Concise Bible Dictionary:
This prophecy commenced in the thirteenth year of Josiah, B.C. 629, and extended beyond the destruction of Jerusalem. The great captivity was in B.C. 599, when Zedekiah was left in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and Jerusalem was not destroyed until B.C. 588, eleven years after. Great efforts were made by the prophet to bring Zedekiah to the fear of the Lord. What especially marks the spirit of the prophet personally is sorrow. It was a grief to him to see Judah departing from Jehovah, and to be obliged to predict the judgment of God upon them, the people he loved; added to which he actually suffered from the hand of those whom he sought to help. A similar sorrow is seen in the Lord Jesus respecting Jerusalem, and in Paul respecting the church. In some instances Jeremiah’s parables were acted, so as the more forcibly to impress the careless people. The prophecies are not arranged chronologically, but there is doubtless a divine reason why that order is not followed. In the LXX the order of the chapters differs widely from that in the Hebrew and the AV, but it is not known what led to the difference. The LXX appears to have been made from a faulty copy, or the text was misunderstood by the translators, for there are many deviations from the Hebrew. The phrase “the Lord saith” is omitted sixty-four times, with other omissions—in all about one-eighth of the whole.
Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah is established in his office, to which he had been sanctified from his birth as prophet to the nations, Israel having been set in the midst of the Gentiles as the direct center of God’s government in the earth. He was in great fear, but was assured of God’s presence. He saw a rod of an almond tree (which is the first tree to blossom) signifying that God would hasten to perform what He said. The prophet also saw a seething pot, and its face towards the north, answering to Chaldea.
Jeremiah 2-6. This section is an appeal to Jerusalem with exhortations to repentance, and warnings as to what had befallen Israel. It was given in the days of Josiah, when there had been a reformation, but they had not turned to God with the whole heart: backsliding Israel had justified herself more than treacherous Judah (Jer. 3:6,11).
Jeremiah 7-10. This section is respecting the temple. The people boasted of possessing the temple, but there was insincerity and idolatry. Touching exhortations are made, and judgments declared.
Jeremiah 11-12. The responsibility of the people is pressed: they had entered into covenant with God, yet they had gone into idolatry, so that the Lord asks, “What hath My beloved [people] to do in Mine house?” Judgment must follow; but here and there future blessings are spoken of. There is deep grief that judgments are needed. Jeremiah 12:14 shows the prophet’s office against the nations—“mine evil neighbors.”
Jeremiah 13. The destruction of the pride of Jerusalem is foretold under the figure of a marred girdle which Jeremiah had buried, the great sorrow being that though as a girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, the Lord had caused all Israel to cleave to Him for His glory, yet they had left Him (compare Luke 19:41). (Some objectors consider it very improbable that Jeremiah would be told to go from Jerusalem to the Euphrates to hide the girdle, and then again to fetch it back. Some judge it to have been a vision only, and others that Ephrath (that is Bethlehem) is meant instead of the Euphrates. Jeremiah may however have gone but once, and it would have been a striking lesson of obedience to Jehovah to go such a long distance on such an errand.) The parable of the bottles of wine follows, with exhortations to repent of the abominations.
Jeremiah 14-15. A grievous famine occurred: the Lord would not be interceded with for them, yet Jeremiah takes up the sin of the people, and acknowledges it; but the answer (Jer. 15) is terrible. The false prophets were no excuse: they were utterly rejected. Jeremiah, though he loved the people, was hated by them. He had stood before the people for the Lord, who now identified him with the remnant. It should be well with them. Meanwhile Jehovah’s words were the joy of his heart. Jehovah would deliver him.
Jeremiah 16-17. The prophet is told to take no wife: the children of the place should only come to death (compare Matt. 12:46,50). God would drive them out of the land, but there was mercy in store for the future. The prophet was mocked by the people: he had to call them to the observance of the Sabbath.
Jeremiah 18-20. God was the potter and the people were the clay: He could do as He pleased with them, or with any nation—either pull down or build up; but they determined to walk after their own devices. He would fulfill His word concerning them. The people laid plots against Jeremiah: he was put in the stocks, and smitten by Pashur, upon whom a doom was denounced. Jeremiah bemoaned his lot.
Jeremiah 21-24. When Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, Zedekiah sent to the prophet to know whether the Lord would appear for them. Jeremiah had to utter the dreadful news that God would Himself fight against them. To the people it was said that if they would surrender to the king of Babylon they should live; if not, they should die. They were exhorted to repentance, and the prophecies against Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Coniah are detailed. Woe to the shepherds, but there was a day of blessing coming, when the true Son of David, the righteous Branch and King, should reign and prosper. A lamentation was made against the false prophets. The people carried away with Jeconiah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar are compared to good figs; but those left in the land under Zedekiah to bad ones.
