Jeremiah (Part 1)

Richard Belcher focuses on an overview of the book of Jeremiah, presenting insights from his extensive studies in Old Testament theology. The lecture covers the major themes and historical contexts of Jeremiah, providing a deep understanding of its messages and relevance for today’s audience.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesu at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in Religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.

Alright, lecture 14 Jeremiah. This will take us most of today, and then after next week’s lectures will be the end of our second exam material. All right, let’s get a start on Jeremiah.

And if you look at chapter one, the first several verses, it sort of sets the scene for the prophet Jeremiah. BJ, why don’t you read for us chapter one, the first three verses. So to get this in front of us, excuse me, the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign.

It also came in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month. Alright, those three verses sort of set the parameters of Jeremiah’s ministry, which covers a fairly long period of time. But verse two says the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the 13th year of Josiah’s reign. That would be 627, the 13th year of Josiah’s reign. That’s an important date.

If you remember, Asher Bonapol of Assyria, king of Assyria, died in 627. So Assyria is on the decrease. And Josiah began his reforms the year prior, 628. So in 628, Josiah began some of his reforms. And then in 627, the call of God comes to Jeremiah. Of course, another important date here would be 622, 621 with the discovery of the book of the law, which is in this time period as well.

Now, Jeremiah 1:6 tells us, was a youth when he was called.

We’ll come back and talk about that in a little bit later in this lecture. He is also, it tells us, in the first three verses from priestly descent, he is a descendant of the line of priests, which means that he would have understood the importance of the work of reformation, the work of revival that was going on during Josiah’s ministry, because a lot of that had to do with worship and the temple. And he will lay blame on the priests, not just the priests.

But the priests do receive blame for the religious apostasy of the nation. Part of the role of the priests is not only to maintain the pure worship of God but to teach people the law of God, and they will receive blame for some of the issues and problems that are going on in the nation. We know more about Jeremiah than we know about other prophets, and so his life is unique in this respect. Jeremiah bears his soul in several places of the book. Those are usually called his confessions. They’re much like the lament psalms.

And so we know a lot about his personal feelings and his emotional conflicts. Some of that has to do with God and his calling. Jeremiah had a tough calling, as we will see, and he struggled with that at times, and there is times, and he did not want to proclaim the word of God to this situation, but it was like firing his bones. He was compelled to preach God’s word even in this difficult situation, as we’ll see. So that’s a little bit about the prophet.

Let’s talk about the composition of the book, because Jeremiah is a very difficult book in terms of its composition. There are many dated prophecies in the book, but there is no real consistent principle of arrangement. At least it’s difficult to get your hands around the arrangement of the book of Jeremiah. You have dated prophecies, but they’re scattered throughout the book, and so it’s certainly not presented in any chronological way, which makes it difficult. You always have to sort of reorient yourself. You know, where are we in the terms of the history of Israel?

Or sometimes the literary connections may be appropriate. So it’s hard to read through the book of Jeremiah because of that. It certainly seems to be a book that is a collection of Jeremiah’s material edited by him or his scribe Baruch. And there is different kinds of material in the book. There are prophetic oracles or speeches which occur especially in chapters one through ten. That’s not the only place they occur, but they occur in great number there. In chapters one through ten. These are, on the more poetic side, proclamations, oracles that Jeremiah proclaimed.

You’ll also find in the book narratives, stories involving Jeremiah. I’ve got some chapters listed there where some of those narratives occur. Some of these focus on the plight of Jeremiah. There’s also reports, not narrative, but action reports, where Jeremiah will do something symbolic. He’ll do some action. We’ll take a look at a couple of these. He’ll do some action that will have symbolic significance. We’ll see this in Ezekiel as well. Sometimes they’re called sign acts, an act by a prophet that has symbolic significance. And some people call them reports, symbolic action report.

And in chapter one, there’s also a vision report. There’s a report of a vision in relationship to his calling. So those are some of the material within the book of Jeremiah. You could add to that. It’s not in your notes, the confessions of Jeremiah, the expressions of pain that he is experiencing. And they are, as I said, similar to the lament psalms. Very similar to the lament psalms, and a lot of them occur in chapters eleven through 20.

