Life of Jeremiah
More is known of the life of Jeremiah than of any other literary prophet. He began prophesying in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah (1:2; 25:3), i.e., 627 B.C., when Jeremiah was but a youth (1:6). Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet, but felt compelled to speak God's word (20:9). He prophesied until after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (39:1-10; 43:7-8; 44:1), and his ministry lasted a total of about fifty years.
Josiah's great religious reformation came in the early part of Jeremiah's work (cf. 2 Kings chapters 22-23), but the reforms did not reach the hearts of the people, for they were still rebellious (25:1-7).
The Jews opposed Jeremiah and his work from the very outset. First, the citizens of his native Anathoth tried to stop his work and even attempted to kill him (11:18-23). Even his kinsmen opposed him (12:6). Jeremiah later moved to Jerusalem, but he endured inveterate opposition there also.
When King Josiah died, Jeremiah lamented his death (2 Chron. 35:25).
Jeremiah prophesied against Josiah's wicked successors: Jehoahaz (also called "Shallum") (22:11-17), Jehoiakim (22:18-19), and Jeconiah (i.e., Coniah or Jehoiachin) (22:24-
In the very year Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, Jeremiah announced both his coming and the seventy year captivity of the Jews (25:1-14).
Under the rule of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah preached a great sermon in the temple in Jerusalem (chapters 7-9). After this the princes, prophets, and priests of Judah called for his death (26:8-11). However, Jeremiah was delivered at that time (26:24).
At the Lord's direction, Jeremiah dictated his prophecies to Baruch, who wrote them on a scroll (36:1-8). However, when King Jehoiakim read the scroll, he was so angry he cut it with a scribe's knife and threw it into the fire (36:20-25). The king commanded that Jeremiah and Baruch be seized, but the Lord hid them (36:26). Jeremiah dictated the prophecies to Baruch again and added others (36:27-32).
Jeremiah urged King Zedekiah to be faithful to Nebuchadnezzar, but Zedekiah refused (27:12-22). The Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and great suffering resulted.
Later, Jeremiah was accused of trying to defect to the enemy and was placed in prison (37:11-15). Subsequently the king transferred him from the dungeon to the court of the prison and gave him a daily ration of bread (37:17-21).
When Jeremiah again prophesied against Jerusalem, the king turned him over to the princes, who threw him into a dungeon, the bottom of which was filled with mud, into which Jeremiah sank (38:1-6). Jeremiah would have died there, had he not been rescued by Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian eunuch of the king's house (38:7-13).
When Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, he let Jeremiah go free to his own home (39:11-14).
A mutinous band of Jews murdered Gedaliah, who had been appointed governor by Nebuchadnezzar (41:1-3). They decided to flee to Egypt for safety, taking Jeremiah with them as a hostage (43:1-7). They took Jeremiah to Tahpanes in Egypt, where he continued to prophesy against them (43:8 - 44:1).
The life of Jeremiah was one of sorrow upon sorrow. His people whom he loved and with whom he pleaded unceasingly for fifty years continually refused to hear him, rewarded his labor with rejection and persecution, and eventually perished as the result. His life is well summarized in his own melancholy lament:
"I would comfort myself in sorrow; my heart is faint in me. Listen, the voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: 'Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?' 'Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with foreign idols?' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!' For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people? Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men." (8:18 - 9:2)
Truly is Jeremiah called "The Weeping Prophet."
Faithful in Character
Jeremiah is a model of faithful character. He always obeyed the Word of God, even if it humanly did not make sense (e.g., buying the land, Jer. 32:6-25). Jeremiah possessed a deep love for God and for God's people. He is known as the "weeping prophet" because of the great sorrow he felt for Judah's unrepentance and judgement. Sad and despairing because of the rejection of his message, he yet loved, prayed for, and agonized over his people. No greater and truer Jewish patriot ever preached the truth to them. Even when the Lord forbade him to pray for them, he continued to intercede. At times he felt that God himself had forsaken him. He even cursed the day of his birth.
Jeremiah's life was one of uninterrupted misunderstanding and persecution. He had encountered more opposition from more enemies than any other OT prophet. Much of it stemmed from the fact that, unlike Elisha, Isaiah, and others, who urged the nation to withstand their enemies and promised God's help, Jeremiah continually preached one theme: unconditional surrender. Had not the Lord protected him, he would have been martyred.
Jeremiah possessed great courage in standing for the Word of God in the face of opposition. He boldly preached God's message of repentance in the temple (ch. 26) and defended the message even when standing alone and threatened with his life by the angry religious leaders. Jeremiah possessed great endurance in his ministry. He never gave up, even though he may have felt like giving up. He trusted God and obeyed God even though the demands for such faithfulness were great (e.g., God prohibited him from marrying; God told him to buy land he would never be able to use; he was imprisoned in a dungeon; etc.). Jeremiah is a model of faithful character because he valued trust and obedience to God more than anything else.
Faithful in Spite of Opposition and Indifference
Jeremiah is a model of faithfulness in the face of opposition and indifference. Jeremiah endured the hostility, threats, and even apathy of a wayward people. Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed the Word of God for over forty years, yet the people of Judah did not listen to his warnings. Jeremiah was put in prison, thrown into a well, and taken to Egypt against his will. He was rejected by his friends, neighbors, family, false priests and prophets, and kings. Jeremiah stood alone in his call for the people to repent and turn to God. He warned them time and time again of their impending punishment. And even though much of what he prophesied came true during his ministry, the people and the leaders continued to ignore him.
Yet through all the hardship and humiliation he was forced to endure, Jeremiah remained obedient and faithful to God. Although at first he questioned God's calling, once he accepted his position he became a model of perseverance and devotion. After enduring decades of abuse, threats, and outright indifference, Jeremiah could easily have turned his back and walked away. But he knew that was exactly the problem God had told him to warn the people about. The people had turned away from God's will, and Jeremiah was not about to do the same. Some may look back at his ministry and consider it a failure because the people did not respond to his call. In reality, his life was a glorious success because Jeremiah remained faithful to his God. He may not have seen immediate results, but his struggle to obey God in a world that had turned wholesale away from its Creator has inspired generations of believers.
It's truly amazing how God promised to build a wall of bronze around the prophet Jeremiah.
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