JEREMIAH

Excerpts from
Barry L. Bandstra,
Reading the Old
Testament, 1999

Michelangelo's
"Jeremiah" from the
Sistine Chapel
Bandstra, Chapter 11, 318ff.

Jeremiah was a prophet during Judah's

darkest days. He sought to make
sense of the divine will as the
Babylonian threat loomed large. He
felt compelled to announce Judah's
impending defeat, and this took a
heavy toll on his spirit.
• Jeremiah, more so than any other Hebrew
prophet, emerges from the text with a
personality. While the other prophets are
known almost solely through their
messages, Jeremiah's character and
personality come out in his book through
autobiography. Sometimes called "the
weeping prophet," he passionately
expressed his own feelings and laid bare
his inner spiritual life. This feature makes
the book of Jeremiah unique among the
prophets
Life and Times of Jeremiah

• 640 Josiah began to reign as king of

Judah
• 627 Jeremiah began his ministry
• 622 Josiah initiated religious and
political reform (Deuteronomic
Reform)
Life and Times of Jeremiah

• 609 Josiah died at Megiddo

• Jehoahaz (Shallum) made king;
lasted three months
• Jehoiakim installed king of Judah by
the Egyptians
• Jeremiah delivered his Temple
Sermon
Life and Times of Jeremiah

• 605 Battle of Carchemish: Babylonia

asserted its power over Egypt
• Jeremiah's scroll read before
Jehoiakim, burned by Jehoiakim
• 598 Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to
Jerusalem; first deportation of
refugees to Babylonia
Battle at Carchemish
Life and Times of Jeremiah
• 598 Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to
Jerusalem;
• first deportation of refugees to
Babylonia
• Jehoiakim died
• Jehoiachin became king, was taken
to Babylon
• Zedekiah installed king of Judah by
Babylonians
Life and Times of Jeremiah

• 588 Jeremiah imprisoned by

Zedekiah
• 587 Destruction of Jerusalem
• Gedaliah appointed governor of
Judea
• 582 Gedaliah assassinated
• Jeremiah traveled to Egypt
• 562 Jeremiah died in Egypt
Early Years (627-622 B.C.)

• Jeremiah began his prophetic activity

during the reign of Josiah. Josiah was the
king of Judah from 640 B.C.E. until 609.
The early years of Josiah's reign were a
time of prosperity and political
independence. In the evaluation of the
Deuteronomic school, represented by the
books of Kings, Josiah was a fine and
faithful king.
Early Years (627-622 B.C.)

• The Jeremiah of the early years,

which fall into the period from his call
to 622, is represented by
chapters 1-6. They have a lot in
common with Amos and Micah. Like
Amos, Jeremiah was concerned about
social injustice and considered
worship to be secondary to a lifestyle
attentive to righteousness.
Early Years (627-622 B.C.)

• Like Hosea, he personified Israel as

an unfaithful wife (chapter 2), and
longed for the days of the exodus
and the wilderness experience, when
Israel was thrown totally on the
grace of God
The Call of Jeremiah (1:4-10)

• 4 The word of YHWH came to me: 5

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew
you, before you were born I set you apart--
made you a prophet to the nations." 6 I
replied: "But YHWH Elohim, I do not know
how to speak. I am only a youngster." 7
YHWH replied: Do not say "I am only a
youngster"--to all I send you, you must go,
and what I command you, you must speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them. I will be with
you delivering you"--says YHWH. 9 Then
YHWH extended his hand and touched my
mouth. YHWH said to me, "Now I have put
my words in your mouth. 10 Today I have
set you above nations and above
kingdoms: to uproot and to break down, to
• Note the similarity with the call of
Moses,
i.e., “difficulty to speak”
--objection as element of the call
narrative (see Norman Habel).
• Note also the emphasis of his
mission, repeated three times:
“uproot and breakdown”, “destroy
and overturn” “to build and to plant”
=Judgment and Renewal
Prophet?

• NOT COMPLACENT
= the desire to please others at the
expense of the truth.
=to preach what people want only to
hear.
• But like a “salt” = catalyst.
In ancient times, salt is used to burn.
“you are the salt of the earth!”
Prophet as catalyst
see Matthew 10:34
• "Do not think that I
have come to bring
peace to the earth;
I have not come to
bring peace, but a
sword.
Ministry of Jeremiah during the
Reign of Jehoaikim (609-598
BC)
• Jeremiah was active throughout the
reign of Jehoiakim. He denounced the
king and the people for their idolatry
and injustice. Many of the prophecies
of chapters 7-19, 25-26, and 35-36
are dated to this period. Perhaps
Jeremiah's most notorious
denunciation speech comes in
chapter 7.
The Temple Sermon (7:1-
15)
From Jeremiah’s sermon in the temple
courtyard 7:1-15
2 Hear the word of YHWH, all you
people of Judah who enter these
gates to worship YHWH. 3 Thus says
YHWH of Hosts, the Elohim of Israel:
Reform your ways and your activity,
and then I will let you live in this
place. 4 Do not trust in these
deceptive words--This is the temple
of YHWH, the temple of YHWH, the
temple of YHWH.
From Jeremiah’s sermon in the temple
courtyard 7:1-15

• 6 do not oppress the resident-alien,

the orphan or the widow, shed
innocent blood here, or go after other
gods (which can only hurt you)…

• WORSHIP and SOCIAL JUSTICE!

