Jeremiah: Exegesis and Theology

Continue to explore the New Covenant of Jeremiah in relation to Moses. The ”New Covenant” is only seen in Jeremiah 31:31. Consider what Hermann Spieckermann and Reinhard Feldmeier state in “God of the Living: A Biblical Theology". The New Covenant of Jeremiah is also known as the “eternal covenant” as seen in Jeremiah 32:40, 50:5, Ezekiel 16:60, and Isaiah 55:3, 61:8. Consider also Jeremiah 50:5, “They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’” In Isaiah 61:8 we read, “For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” Explore the eschatological hope in the New Covenant of Jeremiah. We find a new act of salvation, Zion, and the Davidic king. Explore post-exilic Judaism and the New Covenant of Jeremiah in the Essenes of Qumran with the Manual of Discipline (1QS) and Damascus Document (CD). Consider that in post-exilic Judaism, life was as usual with the Sinai covenant central and Law supreme. Consider the New Testament Church and 1 Peter 2:1-10 in which the New Israel includes Gentiles. Explore the Covenant in Israel and the Old Testament. Consider Noah (i.e., all creation) and Genesis 9:8-13. View a picture of Tiglath-Pilaser III of Assyria, (c.VIII BC) with a bow pointed toward king who is in charge and one bowing and paying homage. A ceremony of homage was a treaty. Explore the covenant with Abraham which was repeated to Isaac and Jacob and is found in Genesis 17:1-4. Consider Phinehas and the Aaronic line of priests in Numbers 25:11-13. David and the royal line is found in 2 Samuel 7:8b-9, 11b, 16 and Psalm 89:3-4. The Covenant is unconditional or unbreakable, and in perpetuity or never ending.

Explore Jeremiah and the doctrine of the Word of God. Consider four questions. In what ways is the 'word of God' seen to be the protagonist in the book of Jeremiah and has the tradition seen this? Explore what Jerome states in his Commentary on Jeremiah. In Jeremiah, do you see the prophet's role as the embodied word of God (narrative and literary figure) as taking on and prefiguring the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ and warranting the book of Jeremiah's inclusion as Christian Scripture? In the people's hardening and refusal of the words of God, did the word of God actually succeed? How might fulfillment interact with a Jeremianic 'Doctrine of the Word of God?' What is a Doctrine of the Word of God? John Frame states, "I therefore define the word of God as (1) God himself, understood as communicator, and (2) the sum total of his free communications with his creatures." Consider the point of contact between the Doctrine of the Word of God and the notion of fulfillment in Jeremiah as "the filling of words”. The Hebrew word used, מָלָא (Qal), means “to fill” and is transitive or “to be full” as intransitive. Explore fixed theological expressions as "to fulfill the days" or time as in Numbers 6:5 and a vow. Also in 2 Chronicles 5:13ff we find "filled with the glory of the Lord" or God's presence. We read in Jeremiah 23:24, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” Another expression is "full behind the Lord" or to follow with one's whole heart as Caleb did in Joshua 14:8. “But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.” The expression is used to "fulfill the words" [Pi'el] or the occurrence of an utterance in prophecy, vow, or witness. Martin Noth notes that nothing new occurs in this expression - rather the word is "implement[ed] fully".

B.S. Childs (1958) stated, "Word and fulfillment are part of the selfsame reality, however they do not have the same wholeness...The word sets an event into motion which is then filled up. A filled word is one which has reached wholeness and, therefore, is fulfilled." Consider that in LXX, πληρόω is used about 70 times for מְלֹא. In Jeremiah 23:24 we read, "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" In the New Testament, πληρόω means "to fulfill” or “complete" the word of God. G. Delling states, "In biblical thinking it is quite incompatible with the concept of God that the event should lag behind God's Word, that the full measure should not be reached. God fulfills his Word by fully actualising [sic.] it." Compare Matthew 2:17 and Jeremiah 31:15. In Matthew 2:16-17 we read, “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’” Jeremiah 31:15 states, “Thus says the Lord: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.’” Compare Matthew 27:9 with Zechariah 11:12-13. We read in Matthew 27:7-10, “So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.’” Can Matthew 27:9 and Zechariah 11:12-13 be compared to Jeremiah 32? 18? 19? View a chart of Matthew’s theology of fulfillment with the life of Jesus within the will of God and both within God’s Word. G. Delling states, "Fulfillment [of Old Testament prophecy] means that in the to-day of the NT God's saving will achieves its full measure in Christ. The NT concept of fulfillment is summed up in the person of Jesus."

