:1–5)
IX. Messages Against the Nations (46:1—51:64)
A. A Message About Egypt (46:1–28)
B. A Message About the Philistines (47:1–7)
C. A Message About Moab (48:1–47)
D. A Message About Ammon (49:1–6)
E. A Message About Edom (49:7–22)
F. A Message About Damascus (49:23–27)
G. A Message About Kedar and Hazor (49:28–33)
H. A Message About Elam (49:34–39)
I. A Message About Babylon (50:1—51:64)
X. The Fall of Jerusalem and Its Aftermath (52:1–34)
A. The Fall of Jerusalem (52:1–30)
B. Jehoiachin Released (52:31–34)