From Jeremiah’s sermon in the temple
courtyard 7:1-15
• 9 Would you steal, murder, commit
adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to
Baal, go after other gods you do not know
10 and then come and stand before me in
this temple, the one called by my name,
and say 'We are safe'--only to keep on
doing these travesties?! 11 Has this house,
the one called by my name, become a den
of thieves in your opinion? Right now it
appears that way to me," says YHWH. 12
"Then go now to my place that was once in
Shiloh. That's where I first housed my
name. See what I did to it as a result of the
wickedness of my people Israel.
Biblical Shiloh (North)
Shiloh
• Under Eli and Samuel, it was the
location of Yahweh’s tabernacle.
• It was destroyed—probably by the
Philistines
The myth of the Temple
• The Lord lived in the Temple, it will
never be destroyed.
• When in 701 Sennacherib
surrounded Jerusalem, the Lord
miraculously delivered the city.
Reaction of the Temple Elite
see Chapter 26
• 7 The priests and the prophets and all the
people heard Jeremiah speaking these
words in the house of the LORD. 8 And
when Jeremiah had finished speaking all
that the LORD had commanded him to
speak to all the people, then the priests
and the prophets and all the people laid
hold of him, saying, "You shall die! 9 Why
have you prophesied in the name of the
LORD, saying, 'This house shall be like
Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate,
without inhabitant'?" And all the people
gathered around Jeremiah in the house of
the LORD.
Note the reaction of the Temple Elite in
Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple 600 years
later.
17 He was teaching and saying, "Is it
not written, 'My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all the nations'?
But you have made it a den of
robbers." 18 And when the chief
priests and the scribes heard it, they
kept looking for a way to kill him; for
they were afraid of him, because the
whole crowd was spellbound by his
teaching.
Jeremiah’s temple sermon raises two
important theological questions:

• 1. The relationship of social justice

and the political destiny of a nation.
(Katarungan at Bayan)

• 2. The relationship between social

justice and worship. (Katarungan at
Simbahan)
Ministry of Jeremiah during the
Reign of Zedekiah (598-587
B.C.)
• Jehoiakim died just three months
before Jerusalem succumbed to the
Babylonian siege. In his stead,
Jehoiachin was placed on the
throne.
• After Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
subdued Jerusalem in 598 B.C.E. he
deported many of its citizens to
Babylonia, including Jehoiachin.
Ministry of Jeremiah during the
Reign of Zedekiah (598-587
B.C.)
• Zedekiah replaced Jehoiachin and
ruled with the support of
Nebuchadnezzar.
• Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem and
continued to prophesy after the
deportation of Jehoiachin and the
others. The words of chapters 24,
27-29, 32-34, and 37-39 come from
the time of Zedekiah's reign.
The New Covenant (chaps 30-
31)

• This chapters are often called “The

Little Book of Comfort”
• Here the message of Jeremiah is one
of “uprooting” but “building”
• In spite of the siege of Jerusalem in
588 B.C. by the Babylonians,
Jeremiah gave an example of hope.
• He bought a land in Anatoth from his
cousin.
• The message: God will not abandon
his people or forever remove them
from the Promised Land.
The Text (31:-31-34)

• 31 "See, in the coming days (YHWH's

word) I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the
house of Judah. 32 It will not be like
the covenant that I made with their
fathers when I took them by their
hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt--my covenant which they
broke, though I was their lord
(YHWH's word).
The Text (31:-31-34)

• 33 Rather, this is the covenant I will make

with the house of Israel after those days
(YHWH's word): I will put my Torah inside
them, I will write it on their hearts. I will be
their God, and they will be my people. 34
No longer will a man teach his companion
or a man his brother, 'Know YHWH!' All of
them will know me, from the least to the
greatest of them (YHWH's word). I will
forgive their faults, and their sins I will
never remember."
 Reflection on this text
by Norbert Lohfink, SJ
“Jeremiah and the Sacred Heart
of Jesus,”
in In the Shadow of Your Wings:
New Readings of Great Texts
From the Bible (Collegeville:
Liturgical Press, 2003) pp. 44-56.
The Promise of a New Covenant

• It is the only one in the Old

Testament that promises a “new
covenant”
• High point in the book of Jeremiah,
and in fact in the whole of OT
prophecy, as well as in the OT
covenant theology
God’s partner in both
“covenants” – old and new