The Book of Jeremiah can be seen as a "Book of Comfort". Explore the poetry core of 30:4 – 31:22 which includes the poetry of lament and judgment and the covenant formula of 30:22 and 31:1. We read in Jeremiah 30:22, “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 31:1 states, “At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” Consider the expansion to prose oracles of hope in 31:23-40 and the eschatological seen in the phrase, “Look days are coming…” in 31:27, 31, 38 and cf. 30:3. In the future there is both continuity as seen in the word “again” in 31:23, 39 and discontinuity as seen in the words “not...again” in 31:29, 34a, and 40. Jeremiah 31:23 states, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: “The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!”’” Consider Jeremiah 31:39-40, “And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.” We also read in Jeremiah 31:29-30, “In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone shall die for his own iniquity.” Consider Jeremiah 31:34, "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Explore Jeremiah 31:31-34. The discontinuity is highlighted in verse 32a “not like the covenant”. Consider that the conditions for covenant obedience vastly and the improvement is that the law is written on heart. God will forgive their sins and forget their sins. In Jeremiah 31:35-37 there is an affirmation of the relationship with people. Explore 31:38-40 and the rebuilt city which includes an inclusio with 30:3. Jeremiah 31:38 states, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.” We also read in Jeremiah 30:3, “For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord…”

Explore God’s Covenant with Israel at Sinai. The core is the Decalogue found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. It was conditional as seen in Deuteronomy 28 and the blessings and curses. The foundation included election, deliverance as seen in the exodus, and salvation or liberation with a change of masters in the Old Testament, New Testament and also Galatians 5:1. Explore the Covenant renewal under Josiah found in 2 Kings 22-23. Jeremiah helped as we see in Jeremiah 11:1-13 and considered the Sinai Covenant broken (2:20; 5:5; 7:8-11; 11:10; 22:9; 31:32). We see in Jeremiah 33:17-26 that God’s Covenant with Israel at Sinai supports the covenants with Noah, Abraham, David and the Levitical priesthood. In considering Jeremiah’s New Covenant, is there one covenant of grace with two administrations? Are there two successive eras in redemptive history? John H. Stek uses the term “biblical covenants” in his article from Calvin Theological Journal and makes 7 points. Consider that the goal of the ‘old’ covenants was to write the law on their hearts as seen in Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-20; 30:14; 42:46 and Psalms 37:31; 40:8; 119:11 and Isaiah 51:7. In Psalm 40:8 we read, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” The goal of the ‘old’ covenants failed as Jeremiah 17:1 reports that their sin is written on their hearts. The remedy is that God himself will write it and do as seen in Ezekiel 11:19-20 and 36:26-27. In summary, there are not two mutually exclusive eras. There are two mutually exclusive states before God as seen in the Old with a broken covenant and unfaithfulness and in the New a renewed or ‘New’ covenant with faithfulness. We see the new coveNT language of Christ as a “climax of the covenant”. J Moon states that, “’New covenant’ is simply the way things ought to have been: the covenant (’I will be your God, you will be my people’) engaged with fidelity from the people...[T]he oracle of the new covenant unites the people of God around its center, the climax of the covenant in Jesus Christ.”

Jeremiah 11-17 is bookended with the prose sermons of Jeremiah 11:1-17 of covenant and Jeremiah 17:19-27 of Sabbath observance. Three out of the five confessions are in this block. Consider the three purposes of the bookends. The first is to establish an ominous tone. In Jeremiah 11:8 we read, “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.” We also read in Jeremiah 11:12, 14, 17, “Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape . . . I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble . . . The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you . . .” The second purpose of the bookmarks is a literary and theological symmetry. Jeremiah 17:24-25 states, “But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David . . .” Jeremiah 17:27 states, “But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.” The third purpose of the bookends is to organize in three cycles.

Explore Jeremiah 11-12:6. Consider Jeremiah 11:1-17 and the prose sermon which includes a retributive principal as also seen in Deuteronomy 6, 8 and 2 Kings 17. We read in Jeremiah 11:2-3, “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant...” Jeremiah 11:6-7 states, “...Hear the words of this covenant and do them . . . Obey my voice.” Explore Jeremiah 11:9-12:6. The Lord and Jeremiah have a dialogue reflected in Jeremiah 11:18-23 and Jeremiah 12:1-6. Consider 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, “He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.” Consider Jeremiah 12:5-6, “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.”

