prophet Isaia

Introduction: Prophet Jeremiah is the most thoroughly documented of all the Prophet whom we see in this book.  Prophet Jeremiah lived through the entire drama of the last fateful decades of the history of Judah. He was the witness of all the tragic events that brought the devastation of the nation. He witnessed the greet fall of empire and the rising of one even greater. In the midst of his turmoil, the kingdom of Judah, in the hands of deplorable kings came to its downfall by resisting this overwhelming force of history. 

Historical background: Jeremiah was born about 645 B.C. of a priestly family, and was called in 627 B.C. His prophetic activity took place during the reign of king Josiah (640-609). In 626 B.C. Nabopolassar, father of Nabuchadnezzar, declared himself as the king of Babylon, thus beginning of new powerful emperor. It was a matter of time before Judah surrendered to Babylon. When Zedesekih also revolted, Nabuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem a second time in 587 B.C. and carried another large group of prom0nent Jews to Babylon.1

His Vacation: His prophetic vocation came to him in the 13^th year of himself as na’ar, a boy, at the time of his vocation (1:6), it suggested a date for his birth no earlier than 650BC, 645 according to some exegetes. At the time of his call Judah lived in peace as a vassal of Assyria; but the prophet’s career spanned in troubled years, which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. The word that comes to the Prophet refers to the happenings in which the Prophet receives the Word of God, his prophetic experience. Jeremiah was very reluctant to accept the cal because of his youth. But God used him to convey His massage to the people. He has to declare God’s purpose. God intends both to destroy and to plat, to reject the old, and make something new (1:6-10).2

The Four parts of his activity:  If we consider the existing text chronologically, we can restrict the activity of prophet Jeremiah into four periods. In each of them Jeremiah appears on the stage as firm opponent of the ruling circles in the temple and court. He intervened in day-today politics more than any other of the prophets known to us; and this meant that the climate surrounding him continually worsened. The followings are the four periods of the activity of prophet Jeremiah:

1. Under Josiah, 626-622; criticism of the cult before the Deutoronomic reform (anti-Baal polemic), chaps. 1-6; and the ‘Little Book of Consolation for Ephraim’ chap. 30f.
2. The first four years of Jehoiachim reign, 609-605: religious and political oppositions, chaps. 1-26+; 35f.; with oracle of the foreign nations, chap. 46ff.
3. From the forth year of Zedekiah’s reign down to the fall of Jerusalem, 593-547/6: pro-Babylon pronouncement and sayings promising salvation, chaps. 27-29; 3-34; 37-39.
4. After 686: the unsuccessful attempt to move the remnant of the population in Palestine and Egypt to repentance chaps. 40-44.3

The Characteristics of the book of Jeremiah:  More of the sayings of the prophet Jeremiah had been handed down to us than those of any other prophet. But the text is not the homogenous whole. Three literary strata can be distinguished in the book of prophet Jeremiah.

A.    Brief poetic sayings uttered in the first person, in the name of Jeremiah himself, and strung together in the series. These dominate chap. 1-25 (30f). There is generally no problem about tracing these back to the prophet himself, and probably to the original scroll which chap. 36 tells us that Jeremiah wrote. Whenever the basic material of the oracles about the nation (chap. 46-51) belongs here too is the mater of dispute.

B.     The third person reports about Jeremiah’s fate or the dabar he proclaimed: The final section is evidently a coherent account by an eye-witness and it is often attributed to the Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe and friends. We cannot be certain when the same author is behind the other stories chaps. 26-29, which refer to other periods of the prophet’s life and have a different orientation.

C.     Long first person speeches in prose, with third person headings. Now interspersed in A, they all mark the translations to new themes in the structure of the book (1.4-10; 7;11;18;21;25;32;34;[35]. These vocabularies differ from the Jeremianic vocabulary in A and B. In spite of this, the kernels of certain fragments (the Temple speech in chap. 7) undoubtedly go back to Jeremiah’s own poetic utterances, and we have to assume that the same is the true of the rest, pending proof of the contrary. The possibility of repentance and future salvation for Israel is now much more emphatically stressed than in Jeremiah’s own sayings. These speeches are the translations into simpler language used for paraenetic purposes.3

 The Temple Sermon:  Here is the discourse of prophet Jeremiah against the Temple of Jerusalem. He prophesied publicly that the Temple would be destroyed. It was an unheard-of public act, an act which set him in opposition to people, prophets, priests and kings. Jeremiah explodes the false security in the material Temple. The King Jehoiachim, the successor of king Josiah, did not follow the wise policies of his father. Idolatry continued at all sides. The prophet began to speak of the imminent judgment, declaring the security of the nation could not be based of theoretic institution alone, such as circumcision, cult and the Temple. By such preaching Jeremiah provoke the wrath of the people. He compares the fate of the people of Jerusalem with that of the sanctuary of Shiloh, destroyed by the Philistines around the year 1050B.C. (1Sam. 4) A shorter account of the Temple is found in Jeremiah 26.4

The sign of The Broken Flask: Here we have an example of a symbolic action-prophecy in action-often used by the prophets. Jeremiah breaks an earthenware flask as a sign that God will destroy Jerusalem and Judah. Inter-woven with the account is the denunciation of child sacrifice in the valley of Hinnom and other evil committed by the people and the leaders. The child sacrifice had been practiced in Israel and Judah in the 8^th and 7^th centuries B.C. Ahaz, king of Judah, sacrificed his son according to the practices of the nations and also burnt incense (2Kings 16:1-4). Manasseh, King of Judah, committed all kinds of abominations including the burning of his son as an offering (2Kings 21:1-16). Jeremiah denounced such horrible and degrading practices, the worse of which was the human sacrifice. 5