Now, there also seems to have been two editions of the book of Jeremiah, which is kind of unusual. These two editions are evidenced in the differences between the, what we call the Masoretic text, which is the Hebrew edition, and the English. I’m sorry. And the Septuagint edition. Our English Bibles follow the Masoretic text. Our English Bibles follow the Hebrew edition, but there is a shorter edition in the Septuagint. So sometimes when you’re comparing the Hebrew with the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, there are differences.

And there’s a lot of differences when you don’t assume that if you’re reading the Hebrew text and you got your English there and you turn to the Greek text, that it’s going to be the same, because there are significant differences between the Hebrew text and the Greek text. The Septuagint is shorter than the Hebrew text, and it’s arranged a little bit differently. Especially the oracles related to the nations are in a different place in the Masoretic text. They’re chapters 46 through 51. In the Septuagint, they come after chapter 25.

So they’re in a different place, and they’re also in a different order in the Septuagint. So there’s this textual problem that we have of the Hebrew being of a longer addition and then the Septuagint being shorter and differently arranged. And so the question arises, how did this come about? Well, we don’t know for sure, but we do know that Jeremiah produced scrolls of his prophecies. Jehoiakim, chapter 36, destroys one of these scrolls. We’ll look at that a little bit later. That scroll was rewritten by Jeremiah.

And so you have clearly, in the text of Jeremiah, Jeremiah producing his prophecies. And I think in chapter 36, it says, from the days of Josiah up to today. So Jeremiah recorded things that he had prophesied on scrolls. So you have evidence of that written material. Where did Jeremiah end up his life in Palestine? Egypt? Yeah, he didn’t go to Babylon. That would be a. Not a. That would be a logical assumption, as we’ll see. But he ends up in Egypt. Why he gets to Egypt, we’ll talk about a little bit later.

Where did the Septuagint originate? Egypt. I think it’s likely that Jeremiah left behind his prophetic material in Jerusalem, perhaps with Baruch or other scribes, and that is the basis for our Hebrew text. And then when he was taken down to Egypt, he may have put together, produced a shorter, different version of his prophetic material, and that may have been the basis then for the Septuagint.

Now, interesting. Qumran has both the shorter Septuagint version and the longer Hebrew version. In Hebrew. In other words, Qumran has one manuscript that reflects the shorter Septuagint version. It’s in Hebrew.

So perhaps that was the basis for the translation of the Septuagint text. So that is a problem. But the explanation of two different versions, one in Jerusalem, one in Egypt, does make sense.

All right, we come to Jeremiah’s call to the ministry in 627. His call is significant in light of the difficult nature of his ministry. We saw a little bit of that in Isaiah. Isaiah 6. If that is Isaiah’s call, we’re going to see that Jeremiah’s call is more extensively given. And Ezekiel’s call will also be foundational for his ministry and his book.

So in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, especially, their calls to the ministry are foundational for the work that God has called them to do and for the rest of the book. So we’ll take some time to talk about the call of Jeremiah to the ministry in chapter one, just to point out several things about that call. Verse five emphasizes the divine sovereignty of the call.

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV)

So even before you were conceived, Jeremiah, I knew you. I chose you to be a prophet for me in this particular situation.

So there’s the divine sovereignty of the call, God calling Jeremiah from the foundation of the world. Then there is divine enablement, because in verse six, Jeremiah responds, “I don’t know how to speak. I’m only a youth.” youth, Hebrew nar, which can be anywhere from the age of weaning, which might be a little older in those days, to young manhood. So na’ar covers that period.

Weaning to young manhood, a young man of marriageable age, if you will, whatever that would be in that culture. So Jeremiah’s excuse is, I’m inexperienced, I don’t know how to speak, and I’m young. God responds to that. Don’t say I’m only a youth. Verse seven: For to all to whom I send you, you shall go. Whatever I command you, you shall speak.

