| “The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign” (Jeremiah 1:1-2). |
| When we read the Bible, we sometimes come to a book that is more difficult for us to understand. The books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel are like that, and sometimes people hesitate to read them because they cannot understand everything. However, it is good to read every part of the Word of God, for we will always get something from it. Also we become familiar with it, and then later on, as we get older, we learn more of what it means. The Word of God has so much in it that no matter how many times we read it, we never learn everything that is there. But it is good to become familiar with all of it when we are young. |
| Jeremiah was evidently the son of a priest named Hilkiah. This was probably the same Hilkiah who was helping to clean up the temple of the Lord during King Josiah’s reign, and found the book of the law. The previous kings had neglected the law of God, and the book of the law had been lost in all the rubbish that had collected in the temple. So Jeremiah came from a godly family. |
| The Lord wanted Jeremiah to prophesy for Him, and called him to do it. But Jeremiah seems to have been a shy type of person and did not really want this responsibility. However, he obeyed the Lord’s call, and prophesied for many years. This included part of Josiah’s reign, then during the reigns of several kings after him, and finally after Judah had been taken captive by king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. |
| Jeremiah did not have an easy life, for after Josiah was killed in battle, the kings that followed him were not godly men. Jeremiah was persecuted for what he said, for he had to tell the people that judgment was coming upon them. He was put in prison several times, and threatened with death. However, in his book there are some wonderful prophecies too, for some of what he said concerns the future blessing of Israel in the millennium, after the Lord takes us home to be with Him. He also prophesied that the captivity in Babylon would last exactly seventy years, and so it happened. |
| So go ahead and read Jeremiah’s book, even if you do not understand all of it. You will always learn something from it. |
