The Prophet Jeremiah Of The Bible

Life presents all human beings with moments when choosing to stand up for something, or someone, brings certain opposition. Criticism, cynical jeers, rejection, and ridicule, all present as potential outcomes to acting out of such convictions. The prophet Jeremiah faced more than a moment, or even a short season of aforementioned affliction. Scholars project from 627-586 BCE, some forty years of perpetual calamity in the life of Jeremiah, results in a book within the Hebrew Bible drawing attention to palpable emotions and experiences. Noticeably unique from other Biblical texts, in its inclusion of considerable amounts of biographical writings, known as “confessions” (Brettler, p. 181), Jeremiah, the book, strongly focuses on its title character and his challenges. Living a somewhat inconceivable life upon accepting the call from the Lord, it seems Jeremiah lead through unceasing adversity, according to many of his oracles. Further, he did so alone, being forbidden to marry, or have children (Jeremiah 16.1-4 Tanakh Translation). A difficult charge was upon the young life of Jeremiah. Fully briefed that this mission would require him to stand up in the face of unenviable opposition, the Lord directs Jeremiah to remain strong in sharing the prophetic message, accepting His assurance that “they shall not overcome you” (Jeremiah 1.17-19). Like other prophets, Jeremiah became a bearer of both devastating, and hopeful news; however, the emotionally taxing life of this “weeping prophet” (Jeremiah 8.23), resulting from his acceptance of God’s call, seems astonishingly painful. Evidently from the first chapter, unfolds a portrayal of the vulnerability of h...

... middle of paper ...

...e future days did not paralyze Jeremiah. The belittling, rejection, physical punishment, mockery, and opposition he faced, as warned he would (Jeremiah 1.17-19), did not keep Jeremiah from being God’s prophet, speaking the words he was told to share with his people. A conclusion can be presented that Jeremiah had a godly, reverent fear of the Lord, which gave him the strength, and courage to walk out the call laid before him in Chapter 1, for so many years. God presents himself with this dichotomy of judge, and restorer for the people of Israel once again. It is easy to read from present day context and judge the Israelites for the continuous cycle of rebellion, destruction, repentance, restoration, but each book, including Jeremiah, shows God intersecting with the Israelites story, and the resulting lessons to be learned, and remembered for generations to come.