Continue to explore Jeremiah's laments or "confessions". Reventlow (1963) related that Jeremiah's "I" represented the "personification of the community". Subsequently the focus shifted to the "paradigmatic force of Jeremiah's suffering", became a model for exiles and repatriates and there was a re-calibration of suffering. Consider Welten (1977) and that suffering is no longer "shameful, resulting directly from wrongdoing . . . but rather as a typical part of life." (Stulman) A. R. Diamond and K. M. O'Connor took into account the contextual and literary setting. Consider meaning of Sitz im Buch. Explore that the laments used by the interpretive community were to demonstrate the guilt of the people, the necessity of exile, and theodicy. Stulman states in Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Jeremiah, " ...they portray Judah's hardship and misfortune as a consequence of its mistreatment and rejection of Jeremiah, God's spokesperson.” Explore the elements of Jeremiah's Confessions including the invocation or mention of God, the speech of enemies, the declaration of innocence, request for vengeance, and in three of the five laments, the divine answer which is implicit in 17:14-18, 18:18-23, and 20:7-13.

Explore the genre of Jeremiah’s laments. C. Westermann states in Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech, ". . . another way of formulating an announcement of judgment which powerfully depicts the moment of the irrevocable when judgment is proclaimed over Israel." Consider the mode of prophetic expression in which the humanity of the prophet is exhibited. Classic prophetic laments are found in Amos 5:1-3 and Jeremiah 9:16-21. In Amos 5:1-3 we read, “Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: ‘Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.’ For thus says the Lord God: ‘The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.’” Explore Jeremiah's development of this genre over Israel as found in Jeremiah 2:31f, 8:4-7, 18-23, 9:9, 10:19f, 13:18f, and 13:23. Jeremiah develops this genre in the Lord over his land as found in Jeremiah 1:31f, 12:7-13, 15:5-9, 18:13-17. It is also found in Isaiah 1:2-3, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: ‘Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.’” Consider Jeremiah's personal laments in chapters 11-20 passim. Jeremiah's Laments are also considered "confessions" and are akin to Augustine's Confessions. They contain vacillating moods, trying circumstances, and a dialogue with God. Jeremiah's laments also become inscripturation or part of the divine message. Skinner (1922) relates in his personal journal that there was “danger that Jeremiah would have been advocating something at a national level he had experienced at a personal level.” Consider the value of Jeremiah's psychology and personality and the danger of it creating a barrier. von Rad (1983) considered Jeremiah’s laments as stylized, conformed to the genre, and not personal but related to ministry. Berridge (1970) considered his laments public, therefore part of his proclamation and were "general validity transcending his experience."

Explore Jeremiah 28:5-9 and Jeremiah's response to Hananiah. Consider what we find in Amos 4:6-12. Also consider Deuteronomy 18:18-22, Jeremiah 14:13-16, and a "wait and see" criterion as found in Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11. In Jeremiah 28:10-14 we find Hananiah's enacted prophecy. Consider Jeremiah 27:5-6, “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar…” Continue with Jeremiah’s response to Hananiah in Jeremiah 28:15-17. “And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, ‘Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.”’ In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.” Explore Jerome’s comments on this text in his Commentary on Jeremiah. "Here also the LXX does not say that Hananiah is a prophet, even though Holy Scripture -according to the Hebrew-calls him a prophet. Yet, when Jeremiah actually condemns him, saying, ‘Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you,’ he makes no mention of Hananiah being a prophet.”

Continue to explore Jeremiah and the prophets. Consider Jeremiah 23:9-40 and the word "concerning the prophets". In Jeremiah 23:9-12 the corrupt leaders are exposed. Jeremiah 23:13-15 concerns leaders who reinforce the wicked. Jeremiah 23:16-17 concerns the preachers of prosperity. We read, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” Jeremiah 23:18-22 is the example of no message, no mission, and no mandate and Jeremiah 23:23-32 concerns dreams, delusions and hammer and fire. Consider that in Jeremiah 3:14 we read, “Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” Explore that there is a forgetting of the Name and over time there is a new doctrine of who God is and how He operates with His people. Hosea 2:16 states, “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’”

Continue to explore Jeremiah and the prophets. Jeremiah 23:33-40 asks who is the real burden? The Hebrew term used is מַשָּׂא or "load, lifting, bearing, burden, or tribute". Consider the 1956 art of Marc Chagall’s Pleurs de Jérémie. Explore Jeremiah 27:9-11, “So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.” Consider that the Hebrew word for Egypt is מִצְרָיִם which means "restriction". We read in Jeremiah 29:8-9, “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.” In Jeremiah 29:11-12 we read, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.” Explore Jeremiah 28 and the account of Jeremiah and Hananiah. In Jeremiah 28:1-4 we see Hananiah's prediction. Explore Deuteronomy 18:15-22, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