Jeremiah 25. gives a summary of God’s judgments by Nebuchadnezzar, with a seventy years’ captivity for Judah: then Babylon and all the nations that surrounded Palestine should come under God’s judgments, but judgment begins with the city called by God’s name.
Jeremiah 26. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah exhorted to repentance, but the priests and prophets demanded his death. The princes however protected him, and the elders reminded the people that Hezekiah did not put Micah to death. To this it was apparently responded that Jehoiakim had put the prophet Urijah to death. Ahikam however shielded Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 27. Most probably the name Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 27:1 should be Zedekiah; but it may be that the prophecy was given to Jeremiah in the days of Jehoiakim though not related till the days of Zedekiah. The king is exhorted to submit to the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 28. Hananiah prophesies falsely, and is opposed by Jeremiah, who foretells his death.
Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah wrote to the captives in Babylon, urging them to make themselves homes there, and God would bring them back at the end of the seventy years. The false prophets are condemned.
Jeremiah 30-31. The captives should surely return; but these chapters apply to the future, and this restoration will be after the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” a tribulation such as has never been (Compare Matt. 24; Mark 13). The new covenant blessings concern both Judah and Israel. God will appear for them, and the restoration will be full and complete, with universal blessing.
Jeremiah 32-33. Jeremiah was put in prison by Zedekiah, but he bought a field in token of his assurance of the captives’ return. In Jeremiah 33 the prophecy goes on to the future, when the Lord Jesus will appear as the Branch of righteousness, and the successor of David (Jer. 33:15).
Jeremiah 34. All who had Hebrew bondservants had made a covenant with Zedekiah, and had set them free, but afterward they again made bondmen of them. This is denounced by Jeremiah and its punishment foretold.
Jeremiah 35. The faithfulness of the Rechabites is held up as a worthy example: God would bless them and their posterity.
Jeremiah 36. Jeremiah caused Baruch to write his prophecy against Jerusalem in a roll. On this being read to king Jehoiakim he burnt it, and sought to arrest the prophet and Baruch; but God hid them. Another roll was obtained and the prophecies rewritten.
Jeremiah 37-39. The taking of Jerusalem was at hand. Jeremiah was about to leave the city, but was arrested, beaten, and put into prison. Zedekiah gave him some relief; but on foretelling the fall of the city he was put into a dungeon, where he sank in the mire. He was delivered by Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, on whom a blessing was pronounced. The city was taken. Zedekiah was captured by the Chaldeans; his sons were slain before his eyes, and he himself was blinded and taken to Babylon. Jeremiah was protected by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah 40-45. These chapters give the history of the remnant left in the land under Gedaliah, Jeremiah being with them. Gedaliah was murdered by Ishmael, sent by the king of the Ammonites, and the people were carried away. They were however rescued by Johanan, and Jeremiah was requested to inquire of God for them, the people promising obedience. God bade them abide in the land; but they, refusing to obey, went into Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them. There they persistently practiced idolatry, though warned by Jeremiah. The end of Jeremiah is not recorded.
Jeremiah 46-51. Judgments are pronounced against the various nations that had been in contact with Israel. God had used some of them as His instruments; but their pride, malice, and cruelty had afterward to be punished. Judgments were to fall upon Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Elam, and Babylon. The prophecy against Babylon was written in a book, and given to Seraiah, “a quiet prince,” to carry to Babylon, to be read there; then he was to bind a stone to the book and cast it into the Euphrates. Babylon was to be desolate forever.
Babylon has a special place in the prophecy of Jeremiah: Israel and Judah had been unfaithful, and the government of the world was entrusted to Babylon; but Babylon failed and its destruction was the setting free of Judah to return to their land. This was a sort of type of the judgment of the last empire in a future day when Israel will be fully restored and blessed. This is foreshadowed in some places, as in Jeremiah 50:17-20, which speaks of both Judah and Israel being pardoned. Jeremiah 51 closes with “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah 52. is historical and nearly the same as 2 Kings 24:18-25:30.
The prophet’s name occurs in the New Testament (Matt. 2:17; Matt. 16:14; Matt. 27:9) under the forms of JEREMIAS and JEREMY.
Bible Handbook:
629 B.C. – 52 Chapters – 1364 Verses
Jeremiah was separated to God, and ordained a prophet unto the nations before his birth, in this, like John the Baptist. He was of Aaronic descent, his father being a priest residing in Anathoth, a place about four miles from Jerusalem. He began his prophetic ministry at a very early age — in the 13th year of the reign of the godly King Josiah; his extreme youth, and the gravity and arduous nature of the service to which he was called, evidently appalled the young prophet, as he shrank from his commission, saying, “Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.” Strengthened and reassured that it was Jehovah’s mission, Jehovah’s word, and Jehovah’s presence (ch. 1:4-10), he began and continued his service, which was one of almost uninterrupted suffering for a period of about 40 years, all through the successive reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah.
