Intro remarks to Jeremiah

I'm going through Jeremiah right now on Wednesday nights and thought I'd post my notes from time to time.

1:1-3

The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2 The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3 and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Jeremiah, perhaps the most courageous of all Prophets,  from a family of holy men is commissioned to give the nation of Israel, tough words. This would be similar to a man saying that God had switched his alliance from the United States to a country like Iran. I couldn't even imagine the tension as he spoke. He's the ultimate bearer of bad news. A word from God about how awful things really are, is rarely greeted with adulation during good times. For the most, on the surface, these were good times. Josiah was in power. He had cleaned out the temple and even found a copy of the Torah. (Can you imagine going into a church having to search every nook and cranny for a copy of the Bible?) Josiah's grandfather, Manasseh represents the low-point in the Jewish history of kings. Morally and spiritually, he was trouble with a capital "T".  Sacrificing to false God's in the temple, he executed supporters of his fathers. In short, he delivered hell to the front door of the temple and then ushered it into the Holy of Holies. 

I can't even imagine how this grieved God. It must have been like a child starting a methlab in your master suite. In the end, the king repented but it was just a faint holy time out. Then Amnon, his son, continued the family tradition of idol worship, sex selling, and power tripping.

But things turned with Josiah's reign and in comes Jeremiah with more bad news from Jehovah God at a time when there seemed to be a strong sense of civility.

I can relate. Can you? You've been through a season of hardship, difficulty, spiritual warfare and wounding. And just before you can catch your breath you hear the dreaded words- "It's not over"  And this is the beginning of a book of sorrow, dashed dreams and torturous consequence but it the midst of all this junk there is hope. Hope hat comes from the Father. Hope that imbedded in the muck... Hope that we all receive.

Comments

[~m2~]

Excellent thoughts, Matt. Jeremiah is one of my favorite prophets -- if you don't already have a copy, may I suggest adding to edify your studies the book "The Prophets" by Abraham J. Heschel - it's been around since 1962 but is a wonderful read with great insight from the author. Believe it or not, it is one of my "beach" books :)

[Sarah L. Howell]

I just finished reading Lamentations and was amazed at Jeremiah's love for his audience. (I know there's some controversy regarding Jeremiah's authorship of Lam. but I believe he wrote it.) Anyway, I've always been amazed at Jeremiah's courage to be God's mouthpiece. Especially when he proclaimed such an unpopular message. But amid the rejection he received at the hands of his audience, somewhere along the way, God gave him a love for the Jews. I think that love is best viewed through the lens of Lam.