Consider the 1630 painting of Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt. Explore the background of Jeremiah and the prophets. Consider Judah and the deportees in 597-587 and the message of prophets which included hope as found in Jeremiah 29:8-9, and 21-23. Consider that the message of the prophets included the return of deportees as we read in Jeremiah 29:21-23. The message of the prophets also included divine retribution as found in Jeremiah 28:3-4 and was easy on the ear. The prophet’s message also included greed as found in Micah 3:11 and Jeremiah 6:13. We read in Micah 3:11, “Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, ‘Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.’” Immorality as found in Jeremiah 23:14 was also included in the message of the prophets.

View the art of Marc Chagall’s 1956 Pleurs de Jérémie. Explore the enacted prophecies of Jeremiah 16-19. These prophecies make use of common objects and ideas, convey a message without need for a long explanation, capture imagination and shock, and engage in activities uncharacteristic of social status or age. Consider what the text has to say concerning marriage and family in Jeremiah 16:2-4. The focus of Jeremiah 16:5-9 is on the rights and obligation of the Son as found in Ezekiel 24:15-18. We read in Jeremiah 16:5-6, “For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. Both great and small shall die in this land.” Consider Lamentations 1:17, “Zion stretches out her hands, but there is none to comfort her; the Lord has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should be his foes; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.” Lamentations 2:11 states, “My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people...” Explore the enacted prophecy of the potter’s vessel found in Jeremiah 18:1-4. Explore the Atrahasis creation story and the Egyptian tomb paintings of Queen Hatshepsut and Khnum. View a picture of Khnum forming Queen Hatshepsut. Consider Isaiah 29:16 and 64:8. There is a re-use of the same clay or a remnant. We read in Jeremiah 18:11-12, “Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

Explore Jeremiah 26:12-13, “Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you.” In Jeremiah 26:12 it tells us these are God’s words, not Jeremiah’s. Consider Jeremiah 26:14-15. In Jeremiah 26:15 we find that his death incurs bloodguilt as found in Deuteronomy 19:10. In Jeremiah 26:14-15 we find that the city and nation’s fate are tethered to Jeremiah’s fate. Consider Genesis 4:10. In Jeremiah 26:13 we see that repentance would bring reversal. Explore Jeremiah 26:16-19. Continue to explore Jeremiah 26:20-23. Jeremiah 26:16-23 is an appeal to written prophecy with hope strategically placed. Edmund Burke stated, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We read in Jeremiah 26:24, “But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.”

Recall Jeremiah 26:24, “But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.” View the art of Andrew Mabanii’s Jeremiah. Explore the historical context and the temple sermon’s affect. It was in the year 605 with was the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign (609-604). He was an Egyptian vassal of Necho II and was about to pledge loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The political vacillation would result in a Babylonian response as found in Jeremiah 36:29. Consider that in Jeremiah 36 the instructions are to be written down as also seen in Isaiah 8:16 and Habakkuk 2:2. Jeremiah 36:4 records, “Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him.” Consider the contents of Book 1. Explore 2 Kings 22:1-20 and the points of contact in 2 Kings 22-23. There is a rare use of the scroll to deliver the hidden divine message and a prophetic claim of authority in "thus says Adonai" which is an oracular introduction. There is also a concern for רעה or "evil" which is pronounced in both and a call for reform. Explore the divergences of 2 Kings 22-23. There is a "tearing", a "burning" ( ףדש) and a "hearing" as God "hears" Josiah. Explore a circle graph with the movement of the scroll from Jeremiah’s apartment to the Temple in 36:10, to the King’s official’s chambers in 36:12, and to the Royal audience chamber in 36:21-22. Explore Jeremiah 36:11-12 and 36:14-17.

Explore Jeremiah 36:20-26. Review the circle graph and movement of the scroll. Consider the timing of Jeremiah 36:1, 9, “In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord ... In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord.” Consider some concluding thoughts concerning Micaiah in Jeremiah 36:11 and the reporting of all the words to the king in Jeremiah 36 12-18. Jeremiah 36:17 was to vet Baruch as a scribe and not the author and to assure Jeremiah's authorship. The lower official's response indicated a glimpse of hope. Consider the royal courts' silence upon reading and the rewrite with a death sentence in Jeremiah 36:29 and following. Explore Jeremiah 36:27-32. Consider another "setting" of the text of the Babylonian exiles and that the possibility of turning and repenting is present. In Jeremiah 36:7 we read, “It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” Consider the conflict and power with Jehoiakim. How did the people know who was a true prophet? Jeremiah 36:21 states, "But they would not listen".

