Trying to Turn the Tide…

The Book of Jeremiah is one of the longest books in the Bible, surpassed only by the Book of Psalms. Within this grand text contains the life of the prophet known as Jeremiah. While the book of Jeremiah isn't intended to tell the story of this prophet, it is from this book that we learn of his call, his long and difficult prophetic career as well as his intimate and yet demanding relationship with YHWH. This essay will look into the prophet Jeremiah and see who he really was, as well as briefly describing the characteristics of his prophecy and investigate his central message.

Conflicting scholarly views…

Due to the extensive work done by the scholars William Holladay and Robert Carroll, study on the 'person of Jeremiah' as become exceedingly difficult. Holladay takes a much more conservative stance, assuming that one in some way can come close to the historical Jeremiah and in his study provides a detailed chronology of the prophet's career, believing that one can trace most of oracles in Jeremiah to the man himself. Carroll on the other hand argues that there is little access to the 'real Jeremiah'. Carroll bases his argument on the idea that the thoughts, words, oracles and even actions of the Jeremiah found within the text, are a product of editing from a later time. From these schools of thought that most scholars draw their conclusions from, as both reflect features of the text.

Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, painting by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1630

The problem lies in the fact that Jeremiah is so prominent in the book, proclaiming many oracles that were highly appropriate to specific circumstances, that one can hardly believe his prophetic activity is not attended in the book. This is clear due to the numerous references of Jeremiah dictating his oracles to a scribe, a scribe who is identified and whose own story is told within the text. However, there is little doubt that a considerable amount of editing and reworking has been applied to the book of Jeremiah. Oracles have been added and interrupted, sometimes moved from one place to another, as well as being expanded by words and other phrase. The existence of two different forms of the books, one in Hebrew (Masoretic) and one in Greek (Septuagintal), confirm the complex growth of the book, which can hardly be confided to Jeremiah's prophetic career.

However, a third position argues that out the whole text which is the Book of Jeremiah, there comes a picture of a prophet who cannot be either labelled as either historical or unhistorical, fact or fiction. This view is taken up by Walter Brueggeman, arguing the text to be more a constructed persona of the prophet Jeremiah. Brueggemen explains:

I have characteristically spoken in my exposition of "the poet," "the prophet," or "Jeremiah" as the agent behind and within the text. Such a reference is not naively historical. To speak of "Jeremiah" is to refer to the constructed persona of the prophet that is no doubt rooted in the actual reality, and that equally without doubt is mediated and constructed for us in a particular way.

The characteristics of his prophecy and message…

Looking at the background of Jeremiah, painting of the characteristics of his prophecy and message is made a lot of easier. According to the text, Jeremiah belonged to a family of "priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin." (Jer 1:1) As far as we know, Jeremiah never acted as a priest however the text reports him to be the son of Hilkijah, the name of the high priest who served during the reign of Josiah. Many scholars debate whether this information is historically credible and if the author is intending to link Jeremiah to the high priest Hilkijah or if he is simply the son of a different Hilkijah. If the author did intent to link him to the high priest Hilkijah, this automatically links him with a famous religious family background, giving him a heritage that can be connected to a formative period in Israel's history, however we do not know for sure either way.

Jeremiah's village of Anathoth was not far from Jerusalem, lying just under five kilometres north-east of the city. According to the Book of Joshua and First Chronicles, the village had been given to the priestly descendants of Aaron, the family of Kohath and coming from a village and family with such a priestly background, there is no doubt that Jeremiah would have been well educated in their ways and tradition. However, while still in his youth, Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the people of Judah we are told in the thirteenth year of King Josiah. In the call narrative of Jeremiah, YHWH spoke to Jeremiah and called him to "gird up your loins" (Jer 1:17) and to speak to Judah. Fearful of the message he had been sent to preach, Jeremiah knew that his message would not be a popular or well liked one, but YHWH promised to aid him in preaching it anyway. It seems that even at an early age that the prophet Jeremiah would be cut off from the fabric of ordinary life. The text states that YHWH told him not to get married and have children, since the times were wicked and the people around him were doomed. For this reason he was not able to share in the mourning or rejecting or his fellowmen. The text purports the he was even denied "the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness" (Jer 25:10).

While Jeremiah would be famous, he would not be popular and while he would be loved by YHWH, he would be hated by the people.

When speaking of the message, oracles and personality of the prophet, it is clear that Jeremiah was a man plagued by self doubt who served an uncompromising God who demanded repentance. Repentance is the central theme in the message of Jeremiah, and linked closely to repentance is Jeremiah's concept of sin. For him, one's sin inevitably brought sorrow and suffering to one's self, whether that one is a single person or a whole nation:

"Your ways and your deeds have brought these things to you. This is your evil. How bitter! How it has touched your heart!" (Jer 4:18)

"Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it." (Jer 6:19)

"And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith YHWH; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her." (Jer 21:14)

However, this sorrow and suffering that one brought led towards one's atonement and renewal. This atonement and renewal claim when one "acknowledged their iniquity and their transgressions against YHWH" (Jer 14:20) and "returned to YHWH" (Jer 4:1). While sin was the result of a forgetfulness of YHWH, sorrow and suffering from this forgetfulness made one turn to YHWH, one's only saviour and remember him. "Turn" — to and from YHWH — is one of Jeremiah's most frequent phrases and it is in this "turn system" that the majority Jeremiah's oracles and message are based. Jeremiah preaches the idea that one gradually realizes that YHWH allows the sorrows and suffering of sin to become the means by which sin works it way out of the system, basically the idea that YHWH punishes people in order to save them. For a person of faith to be totally broken may mean to be on the point of purification:

The LORD said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them away from me. If they ask you where they should go, tell them, Thus says the LORD: Whoever is marked for death, to death; whoever is marked for the sword, to the sword; whoever is marked for famine, to famine; whoever is marked for captivity, to captivity. Four kinds of scourge I have decreed against them, says the LORD: the sword to slay them; dogs to drag them about; the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy them. And I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem/ (Jer 15:1-4)

Conclusion…

In conclusion, by observing the prophet Jeremiah, we can see that it is clear that he lived in a confused and insecure time and preached a message that while it caught the attention of the people, was never well liked by them. His message was one of turning, accepting one's sin by turning away from sin and turning back to YHWH. Truly, his story is an amazing one, as the story speaks of a man of God so real and honest by his moments of insecurity, alienation, doubt and anger. Yet in the end, it was Jeremiah's hope and vision for a happier world, a world beyond war and disaster, where humans would enter a new covenant with YHWH that kept him going. This was his drive, a drive that that may have fallen on deaf ears at the time, but is one that is still alive and well to this very day.

Footnotes:
Brueggemann, W. A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming. Cambridge: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998.
Comay, J & Brownrigg, R. Who's Who in the Bible. New York: Bonanza Books, 1971.
Holy Bible: The New American Bible
Keck, L, ed, et al. New Interpreters Bible: A Commentary in Twelve volumes v6 Introduction to Prophetic Literature; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Barauch; Letter of Jeremiah; Lamentations; Ezekiel. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Stuhlmueller, C. The Books of Jeremiah and Baruch. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1968.

©2007 Daniel Gullotta

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