Thousands of years ago, from 627-587 BC, the people of Judah regularly heard a prophetic message -”The end is near.” As would happen today, most scoffed at the warning, refusing to change their attitude or lifestyle.
Jeremiah’s task was a thankless one. Some ignored the warnings, claiming they were false. Others were intimidated and sought to lay cruel hands on the prophet (Jer. 11:21; 20:2; 26:8,11; 38:6). And his neighbors, including his own household, dealt treacherously with him (11:18,19; 12:6).
In spite of this combination of apathy and opposition, Jeremiah faithfully delivered God’s message to the largely unrepentant audience of the people and their kings. Only a few friends supported his effort, Josiah, Baruch, Shaphan and his sons and the gentile Ebed-melech.
A brief review
Jeremiah was a prophet in the southern kingdom during the reign of the last five kings of Judah — Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. Although the Assyrian power had declined by this time, Egypt and Babylon still posed a military threat to the Jewish people. Many times, they attacked Judah, taking captives on each occasion. Eventually, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BC (the fall of the city is vividly described in chapter 39).
During the early part of Jeremiah’s career, Josiah, the last good king, initiated some reform in the religious life of the nation. The book of the law was discovered and this helped to galvanize a period of reform (II Chron. 34:14). Pagan worship was forbidden, the temple was cleansed of idols, the passover was celebrated and the people made a new covenant with God.
Though the reforms were imposed on everyone, most people only complied with their lips while their hearts remained far from God. Thus, besides warning of coming destruction, Jeremiah urged the people to turn their hearts to God.
Jeremiah the man
Long before Jeremiah’s birth, God had determined he would be a prophet (1:5). As with Moses before him, Jeremiah felt unfit for the task (Jer. 1:5,6; Ex. 4:10; Deut. 34:10). Even later in his career, his display of emotions and agonizing prayers suggest that he never became comfortable with his thankless job. We remember that even our Lord requested exemption from the cross but accepted his role when his request was denied (Matt. 26:39).
At times, we may feel like these servants of God. The task at hand seems beyond our resources, yet it must be done. At such times, we must press on, trusting all the while in God’s superior knowledge and the encouragement of His promises.
The people of Judah did not believe that Jeremiah had been selected by God and was speaking His words. Perhaps their idolatrous ways blinded them to the validity of Jeremiah’s message. The prophet knew this would happen, however, as God had informed him in advance that the nation would not respond (7:27).
Compelled to keep going
Even when Jeremiah considered giving up and contemplated not making “mention of him, nor speaking any more in his name,” he could not. He found that the word of God “was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with foreboding, and I could not say” (20:9).
We might assume this means God forced him to continue. More likely, it means that the knowledge God put in his heart drove him on (cf. 15:16). Inwardly, he knew that his people must be warned even if he was weary. Does not the word of God we have stored in our heart do the same for us? It urges us to continue through many low points in our lives. Jesus’ saying seems to apply: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22).
Proof of his message
In Deuteronomy, God gave Israel a way of distinguishing true prophets from the false. “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:22).
The test was only useful if a prophet made short-term prophecies as well as long-term ones. In Jeremiah’s case, he made the long-term prophecy that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years (Jer. 25:11,12). Another prophet, Hananiah, challenged Jeremiah, declaring that within two years the captives would return (28:2-4,11). Who was right? Jeremiah’s response was, “…Thou makest this people to trust in a lie…this year thou shalt die.” Seven months later, Hananiah was dead (28:15-17). Other short-term prophecies involved the fate of Pashur (20:6), Shallum (22:11,12), Jehoiakim (22:19; 36:30), Coniah (Jehoiachin) and his mother (22:24-26,30), Ahab, Zedekiah and Shemaiah (29:21-32).
The people thus had no excuse for ignoring the words of Jeremiah. They all should have reacted like Daniel, who took careful notice of the prophecies of Jeremiah (Dan. 9:2).
A difficult life
Increased opposition made life more and more difficult for this prophet of God. Enemies destroyed his writings (36:23), placed him in stocks (20:2), repeatedly imprisoned him (32:2; 37:15; 38:13) and even left him in a pit to expire (38:6). Yet this somber book has much to encourage us through the exemplary life of one of God’s great prophets. It presents a witness to God’s role in Israel’s history and the part other nations play in its fulfillment.
The book also contains some of the most memorable and important statements in the Bible, exemplified by these searching words: “Thus saith the LORD, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD” (Jer. 9:23-24).
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