Biography of the Prophet Jeremiah

Jeremiah (lit “Yahweh exalts”), was one of the prophets of the Old Testament. His writings are put together in the Book of Jeremiah and traditionally, authorship of the Book of Lamentations is ascribed to him. God appointed Jeremiah to confront Judah and Jerusalem for the worship of idols and other violations of the covenant described in Deuteronomy. According to Jeremiah, the LORD declared that the covenant was broken and that God would bring upon Judah the curses of the covenant. Jeremiah’s job was to explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity), “And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'"

God’s personal prediction to Jeremiah, “Attack you they will, overcome you they can’t,” was fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative as Jeremiah warned of destruction of those who continued to refuse repentance and its more moderate consequences. In return for his adherence to God’s disciplines and speaking God’s words, Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials, and opposed by a false prophet. Yet God was faithful to rescue Jeremiah from his enemies. For example, when his prophecies regarding the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Jeremiah be freed from prison and treated well.

Jeremiah’s ministry spanned the time period from the thirteenth year of Josiah king of Judah (623 BC) until sometime after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of Solomon’s Temple (587 BC). Consequently, Jeremiah’s prophetic work spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz,Jehoiakim, Jehoichin, and Zedekiah.

Background
Jeremiah was born into a priestly family, the son of Hilkiah, a priest at Anathoth, a village 2–3 miles north of Jerusalem. Jeremiah came from a landowning family, and refers to a joyful early life, ]although the words and difficulties recorded in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations result in him being known as “the weeping prophet.” Jeremiah was born in the second half of the 7th Century BC. At that time Josiah,was King of Judah, which was the southern kingdom.

Call, Training, and Early Ministry
The LORD called Jeremiah to prophetic ministry in about 623 BC, about one year after Josiah king of Judah had turned the nation toward repentance from the widespread idolatrous practices of his father and grandfather. Ultimately, Josiah’s reforms would not be enough to preserve Judah and Jerusalem from destruction, because the sins of Manasseh, Josiah’s grandfather, had gone too far. Such was the lust of the nation for false gods that after Josiah’s death, the nation would quickly return to the gods of the surrounding nations. Jeremiah was appointed to reveal the sins of the people and the coming consequences.

In his early ministry, Jeremiah was primarily a preaching prophet, going where the LORD sent him and preaching oracles in Jerusalem and Judah that supported the reform program of Josiah, predicting consequences for past sins, urging whole-hearted repentance from lusting after idols, and condemning the greed of priests and prophets in supporting false religion for monetary gain. Many years later, God instructed Jeremiah to write down these early oracles and other messages.

Conspiracy of men of Anathoth and brothers (11:18-12:6)
Jeremiah opposed the multitude of altars and false worship that appeared throughout the land. He opposed the widespread trend among priests and prophets to minimize the problem and declare peace when the false practices should be considered abominations. Jeremiah declared that these widespread altars were sufficiently serious abominations that they yielded a broken covenant, and that greed was the motive for the priests and prophets to proclaim peace and support worship of false gods in all the towns and on every street.
Unhappy with Jeremiah’s message, possibly for concern that it would shut down the Anathoth sanctuary, his priestly kin and the men of Anathoth conspired to take his life. However, the LORD revealed the conspiracy to Jeremiah, protected his life, and declared disaster for the men of Anathoth. When Jeremiah complains to the LORD about this persecution, the LORD explains that the attacks on him will become worse.

Conflicts with false prophets
At the same time while Jeremiah was prophesying coming destruction because of the sins of the nation, a number of other prophets were prophesying peace. The LORDhad Jeremiah speak against these false prophets
For example, during the reign of king Zedekiah, The LORD instructed Jeremiah to make a yoke out of straps and wooden crossbars as a visual confirmation of the message that the nation would be subject to the king of Babylon and that listening to the false prophets would bring a much worse disaster.

Into the stocks by priest Pashhur
After Jeremiah had prophesied disaster for Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, Pashhur the priest, chief officer in the temple, beat Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks overnight. After this, Jeremiah expresses lament over the difficulty that speaking God’s word has caused him and regrets becoming a laughingstock and the target of mockery. He recounts how if he tries to shut the word of the LORD inside and not mention God’s name, the word becomes like fire in his heart and he is unable to hold it in. The experiences are so troubling for Jeremiah, that he expresses regret at ever being born.

Threat of death and imprisonment by Zedekiah’s officials
The Biblical narrative portrays Jeremiah as being subject to additional persecutions. After Jeremiah prophesied that Jerusalem would be handed over to the Babylonian army, the king’s officials, including Pashhur the priest, tried to convince King Zedekiah that Jeremiah should be put to death because he is discouraging the soldiers as well as the people. Zedekiah answered that he would not oppose them. Consequently, the king’s officials took Jeremiah and put him down into a cistern, where he sank down into the mud. The intent seemed to be to kill Jeremiah by allowing him to starve to death in a manner designed to allow the officials to claim to be innocent of his blood. A Cushite rescued Jeremiah by pulling him out of the cistern, but Jeremiah remained imprisoned until Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army in 587 BC.
The Babylonians released Jeremiah, and showed him great kindness, allowing Jeremiah to choose the place of his residence, according to a Babylonian edict. Jeremiah accordingly went to Mizpah in Benjamin with Gedaliah, who had been made governor of Judea.

Taken to Egypt
Johanan succeeded Gedaliah, who had been assassinated by an Israelite prince in the pay of Ammon "for working with the Babylonians." Refusing to listen to Jeremiah's counsels, Johanan fled to Egypt, taking with him Jeremiah and Baruch, Jeremiah's faithful scribe and servant, and the king's daughters. There, the prophet probably spent the remainder of his life, still seeking in vain to turn the people to the LORD, from whom they had so long revolted. There is no authentic record of his death.