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Essay on jeremiah
Essay on jeremiah
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The Life of Jeremiah
Jeremiah may be one of the most intriguing and revealing of the Old Testament prophets. With his continual return to god and the constant struggle between his heart and the voice of god. This elevates him as a human being and not just as an instrument of god (Paterson 144). He is one of the most human of prophets mentioned in the Old Testament and at the same time most Christ like in aspects of his sermons and works. His story has intrigued many for it is of human weakness and strength (Paterson 139). Let us now take a look at his life and at his works.
To fully understand the meaning behind his sermons and predictions we must first look at what a prophet is and what he holds true.
The word prophet means to speak by delegated authority (Paterson 3). Prophets speak because they are commanded to by a higher power (Paterson 4). Their beliefs were the beliefs of the living god and to make god visible to their people (Paterson 8). They also believed that "life was unity and every thought and activity had to be brought into subjection to god (Paterson 9)." The prophets also stood for religious integrity (Paterson 10).
With this understanding of what a prophet is we can now take a look at his life.
Jeremiah was born in Anathon a small village six miles from Jerusalem. He was born to a priestly family whose origins have been traced back to Moses. Jeremiah was heir to many spiritual heritages and riches. "He was steeped in the finest Hebrew piety and nourished on its sacred traditions (Paterson 141)."
Jeremiah began his prophecy during the reign of Josiah. During this time there was much prosperity and political independence. He was very concerned with the social inj...
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...leadership them telling them to not expect a swift return to Jerusalem, but to build homes and starts businesses. During the worst days of the siege in 588B.C.E. Jeremiah purchased some ancestral land. With this act he was affirming his deepest faith in Yahweh that he would not abandon his people and remove them from the Promised Land forever. Jerusalem finally fell in 587B.C.E. actualizing Jeremiah's fears and predictions. Jeremiah was captured during the fall but was later released to travel where he pleased. After the assassination of Gedaliah in 582B.C.E., Jeremiah was forced to travel with refugees to Egypt where he continued to prophesize until his death.
Jeremiah is one of many prophets spoken about in the Old Testament. Many of his prophecies and sermons were controversial but they had a meaning and these meanings can still be put to use today.
The role of the prophet changes with the society in which he lives. In modern society, a prophet is a visionary, telling people what they can become; in Biblical times, a prophet was the voice of God, telling his people what they had to become to fulfill their covenant with God. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the prophet is a peaceful lad, Simon. He alone saw that the jungle, which represented freedom and the lack of civilization, was not to be feared but to be understood; he alone knew that the mythical Beast of the island, feared by all the boys, was, in fact, their own inherent savagery. Through these truths Simon represents a Christ figure paralleling Christ's misunderstood message and Christ's death.
Before I start to explain anything that Jeremiah had to say and his messages, I must first explain a little bit about the kind of man that Jeremiah was. As with most of the prophets, personality plays a major role in what they wrote. It is almost impossible to find a passage in the bible that has not influenced in some way by peoples beliefs and feelings. The writings that Jeremiah had done are the same way. His personality influenced them immensely (Smith, 3). ."..The fact is that no prophet started so deeply from himself as Jeremiah did." (Smith, 5). There can be no way of knowing exactly how he lived or how long that he lived. The only information that can be gathered on him is from what people have written about him in the bible. Some more information of Jeremiah was that he was hated by almost everyone for him message that he was sending. People did not want to hear that they were doing wrong and that Yahweh was angry with them. Because of this, Jeremiah himself didn't want to be a prophet. He despised spreading such an unpopular message, but he saw it as something he had to do. He took it as more of an obligation rather than a delight.
Among Jewish peasantry at the time of Jesus were two distinct types of prophets: the action prophets, who "led sizable movements of peasants from the villages of Judea in anticipation of God's new, eschatological act of liberation," and the oracular prophets, who delivered oracles of either judgment or deliverance (185). The former, as illustrated by the case of Theudas, appea...
