Jeremiah

Book Written:  ?

Time Period/Setting: Roughly the years of King Josiah's rule in Judah beginning in 640 BC and extending through the reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah whose reign, ending in 587 BC, marked the final destruction of the temple and the second deportation of the Hebrews to Babylon under Nebucheddnezzar.

Title:  Self explanatory, the book is named after the prophet Jeremiah whose name in Hebrew means 'Yahweh exalts.'

Baker describes this book as covering a dark and tumultuous period of Israel's history.  The kingdom is always fighting off adversaries-- three of them,  Egypt, Assyria and Babylon-- while simultaneously defying the Lord with the worship of pagan gods, false idols and shady prophets. There's plenty of history in the book and HC gives copious notes explaining Jeremiah's oracles, laments and prophesies against the appropriate historical backdrop.  I questioned earlier why the Babylonians deported the Hebrews rather than killing them off.  That question is answered here with many notes on who was deported, who was left behind (Jeremiah elected to remain in Judah) and why.

There's a powerful sense throughout the book that the Lord is thoroughly disgusted with the sinfulness and disobedience of his people, that their punishment --destruction of their homeland and deportation to live under a foreign king--will be harsh and sure.   Interestingly, it is the Lord himself who takes credit for the Babylonian takeover and later the Lord who commands Cyrus to finally send the Hebrews back to Jerusalem.  It's not just happenstance that events unfolded as they did. Despite what the faithless Israelites think (or the Assyrians or Babylonians-- or us for that matter), there is a reason for their suffering and exile.   God is master over everything. 

The "new covenant" in Ch 31 is noted by HC as being a conversion of heart rather than a new law.

Baker describes Jeremiah as the "most personal and most self-revealing" of the prophets.  Perhaps, if Baker says so, but I found Job and Moses equally if not more so. HC describes Jeremiah's sixth lament or complaint (Ch 20) as the 'most blasphemous in the Bible.'  Garrison paints a picture of Jeremiah as dynamic, "intoxicated" by God's glory and "attuned" to God's voice. He describes the book as fast-paced, especially Ch 36-39.  Garrison notes that prophets are not recluses who sit in caves and meditate, Jeremiah least of all.  He explains that prophets like Jeremiah arise in a time when organized religion is corrupted by lazy priests and prophets.  At such times "God raises up some amateur through whom the covenant is revived."

Maybe a second reading at a later time will give me a more, shall we say, mature insight into this prophet.