We have a good deal of the personal history of the prophet interwoven with his ministry; in this he resembles the great apostle of the Gentiles, whose personal biography and inward life and feelings are inseparably linked with truths and revelations of everlasting and vital importance. Another point of resemblance between the prophet and the apostle is in their sufferings, and as recounted by themselves; probably no Old Testament prophet suffered so much and so continuously as Jeremiah, and, certainly, no New Testament servant suffered as did the apostle Paul. In Isaiah, the glorious predictions and magnificent prophecies leave us transported amidst visions and glories and grandeurs, and we never once think of the man; but in Jeremiah the ground is lower, the atmosphere very different, our hearts are drawn to the man whose messages are treated with contempt, and the faithful unfolder of the mind of Jehovah thrown again and again into the filthy underground dungeons of Jerusalem. Apparently too, the mission of Jeremiah was fruitless, no present results were effected. Solemnly he warned the nation of impending ruin; plainly he told them of their sin, uncovered their wickedness, and spared neither king, priest, nor people. The appeals to the conscience of Judah are of the most searching character. His rebukes and remonstrances most stern and unqualified. Again, we see him breaking his heart over their impenitence and hardness, saying, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (ch. 9:1). But all were unavailing to win back to God the alienated heart of Judah; the tears, words, and prayers of the prophet seemed fruitless. Judah was bent upon her own way and upon her own destruction. Even during the closing years of Judah’s last king, Zedekiah, Jeremiah in the name of the Lord, again and again counselled submission to the Chaldeans then besieging Jerusalem; the dungeon and nearly death was the answer.
After the capture of the city, and when the Word of the Lord had been fully vindicated, and the predictions of the prophet been fulfilled to the letter, no reward or inducements could lead the faithful Jeremiah to forsake the feeble remnant left in the land by the Chaldean conqueror, for a life of honour and ease in the imperial city of Babylon (ch. 40). Jeremiah would cling to the land and the people on whom the eyes of Jehovah rest perpetually; most touching proof of a heart devoted to Jehovah and His people! Upon the murder of Gedaliah, the Babylonian governor of Judah, the terrified people fled for protection and safety to Egypt, and that in spite of the earnest remonstrances of the prophet, who assured them of safety by remaining in the land (chs. 41-42). But the Word of the Lord which had been so often disregarded, was again set at defiance; they went to Egypt, but thither the sword of the Chaldean reached both them and Egypt; and again, as always, the Lord vindicated His own blessed Word. The last notice of our prophet is with the apostate remnant in Egypt, lifting up his voice in testimony against their idolatry (ch. 44).
There is not at all the comprehensiveness of Isaiah in these prophecies, but there is much more direct appeal to the conscience and touching heart-breaking expressions of sorrow; Judah, too, is very specially the subject of testimony, and the object to whom these moral appeals are immediately addressed. The anticipations of future blessing for all Israel are very full; their moral condition occupying a prominent place in these latter-day prophecies (chs. 30-33). It is in this book also that the duration of the Babylonian captivity — 70 years — is stated; and, further, that at its close the Chaldean Empire would be utterly destroyed (chs. 25:11-14; 29:10-14). The prophecies of Jeremiah also formed the ground work of those wonderful communications bearing upon the full blessing of all Israel at the close of the 70 weeks or 490 years, seven years of which have yet to be accomplished (Dan. 9). The sins of the people — of Judah — and impending judgments, with details of the condition of things in Jerusalem before the Babylonian attack, and after the capture of the city amongst the poor of the people left in the country under the administration of Gedaliah, with judgment of the nations immediately or remotely connected with the Chaldean invasion of Judah, and promises of full latter-day blessing for all Israel — are the main subjects of the book; only it is well to see that the great effort is to reach the conscience of all to whom the prophecy refers.
The various dates of the prophecies are not given chronologically, hence moral sequence must be sought. The following simple threefold division may assist in the understanding of the book as a whole.
General Divisions
Chapters 1-25 — In this section the moral appeals to the heart and conscience of Judah are numerous and forcible. The history does not go beyond the capture of Jerusalem; but in the closing chapters of the section, Babylon and all the surrounding nations come in for judgment.
Chapters 26 -38 — Here many interesting details are given of the siege of Jerusalem, and of the state of things previous to that important epoch. Israel as well as Judah are embraced in the prophecies of chapters 30-33; the promises of future blessing are very full and rich.
Chapters 39 – 52 — Jerusalem captured; Jeremiah released from prison; and the history and fate of the people who went to Egypt. Babylon, Egypt, and other nations all judged with the most blessed intimations of future mercy and blessing for all Israel.
Note
The heathen are abruptly informed in their own language, the Chaldee, that their gods are doomed to utter destruction (ch. 10:11); the rest of the book is of course Hebrew.