In chapter two Johnson deals with the fulfillment of the Torah and how Luke uses prophecy as a literature shape. Chapter three however is what really sets the reader up for the “meat” of the book. In chapter three he talks about the characteristics of a prophet. The first key characteristic for a prophet he says is being led by the spirit of God. In order to support this claim he gives many examples of prophets such as Moses, Ezekiel, and Elijah who all had the Holy Spirit to empower them as they did Gods work. The second element to a prophet is speaking Gods word to humans. Not only do prophets do the work of God but they will also speak for him. I find Johnsons main example Moses to be the most helpful when looking at this step of the prophet. This is because countless times God spoke to Moses and then Moses would tell the Israelites. This key characteristic goes well with the third characteristic that the prophet embodies God’s word. Countless times we see Moses doing this throughout the Old Testament. An example of this is in Exodus 20:1 when God tells Moses the ten commandments that he passes on to his people by carving them into stone. The fourth characteristic of the prophet is working to make humanity into God’s vision for it. Moses again shows this characteristic by appointing elders to help watch over the Israelites in Exodus 18. The final distinguishing trait for
Abraham Heschel, a Jewish theologian who lived from 1907-1972, wrote in the introduction to his book The Prophets that, “The prophet was an individual who said No to his society, condemning its habits and assumptions, its complacency, waywardness, and syncretism.” (Heschel, The Prophets, p. xxix) To Heschel, the prophets’ message of justice was a reaction to God’s divine concern for the human race. Their harsh message challenged everyone from priests to kings.
Correspondingly, other canonical prophetic books interpret Yahweh’s will during periods of social or political crisis.4 Many minor prophets wrote during one of the three critical periods: the Assyrian Crisis, the Babylonian threat, or the postexilic readjustment.5 During the Babylonian threat of the late-seventh century, Habakkuk served as a link between God and humanity. The Assyrian kingdom, led by Shalmanasar V, forced the people of Judah into harsh conditions through a heartless deportation. In time, political drama spread throughout the region. After 612 B.C.E. when Assyria fell to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Habakkuk wrote his prophetic book, focusing on the agony of humankind’s struggle to progress in such a wicked world. His message of faith and morality transcended the evil within society, ultimately revealing to the Israelites that justice would prevail.
Ezekiel meaning the strength of God, is one of the four greater prophets in the Old Testament. Ezekiel was the son of a priest named Buzi. Not much is known about Ezekiel’s childhood; much more is know after the age of twenty-five. Ezekiel was taken captive in the captivity of Jehoiachin, about eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem. He was one of the many members of a community of Jewish people who settled on the banks of the Chebar, a river of Babylon. Ezekiel began prophesying in 595 B.C, and finished prophesying in 573 B.C. Ezekiel prophesied for a period that lasted about twenty-two years. Ezekiel was a married man but little else is known about his family life, he also had a house in his place of exile. His wife died a sudden death during the siege of Jerusalem. He lived among the top of his companions in exile, and their elders consulted with him on all matters.
Ezekiel grew up around the temple in Jerusalem and was a young priest. When Ezekiel was in Babylon he gave hope to the exiles. When the first exiles came o Babylon he started preaching to them about God. He helped the exiles only worship he only living God with all of their hearts. He received God’s messages through visions. When he got these messages from God he realized that God would still care for his people. Through God’s spirit the people of Babylon got new life and was returned to their land. Through exile God brought the people closer to him. Each person had to share in the groups responsibility.
According to Max Dublins THE POWER OF PROPHECY, He seems to want to give a feeling that prophecy is all in the listeners mind and that Prophets are mostly very manipulative people and can influence people greatly. I tend to agree with this to some degree.
Ezekiel role was of a watchman, who must alert the people of Israel to the will of the Lord (Tullock, J. 2012). The watchman has an unbelievably important task of protecting his people (Tullock, J. 2012).This can be contrasted with the role assigned to Jeremiah, which seems to be that of the suffering servant (Tullock, J. 2012). Ezekiel preached a message of doom and judgment but his condemnations tend to emphasize the people’s idolatry and their moral impurity (Tullock, J. 2012). Ezekiel also made it clear that those who ignore the warnings are doomed. Those who heed will be spared, and in this, he sounds the theme of individual responsibility (Tullock, J., and McEntire, M. (2012).