Explore Jeremiah 26 as the introduction to Book 2, points forward and backwards, attacks the Temple and status quo, shows Jeremiah as true prophet, and has five distinct parts. Explore Jeremiah 26:1-6. Consider the person of “Jehoiakim”. In Jeremiah 26:2-3 there is a mention of worshippers and in 26:4-6 a “curse for all the nations of the earth” as warned about in Genesis 12:3. Jeremiah 26:4-6 states, “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’” Explore Jeremiah 26:7-11 in which a death sentence for Jeremiah is called for. Consider that the words “house” and “city” are used eight times in Jeremiah 26 and the status quo is confronted.

Explore Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon. View The Prophet Jeremiah statue in the Colonna ell'Immacolata Piazza di spagna, Rome. Explore the assumptions concerning the Temple in 6th century Judah. The people believed that the Temple was the place where God is ever present, the house of God provided an unqualified refuge from danger, and the temple was fundamental to the social and cosmic order. In Psalm 46:1-3 we read, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah“ Consider the examples of Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah’s reforms in 622 BC. Do Jeremiah 7:1-8:3 and 26 constitute two sermons? Why insert 7:1-8:3 here? Consider Jeremiah 26 and 7:1-15 as there were intensified efforts to thwart word of God, that opposition set a catastrophic chain of events in motion, and a faithful few emerge to defend Jeremiah. The text was dated early in reign of Jehoiakim (609/608). Explore Jeremiah 7:1-15 which indicates abhorrent worship. Consider that prose explains poetry. Consider Jeremiah 7:2 and his location and Jeremiah 7:3 with the phrase “this place”. Jeremiah 7:4 points out the mantra used by the people, “The temple of the LORD”. In Jeremiah 7:5-7 we find that justice is required as found in Exodus 22:21-24 and Deuteronomy 24:17-22. In Jeremiah 7:5-7 we read, “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.” In Jeremiah 7:9-10 we read, “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?” We also see in Jeremiah 7:8-11 that rhetorical questions ratchet up intensity and in Jeremiah 7:12-15 we see Shiloh’s destruction is paradigmatic.

Continue to explore Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon in Jeremiah 7:16-20. In Jeremiah 7:16-17 we find that prophetic intercession was prohibited and in verse 18 the Queen of Heaven is mentioned which is a reference to Mesopotamian Ishtar or Canaanite Astarte or Asherah whose worship included fertility rituals, was practiced at the family level, and produced a level of consumerism. In Jeremiah 7:20 there is a reference to “This place”. Consider Jeremiah 7:21-28 and that obedience is better than sacrifice. Consider the topic of worship. In Jeremiah 7:22 we read, “For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jeremiah 7:22 includes a prophetic critique of religious observances. Jeremiah 6:20 states, “What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.” Consider Jeremiah 6:20, 7:1-15, Hosea 6:6, Amos 5:21-24, Isaiah 1:10-20, and Micah 6:6-8. In Amos 5:21-24 we read, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” In Jeremiah 7:23 the covenant relationship is predicted upon obedience and verse 28 tells us that the “truth has perished”. “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.’”

How does a preacher faithfully exposit the Book of Jeremiah? Listen to the class discussion and ideas on how to exposit Jeremiah.

Recall that the “truth has perished” in Jeremiah 7:28, “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.’” Continuing in Jeremiah 7:29 we read, “‘Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’” Consider that Jeremiah 7:29-8:3 is a composite and verse 29 is a dirge lamenting the death of Israel. In Jeremiah 7:30-31 we read, “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.” Consider the reference of Topheth and 2 Kings 23:10. We read in Jeremiah 7:32-8:3 of the Valley of Hinnom or Gehenna which will be called the Valley of Slaughter or “Haregah” as seen in Jeremiah 19:6, 11-14, Isaiah 30:33, 66:24 and Mark 9:48. In Jeremiah 19:6 we read, “... therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.” Jeremiah 7:32 states, “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.” View a picture of the present day Valley of Hinnom or “Valley of the Son of Hinnom". The Greek term used is γέεννα or “Gehenna”. Consider Jeremiah 7:33-34 and Mark 9:43-49.

