Hello world

This isn’t a full-on blog… but tonight I have to do a spiel about Jeremiah, and so I’ve written up a page of notes. And I thought, maybe someone outside of my Onething crew could do with some basic Jeremiah info. So here is my note page

(props to ‘The New Unger’s Bible Handbook’ by Merrill F. Unger for some of this info…)

Who wrote the book?

• Jeremiah (with the help of his scribe, Baruch)
• Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, who was a priest. Jeremiah’s family lived in the Levitical town of Anathoth.
• The name ‘Jeremiah’ means ‘the Lord exalts’
• Jeremiah is one of the major prophets
• He is known as the ‘weeping prophet’ because of his many laments over Judah and the pain of his own life as a prophet
• He is also accredited with writing Lamentations, as well as a lament at the death of King Josiah (2 Chron 35:25) 

Where did he live?

• Jeremiah’s family was from Anathoth (Jer 1:1), but he was living in Jerusalem from the reign of Josiah onwards
• He was in Jerusalem when it fell to the Babylonians. Interestingly, at this time he was treated kindly by the Babylonians and allowed to live where he chose. He moved to Mizpah with Gedaliah, the governor of Judah (Jer 40:1-6).
• After Gedaliah was assassinated, Jeremiah went to Egypt with the remnant of Jerusalem (Jer 43). No more is heard from Jeremiah after this, so he probably died in Egypt. 

When was it written?

• 627-585 B.C.
• The book is as recorded in the Bible is not in chronological order. This was probably intentional, so that the book would be arranged by subject matter, rather than date of composition
  • Outline:
    • Ch 1-45: prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem
    • Ch 46-51: prophecies against other nations
    • Ch 52: historical appendix 

Who was he speaking to?

• The people of Judah, who despite seeing the destruction of their sister Israel, were still engaging in all kinds of wickedness (Jer 3:6-11) 

Summary of message:

His message was mainly a message of stern warning against the inevitable doom of the Babylonian captivity, if the people of Judah did not repent of idolatry and sin. However, he also speaks of restoration after a period of great suffering. 

References to Jesus/Messiah:

References to the End Times:

• Jer 30
• Jer 50-51 (cf. Rev 17-18)