•People Israel
• Note v. 31 “house of Israel and
the house of Judah”
• Although the text is addressing a
pre-Exilic issue, the text was
formulated at the time of the
Babylonian Exile.
• Hence, the double expression “Israel
and Judah” simply clarifies that this is
once again the one, entire people of
God with whom God will make the
new covenant.
Contrasts

• Old covenant –from the time of

Exodus from Egypt, that is, the Sinai
covenant.
• New covenant -from the return from
the Babylonian Exile and of the new
existence of the returnees in the old
land (note v. 31: “in those days”)
The old covenant has been broken

• That does not mean it no longer

exists.
E.g. When someone breaks the
marriage covenant (or priestly vow),
that in itself does not annul it.
It continues to exist.
• At the text, we hear that God
forgives the guilt and no longer
remembers the sin.
• Over against the breach of the
covenant stands pardon, over
against the broken covenant a
renewed one.
• God does not only renew the
covenant but says “new”, “greater,”
“different”, “better”—because no
longer breakable.
The new covenant

• It is by no means something
completely different from the first
covenant at Sinai
• God is Israel’s God and Israel is God’s
people—this is true for all times.
• God has already given the Torah at
Sinai.
The new covenant

• Instead, the text says that God will

give the Torah in a new way, placing
it in the midst of Israel, and that
means in their hearts.
• At Sinai the Decalogue was written
on stone tablets, now God writes the
Torah on the tablets of their hearts.
That is new.
The new covenant

• Since God’s Torah will now be written

in heart, the covenant can never
again be broken (indissoluble).
• The promise is that at the end of the
ages God will cause this to happen in
the house of Israel.
Christian interpretation
• Read 2 Cor 3:1 - 5:21
• Also Heb 8:6 – 9:15
• John 13-17
• Luke 22:20 “And
“ he did the same
with the cup after supper, saying,
"This cup that is poured out for you is
the new covenant in my blood.
Christian interpretation

• New covenant is Jesus!

• The Torah is written in the heart of
Jesus.
Ministry of Jeremiah After the
Fall of Jerusalem (587-582 BC)
• The fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E.
actualized Jeremiah's predictions of
doom.
• On the surface Jeremiah's foretelling
of Babylonian victory made it appear
he was sympathetic to the victors.
• Though captured with others at the
fall of Jerusalem, he was later
released and given permission to
travel wherever he wished.
• He was in the good graces of the
Babylonians
• The story of Jeremiah's last years is
told in chapters 39-44.
• Jeremiah remained in Judah for a
time. Gedaliah was appointed
governor of Judah by the
Babylonians.
• Gedaliah He was betrayed by rival
Judeans because he cooperated with
the Babylonians and was
assassinated in 582.
• Following the death of Gedaliah,
Jeremiah was forced to travel to
Egypt with a group of refugees.
• While there he continued to prophesy
until his death.
The Confessions of Jeremiah
• set of autobiographical passages
which provide insight into the
prophet's inner feelings about God
and his calling.
• they are really laments or
complaints that Jeremiah addressed
to God.
• Jeremiah's complaints are found in
11:18-12:6; 15:10-21; 17:14-18;
18:18-23; 20:7-13, 14-18.
• In them he expressed his feelings of
frustration in being a prophet.
• He claimed that his enemies within
Judean political and prophetic circles
seemed always to get the upper
hand.
• He accused God of abandoning him,
even though he had been promised
divine support.
• The complaint in 20:7-13 is especially
direct in its criticism of God:
7 "YHWH, you have seduced me, and I fell
for it, you have overpowered me, and you
have won. I have become a perpetual
laughable clown, everybody mocks me. 8
Whenever I speak up and cry out I feel
compelled to shout, 'Bloody murder!'"
(20:7-8)
• The language here is quite strong.
Jeremiah goes so far as to say that
God "seduced" him; in effect raped
him. Not only are his political
opponents his enemies, even God
seems so at times.
• One especially notable incident happened
right before the fall of Jerusalem, as told in
chapters 37-38.
• When he tried to leave Jerusalem during
the siege of 588 to travel to his home tribe
of Benjamin on legitimate business, he
was arrested and was accused of treason
and inciting desertion. Court officials tried
to execute him by dropping him into a
cistern. Normally it was full of water.
Fortunately for Jeremiah only muck was in
the hole. A friend at court pleaded his case
with Zedekiah, who allowed him to be
lifted out of the cistern.
Theological significance of
Jeremiah’s complaints
• Open and honest expression
Jeremiah's feelings of alienation, not
only from fellow citizens, but also
from God.
• The frankness of Jeremiah in not
hiding his feeling of betrayal from
God, but facing God directly, is to be
appreciated for its courage.
Theological significance of
Jeremiah’s complaints
• Note the many Psalms of Lament
• Jesus final words in Mark
"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?“
(Mk 15:34)