⁷ But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. (Jeremiah 1:7, ESV)

Verse eight: I love this verse. I don’t quite like the way I mean. It’s not a bad translation. ESV says, do not be afraid of them.

Literally, it means, do not be afraid of their faces. And I like that translation. Jeremiah, as you proclaim the word of God, don’t be afraid of the frowns and the scowls. Don’t be afraid of their reaction. Don’t be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you.

⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord .” (Jeremiah 1:8, ESV)

So God promises his presence. And because of his presence with Jeremiah, Jeremiah should not be afraid of the response of the people. Now we’ll come back to this again. Divine enablement shows you how much Jeremiah needed to hear it.

But verses six and seven is the first mention of the divine enablement. Now then, you have the divine message. So you got the divine sovereignty, the divine enablement, and now the divine message. In verses nine and ten, this is what Jeremiah was basically given to preach to God’s people. Verse ten,

¹⁰ See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10, ESV)

That’s the judgment side of his message. And then to build and to plant. That’s the positive restoration side of his message.

Now, which of those sides is emphasized, the judgment side? There are four words related to judgment: pluck up, break down, destroy, and to overthrow. There are only two related to restoration: to build and to plant. Most of the book of Jeremiah is going to focus on the judgment of God in that particular historical context. These words in verse ten are really key for the rest of the book. You will find these words reappearing throughout the book of Jeremiah at key places, key places of judgment, places of restoration.

But that’s the basic message, a message of judgment, a message of restoration. A message given to the nations and the kingdoms, including Judah, God’s people. But also there are messages to other nations as well. As we will see, Jeremiah does speak to Judah in the context of the nations, Babylon, especially as we will get to. So that’s the divine message. God’s word’s given to him to speak. It’s stated here. Generally, he’ll present that message in a variety of ways. Message of judgment, message of salvation. Then you have divine confirmation in two visions.

This is verses 11-14. And you have the vision of the almond tree in verses 11 and 12, where God says to Jeremiah,

¹¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:12, ESV)

There is a word play going on here. God uses a familiar object, an almond branch. Jeremiah’s hometown was a center for growing almond trees, so they would have been all over the place. It was the first tree to blossom.

And so, when the almond tree blossomed, it was an indication that spring was around the corner. The wordplay here is between “almond tree” (I think these words are in your notes) and the word “watching.” Shockade. Showcade. Almond branch, almond tree watching. So that’s the wordplay. Shockade. Showcade. The meaning seems to be that God is watching over His word to fulfill it and to bring it to pass. So just as the early stirring of the almond tree heralded springtime, one followed the other.

The proclamation of the word of God will be followed by the fulfillment of that word. God is watching over his word, and he will bring it to pass. That is an issue in the book of Jeremiah, especially when we see Jeremiah placed over against the false prophets, and we’ll come to look at that. Is God going to deliver Judah? Is exile going to be short? That’s what the false prophets were saying. In fact, first of all, the false prophets were saying, judgment’s not even going to come.

And so you’ve got this issue of the fulfillment of the word of God. And this initial vision emphasizes the fact that God is watching over his word. The word, the prophetic word of judgment that Jeremiah proclaims will come to pass, and it even comes to pass in the days of Jeremiah. And so we’ll talk about issues related to that in the Book. Then there is a vision, that’s the first divine vision. Then in verses 13 and 14, there’s a vision of the boiling pot. Jeremiah sees a boiling pot that tilts away from the north.

So if that pot tilts away from the north, its contents are going to be spread where? To the south? Right. And that’s an indication that the contents of this boiling pot are going to cover the southern kingdom of Judah. And there’s going to be a constant theme, especially in the early part of Jeremiah, that an army is coming from the north. And so this initial vision relates to that emphasis that we’ll see in the Book of Jeremiah. God’s bringing his judgment, and part of that judgment is an army is coming from the north.

And so this vision of the boiling pot sort of reinforces that and sets up that message. Then you come to divine enablement. Again, God comes back to this issue after laying out the message and these two visions. And the emphasis in verses 17 through 19 is that the people will fight against Jeremiah. Verse 19: They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you.

