Jeremiah began to prophesy during the 13th year of the reign of Josiah. This was about 5 years after the Book of the Law had been found during the repairs to the temple. He was the son of a priest, born at Anathoth, only a few kilometres from Jerusalem, but in the territory of Benjamin. He was called to the prophetic office by a vision. Being young at the time he felt his immaturity, inexperience and inability to speak to men, but God reached out and touched Jeremiah's mouth enabling him to speak the Word of God (Jeremiah 1:9). Jeremiah was also told that he would meet with violent opposition from princes, priests and the people but that they would not prevail over him (Jeremiah 1:8, 18-19).
Jeremiah prophesied during 18 years of Josia's reign, and during the reigns of 3 of his sons and one grandson. After Josiah was killed in battle with the Egyptians who dominated Judah at this time, Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah reigned for 3 months until Pharaoh deposed him in favour of his brother Jehoiakim, who reigned for 11 years. After Jehoiakim, the kingship passed to his son Jehoiachin who reigned only 3 months before being taken away to Babylon along with the leading men of Judah, for refusing to be subject to the Chaldeans. Another son of Josiah was placed on the throne in his stead Mattaniah, whose name was changed to Zedekiah. Zedekia's reign lasted 11 years and 5 months before the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. This was about 41 years after Jeremiah started to prophesy and he continued after this.
The men of Anathoth, Jeremiah's hometown, were among the first to oppose Jeremiah and threatened to kill him if he did not stop prophesying. He persevered nonetheless, but felt this opposition keenly and cried to the Lord to judge the men of Anathoth for forbidding the word of the Lord (Jeremiah 11:20-23). However this hostility to Jeremiah became more widespread as his message was mostly of doom to his native land, ie. the carrying away captive to Babylon of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem if the Jews continued disobedient to God.
Jeremiah had been prophesying approximately 22 years when he dictated the prophecies to the scribe Baruch who wrote them on a scroll. This was during the 4th year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah. Jeremiah was not allowed to go to the house of God, so he told Baruch to take the roll to the sanctuary and read it to the people who were there fasting (Jeremiah 36:5-6). The roll eventually reached the king, who after hearing a few columns read, cut it up and flung it into the fire, a section at a time, until it was destroyed. By divine direction Jeremiah prepared a second roll, like the first, but with additions. A foe of his, the priest Passhur, chief governor of the Temple, had him put in the stocks, but he was released the following day (Jeremiah 20:1-3).
Despite Jeremiah's warnings, king Jehoiakim refused to pay tribute to the Chaldeans who had become the main power in the area, after overthrowing the Assyrians and Egyptians. The Chaldeans came to Jerusalem, but by that time Jehoiakim had died and his son Jehoiachin was on the throne. The Chaldeans took him away to Babylon along with the most important men of Judah, among them Daniel. The journey to Babylon was about 1450 kilometres across the blistering waterless Arabian desert and would have taken about 6 months on foot.
The Chaldeans left Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, on the throne in Jerusalem as their puppet king. He was disloyal to Babylon and a few years later the Chaldeans returned to Jerusalem, besieging it for 2 years. Jeremiah repeatedly warned Zedekiah and the princes that unless they obeyed Babylon they too would be taken there and Jerusalem destroyed. They refused to listen to him, preferring to believe the false prophets who said that no evil would come upon Judah. Jeremiah said that Judah should accept the Chaldean domination as a just punishment from the Lord for its grievous sins, ie. for worshipping false gods and straying from the sacred laws.
During the siege of Jerusalem the Jewish authorities looked at Jeremiah's prophecies of the success of the Chaldeans and the subsequent captivity of Judah, claiming that his unfavourable predictions discouraged the defenders of Jerusalem. When the Chaldeans temporarily raised the siege to fight a battle with the Egyptians, and Jeremiah was about to take advantage of their absence to go to Anathoth on business, the charge was made against him that he was deserting to the Chaldeans and he was thrown into prison by the princes (Jeremiah 37:11-15). After a while king Zedekiah released him and put him in the court of the guard (Jeremiah 37:21), but the princes soon had him cast into a dungeon (Jeremiah 38:6) and left to die. An Ethiopian, Ebed-melech, took compassion on him however, and obtained permission from Zedekiah to release him from the miry pit and put him back in the court of the guard. The prophet was there when Jerusalem was taken after 2 years of siege.
The Chaldeans looked on Jeremiah as one who had suffered much for them and Nebuchadnezzar gave express orders for his kind treatment. Accordingly, he was released and settled in Mizpah under the protection of the former mayor of the palace, Gedaliah, whom the Chaldeans appointed governor of Judah. Most of the remaining notables and craftsmen of Judah were sent away to Babylon, leaving only a few poor people to gather the grape harvest and make the wine.
After the treacherous assassination of the governor Gedaliah, his followers and the Chaldean soldiers by Ishmael (Jeremiah 41), the Jewish army chiefs collected a considerable number of remaining Jews and went to Egypt. Jeremiah urged them not to flee to Egypt (Jeremiah 42: 13-22), but they took no notice and forced him to go there as well. He delivered his last predictions in Egypt and the time and manner of his death are unknown, although tradition has it that the Jews killed him because of his prophecies.
The burden of the prophecy, which Jeremiah uttered, forced from him the bitter lament that he had ever been born, but he remained true to duty. He was often alone, persecuted, misunderstood and his efforts for the moral welfare of his countrymen were foredoomed to failure. He was often imprisoned and forced to turn to God only for companionship and consolation.
Throughout the book of Jeremiah the recurring theme is of obedience to God as the most important thing; not only sacrifices, but also moral conduct as the sacrifice of the obedient, are pleasing to God. To serve God, man must wash away his wickedness and return to God with the whole heart.
Jeremiah foretold that the Jews would be captives in Babylon for a period of seventy years, after which time they would be allowed to return to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 25:11-12, 29:10) to rebuild the city and temple which had been burnt to the ground. It all happened just as he predicted (2 Chronicles 36:21-23).
Jeremiah also foretold the new covenant when the people will have a new heart and God's law written in it (Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33). This vision of the true glory of the kingdom remains in the future. We must remember Jeremiah's insistence on obedience to God's commandments if we wish to see, and be part of, this glorious restored kingdom of Israel.