Outpouring of Jerusalem’s Heart: Here we have two selections from the so-called “Confessions” of the prophet Jeremiah. Such passages as these make it quite clear that the Word of God which he received in his encounter with God, brought a deep crisis and hear breaking tension in his life. The “Confessions” of Jeremiah are similar to the Psalm of Lamentation. They record the inner conflict of the prophet. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet at the most critical period in the history of the people of Israel. His massage was one of the judgment and disaster for the people. Such a massage brought misinterpretations, persecution, threats to his life, and moral isolation. All these caused him intense agony of mind and soul. The sufferings brought about a crisis of faith in his life. With this background knowledge we are able to read the “Confessions” with understanding and sympathy. They help us to get the insight into Jeremiah’s personality, and also into the character of the prophetic vocation.6

Judah Rejects God’s Word: The theme of chapter 25 of the book of Jeremiah is that Judah will be destroyed by Babylon for refusing to listen to God’s servant, the prophets. this massage stands at the center of the book of Jeremiah and presents the kind of summery of all that prophet has been preaching  so far. The chapter is dated in the fourth year of king Jehoiachim’s reign (605B.C). The same year Jeremiah dictated the scroll containing his preaching to Baruch his secretary (Jer.36). The scroll was destroyed by the King but was subsequently re-written, and which later became the nucleus of Jeremiah’s earlier prophecies. In the year 605-604B.C. Babylon defeated Egypt at the decisive battle of Carchemish, and gained supremacy over the region. 7

End of Rachel’s Wailing:  The chapters 30-33 of the book of prophet Jeremiah are often called the “Book of Consolation” insofar as they speak of the restoration of Israel. Chapter 31 contains some of the most beautiful pages in the book of Jeremiah. The passage under consideration is a poem of great beauty and charm. Chapters 30 and 31 are addressed to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. in Jeremiah 31:15-20 God consoles the Northern Kingdom which mourn for her children who are gone into a exile and are no more. The Northern Kingdom was overrun by Assyria in 722B.C. Rachel represents the people of Israel who remain in Palestine and who now mourn their loss. 8

The Mission of Jeremiah: Yahweh called Jeremiah to be the prophet to Judah and to the nations in the midst of these political convulsions. His ministry lasted about 40 years, and his book testifies that his interventions were numerous. During this time other prophets like, Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Nahum and Ezekiel assisted by pious men delivered the Word of God but no one of all these inspired men no one reached the stature of Jeremiah in his great sensitivity to Yahweh’s love for the his people and profound understanding of his very people’s duty towards Yahweh through the covenant ties. Thus Jeremiah’s prophetic word is noted for his directness and acuity in stating the true nature of Yahwism and denouncing the different religious deviation.

The first part of his ministry covers the years from his call (627-626) to the Josiah reform (621); most of his oracles now from chapters 1-6. The religious atmosphere of Judah was very low; Josiah was the young king who could not yet eradicate Manasseh’s apostasy. Jeremiah under the influence of his predecessor, Hosea, recalls the covenant as basically a matter of love between Yahweh and Israel. If the chose people do not convert itself from idolatry, invasion from the north will be Yahweh’s revenge against such n adulterous attitude. 10

The New Covenant: This is one of the most profound passages in the whole of the Bible. It is the high point of Jeremiah’s teaching and the climax of the book of Jeremiah. The old covenant had proved failure, and God would offer a new covenant in the future. This significant vision of the future Covenant was the fruit of Jeremiah’s prophetic experience. The prophet Hosea had come close to anticipating such a vision (Hosea 218-20). The substance of this prophecy is taken up by Ezekiel (Ezek. 36:22-32). After the destruction of the Temple and the Holy City, God will begin the restoration and renewal. The long preparation will begin with exile in Babylon.

How the his work inspire in present: Jeremiah’s Confessions help us to recall the agony of Jesus in the ministry and cry for the wicked people. As the prophet Jesus also had a very hard time to preach and to live. The people always denied Jesus because he was following the God’s way. Prophet’s courageous and bold speeches help and encourage the present priests to be bold enough to do the work of the risen Lord and thus continue the holy work of God.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. VAWTER, Bruce C.M.: The Conscience of Israel New York, Sheed & Ward, 1961.
2. KOCH, Klaus, vol.II, The Prophets. London, SCM Press LTD, 1983.
3. PINTO, Evarist Fr.: Prophets Yesterday and Today. Pakistan, Maktaba-e-Anaveem Pakistan, 1998.

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1 Pinto Evaris Fr: “The prophets yesterday and today”, Pakistan, Maktaba-e-Anaveem Pakistan, 1998. p.65

2 Ibid. 65.

3 Klaus Koch: The prophets. v.II, London, SCM LTD, 1983, p. 15

3 Klaus Koch: The prophets. v.II, London, SCM LTD, 1983. p. 13

4 Pinto Evaris Fr: “The prophets yesterday and today”, Pakistan, Maktaba-e-Anaveem Pakistan, 1998. p. 71

5Ibid. p.74.

6 Ibid. p.77.

7 Ibid. 81

8 Ibid. 85

10 Couturier,Guy, CSC. Jeremiah. India, Theological publications, 1997. p.265