¹⁹ They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:19, ESV)

Verse 18: The end of the verse. The whole land, the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests, the people of the land, the whole land will be against you, Jeremiah.

The people will be against you. His own family is going to be against him. The kings are going to be against you. The priests are going to be against you. And so God tells Jeremiah, you are to be, verse 18, a fortified city, an iron pillar, bronze walls.

¹⁸ And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. (Jeremiah 1:18, ESV)

You got to have some thick skin. You got to be able to take the arrows. If you are going to be a prophet, particularly in this particular situation, stand firm, Jeremiah. Don’t be terrified of them, which comes out in verse 17.

¹⁷ … Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. (Jeremiah 1:17, ESV)

If you are afraid of them, if you are dismayed by them, I will dismay you before them. And this is always the challenge. Sometimes when you’re in ministry, who do you fear the most? God or other people? And it manifests itself in a variety of ways in ministry. And obviously you have to be tactful, and the term we use around here is winsome.

But there comes a time when you’re going to face opposition, you’re going to face conflict because of your stand for the word of God. And who are you going to fear the most when you stand on the day of judgment? you’re going to have to answer to Christ for your ministry. And whether or not you stood strong on the word of God, or whether or not you were swayed because you were afraid of other people. So this is always a challenge in ministry. Some of you have heard the story.

When I went to the church in Rochester, I was young, right out of seminary, and there was a woman in that church. I describe her as a buzz saw of a woman. She was very blunt, and you could not be as blunt back to her. But there were some mornings early on when I was there, she left after about a year, which was a blessing. It was, that’s right, addition through subtraction. Small church.

She would sit on the front row, and sometimes I’d be preaching, and she’d look over her husband and she’d just start shaking her head. And so that’s why I like, don’t be afraid of their faces. Don’t be afraid of their reaction. And, you know, for a while there, every time I sat down to prepare a sermon, all I could see was this woman shaking her head. A little unnerving and a little tough, you know, right out of seminary. So it was hard, but God was gracious.

And so I like this passage, you know, stand firm. Don’t be afraid of their faces. Don’t be afraid of their reaction. Proclaim the word of God, and God’s people will be ministered to and blessed by it. But that’s a challenge of ministry when, especially in our day and age and culture, when what the word of God says goes against so much of what people in our churches think, because they’re influenced by our culture. So this is a tremendous challenge for those who are called to proclaim the word of God.

Now, the effect of Jeremiah’s call is both positive and negative. The positive aspect of his call is that it’s foundational to his ministry. So when opposition comes, Jeremiah is able to stand firm because he knows God has called him to this place.

And when I was in Rochester, because of sort of the events that had taken place, opening the door for that church, I was convinced that that’s where God wanted me. So when opposition came, part of your staying power is dependent upon Christ, but knowing that this is where God wanted you.

And so that’s the same for Jeremiah. He was convinced because of this opening chapter that this was God’s call. He needed to fall back at times in his ministry on this call, because he faced a lot of opposition. I think I have in your notes, he was placed in the stocks. He was placed in prison. The people of his own village plotted against him. He was ostracized by priests, prophets, and officials. As we’ve already seen, he suffered physically, he suffered emotionally, and so the call was foundational to his ministry because of his calling.

On the negative side, Jeremiah felt alone. He felt out of sync with the rest of society. Jeremiah 15:17 gives some indication of that:

¹⁷ I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation. (Jeremiah 15:17, ESV)

That’s true. Even today, for those who are called into the ministry, people look at you differently; people treat you differently. Now, before, there used to be a lot of respect for ministers.

There’s not as much of that today, but many times you will feel out of place because God has called you to ask the hard questions. God has called you to ask the spiritual questions. Now, you have to do it in the right way, and you have to make sure that you’re just doing it the right way. But, you know, let’s say you’re a pastor and somebody comes to you full of joy that my son got engaged.

Of course, you want to experience that joy with them, but then you’re the one that has to ask the questions if you don’t know, is she a believer? It’s those spiritual questions that many times people don’t ask that falls on you to ask because you are God’s representative. And because of that, sometimes you do feel a little bit out of sync with other people.

