Utumishi Blog

Jeremiah has got a bit of a bad reputation – of being long (52 chapters), convoluted (not in chronological order) and depressing (‘Jeremiah’ in the dictionary is ‘a dismal prophet, a denouncer of the times’). But I’m really starting to get into Jeremiah, helped by Dale Ralph Davis’ great little book (a collection of sermons) True Word for Tough Times.

Here are some thoughts, largely taken from DRD:

1. The Word of God is the big theme. The first chapter is key in introducing the theme and particularly 3 aspects that will be carried throughout the book:
   1. The-Word-of-the-Lord as a person who interacts with Jeremiah (‘the Word of the LORD came to me saying’, ‘put out his hand and touched my mouth’);
   2. the Word in Jeremiah’s mouth intended to destroy (66% emphasis) and then bring hope (“Verse 10 is the key verse of the prophecy of Jeremiah. As you study the prophecy you will see those last six verbs coming up again and again” (DRD));
   3. the violent resistance of the people of God to the Word of God (v19) – you see it again and again, most clearly in the incidents in ch. 26 (Jeremiah almost lynched) and 36 (the scroll cut up and thrown in the fire) but basically all the way through.
2. The marriage relationship of Yahweh and his people, as in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Hosea, is prominent – the marriage covenant, the jilted lover (e.g. Jer. 2:32; 31:32). DRD: “’They have forsaken me.’ That is what Yahweh dwells on. That is what drives him to white heat.”
3. There is plenty of judgement. Relentless terrible judgement. And even the prophet himself is rebuked (15:19). This is not a softie god. This is a strange and holy God. DRD: “You do not always meet the therapeutic Jesus; you do not always meet the psychological Jesus who coos to you… You do not always meet a Jesus made in your own mould. Sometime you meet the one who says to you, ‘Repent… and I will restore you.’”
4. There is also a strong theme of the inability of man to change himself. The people are clearly shown the ‘ancient paths’ (Jer. 6:16a – a well-worn preaching text) but they refuse to go down them (Jer. 6:16b). They are like a leopard that can’t change its spots (Jer. 13:23) – they can’t do good any more than a pig can fly. The problem is a terminally ill heart (Jer. 17:9) so deceitful it can even convince itself that it is good, is repentant, is listening to God, when in fact it is resisting the Word (Jer. 42:5-6; 43:2-4). The message of Jeremiah is that left to ourselves we will not, we cannot repent. What we need is to be destroyed and rebuilt (Jer. 1:10), a new covenant of sovereign grace (note the 7-fold “I will” in Jer. 31:31-34), God giving us a new heart with His handwriting on it.
5. Kings are crucial. All the way through Jeremiah, from beginning (Jer. 1:1-3) to end (52:31-34) the fate of God’s people rises and falls (especially falls) through the king. Jer. 21-23 is particularly important in seemingly extinguishing of hope in the Davidic line while at the same time holding out the promise of a new Davidic Branch with a wonderful name (Jer. 23:6).
6. Jeremiah himself “is a very Christ-like prophet” (DRD) – esp. in his persecution (e.g. ch. 26) and in his decision to take the hard road (ch. 40).
7. Also Jeremiah is in some ways a pattern of the Christian life, not in his unique prophetic role but in the sense that his experience of God, his conversations with God (ch. 1, 12, 15), his intimacy with God, seems to pre-empt the New Covenant experience of chapter 31. It’s as if Jeremiah has got there first – he has been given a privileged foretaste of what one day all God’s people will experience (which seems to be what is happening with some of the other prophets – e.g. Moses (Num. 11:29), Jonah’s great commission, Ezekiel (cf. Ezek. 2:2 with ch. 36-37)). And what is this New Covenant life like? Joy and tears, comfort in affliction, “balancing on a paradox of delight and distress” (DRD).
8. And Jeremiah is in some ways a pattern of the preacher of the gospel – not in terms receiving direct revelation from the hand of the LORD but in terms of having to faithfully pass on a man-humbling message in season and out of season, not compromising even when everyone hates the message, not swayed when every other preacher is preaching the opposite. Jeremiah gives a vivid picture of the emotional realities of such work: “it does not take long in the ministry to go from doxology to despair, from ecstasy to exhaustion, from confidence to cursing, from exulting in God to wishing you were dead” (DRD commenting on Jer. 20:13-14). This could be qualified in that you would expect ministry this side of the Cross to have more joy and fruit (cf. Jer. 26 and Acts 3) but still it’s a needed reminder that many will reject and resist the Word of God, gospel ministry will often mean looking like death warmed up (2 Cor. 4:7-18) and particularly in some places and times where a society is flat out resisting the truth, post-Christian, running headlong into lies and evil, maybe then ministry will look quite a lot like Jeremiah’s – faithful but largely fruitless.

And something on structure:

Some scholars have given up on finding any real structure in Jeremiah. Others have devised incredibly complex multi-layered chiastic structures that look rather improbable (here is a more reasonable and possible chiastic suggestion). The following is largely based on DRD:

Section 1: The calling & complaints of Jeremiah
a) Ch. 1 – Introduction – the Word of the LORD
b) Ch. 2-10 – the Word in Jeremiah’s mouth – a sample of his preaching – destruction
c) Ch. 11-20 – the problems, conflicts, trials and complaints of Jeremiah

Section 2: Faithlessness, faithfulness, hope in a New King & his New Covenant
a) Ch. 21-29 – the shadow of impending destruction from Babylon
b) Ch. 30-35 – “building and planting” – consolation and hope

Section 3: Resisting the Word of the LORD – Baruch, Jeremiah & Zedekiah, a remnant preserved
a) Ch. 36-39 – events before the capture of Jerusalem – ending in the promise to Ebed-melech, the faithful Ethiopian contrasted with the faithless King Zedekiah
b) Ch. 40-45 – events after the capture of Jerusalem – ending with the promise to Baruch, representing the faithful remnant contrasted with the treacherous, hypocritical, defiant majority

Section 4: 10 ‘plagues’
a) Ch. 46-51 – first 9 plagues – the Word of the LORD against the nations
b) Ch. 52 – 10th plague – destruction of Jerusalem and a glimmer of hope