The prophet Jeremiah lived in the century of 500 B.C.E. And was selected by God to be the messenger for his chosen people, the Israelites. The prophets of Israel had a difficult role in their society: to keep the people faithful to their covenant with God. Ultimately the goal of the prophet Jeremiah was to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of God.
When studying the life of Ezekiel, we find that he was a priest prior to his becoming a prophet and that he was held captive in Babylon from 597 B.C. (Youngblood, Bruce, & Harrison, 1995). In addition, Ezekiel often experienced vivid visions sent to him from God, as well as delivering his messages by acting them out rather than verbally speaking (Tullock & McEntire, 2012). Preparing the people for the fall of Jerusalem, and warning against the messages being delivered by the false prophets, comprised the largest part of Ezekiel’s ministry (Tullock & McEntire, 2012). However, later in his ministry, after Jerusalem was destroyed, Ezekiel’s message became one of hope for the return to Jerusalem and the restoration of the Temple (Tullock & McEntire,
Their best characteristic is their desire to remember. No other people has such an obsession with memory.” Jeremiah and Ezekiel impacted the Jewish people with their prophecies in both the time of the Babylonian exile and in the 20th century in order to help the keep their Jewish identity and reminding the Jews to never forget about their homeland. Firstly, Jeremiah helped the Jews deal with the fact that they were exiled from Jerusalem by telling them to build lives and always remember there homeland because they will be able to return in 70 years. Jeremiah’s prophecy impacted the Jews greatly, because if he had not told the Jews what to do during this difficult time and to remain faithful to God, the Jews would still be sitting be the river of Babylon crying and smashing babies heads.This shows how Jeremiah continuously helped the exiled Jews by reminding them that God promised to return them to their own land, the land of Israel. Jeremiah was not the only prophet that helped the Jews keep their Jewish identity during the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel also had prophecies that helped the Jewish people. Ezekiel had the vision of dry bones which showed the Jews being able to return to Israel and coming back to life because of their faith in God. This vision helped the Jews back then, because not only did it restore the Jews hope for a land of their own, it restored their belief in God causing the Jews to be allowed to return back to their homeland. Even though Jeremiah and Ezekiel are no longer around their prophecies were stilled referred to even in the 20th century to help restore the Jews confidence in God during hard times and even helped to make sure the Jews still believed in them getting a Jewish State to call home. Many times throughout history you can see that God had promised the Jews a home where they could be themselves without being exiled, forced to convert religions, or even feel
The Torah tells the Jewish people the law, which contains 613 commandments (not all still apply today), the freeing of the people from Egypt as well as creation. According to an article on Kings Watch, a prophet is someone who is a spokesperson of G-d, someone who brings G-d’s word, way etc. to the world (role of a prophet 1). A prophet may have several roles such as prayer, worship, receiving the word or the L-rd(Lord) suffering, and about 21 other roles. Not all prophets will have all of the same roles they may differ from person to person, but all would most likely share one or two roles such as worship, and prayer. Prophets may minister and there are different levels on which they minster such as to a group of people, to a church or to a nation. According to Jewish history.org there are many kings of Israel starting with King David and ending with kind Zedekiah (Jewish history 1). Some of the kings did more important and more significant things than other such as King
The author first summarizes the historical life of Muhammad. This begins with his birth and life before he was given his mission. Next comes his struggle to spread his religion. Since the days of Abraham, people had fallen back to worshipping many Gods. Muhammad’s task was to restore monotheism that Abraham had established. To do this, he had to move to Medina for protection. This whole period is referred to as the Hijra. Thousands of followers made this journey with Muhammad, and it is here that Muhammad would struggle to convert his world back to a monotheistic one. The author does a good job explaining the world in which Muhammad was born into. The book does not go into any depth about his life before his prophecy, but this is probably because there isn’t much information on the subject.