Now, so total was God’s call on Jeremiah that he did not marry. Now, don’t take that too far. This is where exemplary exegesis can get you into trouble.

But in this particular context, his not marrying is a symbolic action that is to teach God’s people something that comes out in chapter 16. His not marrying points to the fact that judgment is coming, and that parents will be bereft of their children, and that old people will have no one to bury them. So in chapter 16, the first four verses, this comes out very clearly. But you see, God’s call on Jeremiah is total. You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.

Now, again, that’s not a general statement. It’s not for everybody, but for Jeremiah in that situation, that was God’s call. Jeremiah at times did not want to speak the word of God because of the opposition that he faced. Jeremiah 20:8-9. But I think in Jeremiah 28:9 is where you also have that compelling hand of God.

If I say I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, I’m not going to proclaim his message, because it gets me into trouble. People don’t like it. Yet verse nine says, there is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire set up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

⁸ For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. ⁹ If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:8-9, ESV)

That’s where you get that compelling nature of the word of God needing to be proclaimed by the one called by God. And because of this struggle, Jeremiah produces his confessions, which we’ll come to talk about.

We’ll look at just a couple of them briefly, but that’s a characteristic of the book. These inner struggles that he shares, much like the psalmist in their laments, talking about their inner struggles. Yet it’s not all negative. It’s not all. There’s joy, chapter 15:16. And I think we need to emphasize that

¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart… (Jeremiah 15:16, ESV)

So there was joy in his ministry, even in the midst of this very difficult ministry that God had called him to, there was joy. And you pray when you’re in ministry that joy, being a fruit of the spirit, is not dependent upon your circumstances. So this is important to point out as well. All right, we. Comments or questions before we move on? Yes, sir. Are you going to talk about his youth as far as his age?

Because I know that in the reading of Duluth Longman, they talk about how he might have been called later than it’s expected by running the games of 18 or something like that. The word youth is a little bit more ambiguous than maybe we would think of it in our usage of the term. I don’t recall. What was the point of your introduction? I don’t. Yeah, I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other in that cultural context. He was on the younger side. Yeah, the same thing with Timothy.

And Paul tells him, don’t let anyone look down on your youth. So in light of the parameters of what is considered young, Timothy was on the younger side. But beyond that, I don’t have any particular age. I don’t know if we know for sure exactly how old he was, but certainly youth can be a hindrance, lack of maturity, lack of experience. But as we see in Timothy’s case, it doesn’t have to be a detriment to ministry. So same thing with Jeremiah here; he had the call of God.

God had called into this situation, even though he’s on the young side. God said, don’t let that bother you. My presence is with you, and that’s the key thing. All right, we’ll go on for a little bit longer until we have to take a break.

We come now to the message of the book. This is part of your notes that has been adjusted a little bit. We’ve talked about the difficulty of the structure of the book of Jeremiah.

One way to sort of get a handle on the structure is to look at the book as being divided into two major sections: chapters one through 25, and then 26 through. What is it? 45, and 46 to 51 is the oracles to the nations, and then 52 is a postscript. But you can look at the book as divided into these two major sections with key chapters in each section, especially chapter one and chapter seven in the first part of the book, and then chapter 26.

There’s other key chapters, but chapter 26 is key in the second part of the book. Chapter seven and chapter 26 are connected, as we will see. Both of them probably deal with what’s called the temple sermon, and they sort of bind the two parts of the book together. There also seems to be a movement in each section, chapters one through 25 and then chapters 26 through 45, a movement from the possibility of repentance at the beginning of each section toward unavoidable judgment.

And so, this movement, the possibility of repentance toward, by the time you get to the end of the section, it doesn’t matter, judgment is coming. So both of those sections may have that movement, possibility of repentance, but then moving again toward the inevitability of judgment. And we’ll see how that works itself out in a couple of places in the book.

All right, that brings us to chapters two through six. This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesU at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary.

To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses. For credits towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in Religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.