Jeremiah - His Profile

Jeremiah comes across as a deeply spiritual person, full of confidence in what he has learned of God, and with strong convictions about the need for his nation to return to the values of the covenant laws with their roots in the days following the exodus. Yet he is also a person with an acute sense of his own inadequacy for the task, who struggles to come to terms with the harsh message he has been given, and even doubts whether he has truly been called by God at all. His artistic temperament reveals itself in the many creative ways he uses to get through to the people. He is not only a speaker, but a writer and poet as well. Nor is he a purely word-based communicator: several key stories show him as a silent mime artist, an actor or a clown, using all the skills at his disposal to get his message across. (Drane, 1998, 231)

Most of his oracles were preserved by Baruch, who inserted them in narratives recording the circumstances (Jeremiah 27-29, 32-45).

There are various kinds of writing in the book of Jeremiah: Oracles; Biographical narratives about the message and life of Jeremiah, written by Baruch; and, Deuteronomic speeches - usually introduced by the words, 'The message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord'.

Given to the use of dramatic symbols in his preaching, he walked about with a wooden yoke on his neck.

King Zedekiah had Jeremiah thrown into a dark and muddy well. Eventually one of Zedekiah's servants persuaded the king to spare Jeremiah.

From the narratives and the confessions Jeremiah emerges as a lonely and sensitive figure. With no other character in the Old Testament is there so moving a revelation of inner conflict.....Plagued by self-doubt, Jeremiah was at times overcome by a sense of futility about his mission (Jeremiah 5:3) (Comay & Browrigg, 1980, 203)

He states that God told him not to get married and have children.... a solitary people with a country upbringing tend to do, he communed with nature, and had an affinity with the world of birds. (Jeremiah 8:7; 48:28). (Comay & Browrigg, 1980, 203)

The figure of Jeremiah the suffering Prophet has been influential in both the Jewish and Christian traditions.

In Jewish tradition, Jeremiah is the author of the book of Lamentations and the book of Kings.

There is a dubious tradition that Jeremiah met his end by being stoned to death.

The word "jeremiad" comes from his name, meaning any type of declamation that promises nothing but doom unless one amends one's life, and this became a form of rhetoric in colonial America.

The honesty and integrity of Jeremiah before God

Judgement is certain, but so too is new life beyond it

Poetic reflections on Israel's history (Jeremiah 2-6)

Sermons and Confessions (Jeremiah 7 - 24)

Blessed are those who trust (Jeremiah 17:5-8)

The deceitful human heart (Jeremiah 17:9)

'Then the Lord said to me, "Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you the message." So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect,  he would take the clay and make it into something else. Then the Lord said to me, "Haven't I the right to do with you the people of Israel what the potter did to the clay? You are in my hands just like the clay in the potter's hands" (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

Before a crowd of priests and citizens in the valley of Hinnon, Jeremiah denounced their pagan practices, and dramatically smashed an earthware jar crying out, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, so it can never be mended.' (Jeremiah 19:11)

The false and the true prophet (Jeremiah 23:15-32)

Stories and messages of conflict (Jeremiah 25-45)

The new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

God will judge the nations (Jeremiah 46 -51)

The fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52)