Jeremiah's call is found in Jeremiah 1:1-10. View a picture of the Prophet Jeremiah’s Call from an 18th Century Bible. In Jeremiah 1:1-3 we read, "The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month." The phrase in the first verse, “The words of Jeremiah” and at 51:64, “until here [are] the words of Jeremiah” form an inclusion. Consider Jeremiah 1:4, “Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying . . .” Explore Jeremiah's call and commission found in 1: 4-10. Is there a standard prophetic Gattung? Consider the call of Moses in Exodus 3:11, 13, Isaiah in 6:1-13, and Ezekiel in 1-3. Consider Exodus 3:11-12. It is placed here to establish the authority of the prophet. It is not primarily biographical. Consider Jeremiah 25:1-13. In Jeremiah 1:4-10 we read, "Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a youth”; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.’ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’” Explore Jeremiah 1:4- 5 and the passivity of the prophet. The active subject is the word of God. Consider the verbs in verse 5 to form, know (yada), consecrate, and appoint. Jeremiah 12:3 states, “But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.” Prophetic resistance is evoked in verse 6 and divine assurance in verse 7.

Continue to explore Jeremiah's call and commission in 1:4-10. Recall in Jeremiah 1:4-5 we find the passivity of the prophet and that the active subject is word of God. The verbs in verse 5 are to form, know (yada), consecrate, and appoint. Prophetic resistance is evoked in verse 6 and divine assurance in verse 7. Recall Jeremiah 1:5-6. Does Jeremiah 1:6 suggest resistance? The Hebrew term used is נער (na‘ar), which means “boy” or “young man”. Does it mean something else? In the call narrative, the objection has three elements. The Introductory Address is “Oh my Lord Adonai!”, the First Motivation is “Look, I do not know how to speak”, and the Second Motivation is “for I am only a נער”. In Jeremiah, Lamentations, Dean O. Wenthe quotes Theodoret of Cyrus,“The prophet recognized the one addressing him. This is why he called him by a title having to do with lordship. When the mighty Moses was once speaking, remember, and wanted to learn the divine name, the Lord said, “I am the one who is.” He imitates Moses' timidity by saying youth is not up to prophesying.” Jeremiah 1:6-7 we read, “Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a youth”; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.’” The traditional reading of the Hebrew term supports age. Consider the imprecision of term נער. Is this text prayer language? Consider the genre of 1: 4-10, the specific contents of the passage, and the entire book’s presentation of the prophetic personality. We see that Jacob in Genesis 32:11 was “too insignificant". We read, “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.” We see Moses in Numbers 11:14 was “too heavy for me”. Amos tells us in 7:2, 5 that Jacob “is so small” and Solomon stated in 1 Kings 3:7, “I am (only) a little child”. “And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.”

Continue to explore Jeremiah's call and commission found in 1:4-10. Did Jeremiah resist his call? Consider the examples of the lament of Moses in Exodus 4:10, 13 and Gideon in Judges 6:13, 15. In Judges 6:12-15 we read, “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.’ And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ And the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’ And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.’” Consider the lament of Isaiah in Isaiah 6:11, “Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said: ‘Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste…’” The term ההא denotes dismay and alarm or “Ah!”. Consider three of the four uses in Jeremiah 1:6, 4:10, 14:13, and 32:17. In Jeremiah 32:17 we read, “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” Consider Joshua 7:7 and Judges 6:22. Jeremiah 1:7 states, “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a youth”; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.’” Explore the assurance God provides Jeremiah. Jeremiah 1:7a states, “Do not say ‘I am only a נע ר’”. God has two responses to Jeremiah’s inability to speak. We read in 1:7b, “all that I command you, you will speak” and in verse 9, “look, I have put my words in your mouth”. In verse 8 we read, “Do not be afraid of them because I am with you to deliver you”. God’s response is an oracle of salvation (cf. 1:17-19). Explore that prayer and lamenting is simultaneously prayer and a lamenter. Brent A. Strawn in Jeremiah's in/Effective Plea states, “This type of foreshadowing or prefiguring is not unusual in the call narratives which often function programmatically with regard to a prophet’s messaging. In the case of Jeremiah, the call would do so, not only with regard to the famous verbs used in i.10 but also with regard to Jeremiah's own, often stormy, relationship with Yahweh famously encapsulated in his "Confessions," but begun already here in i.6.” Consider Jeremiah’s use of the Hebrew term as a status. The term sets the stage for his laments. The genre (Gattung) is a mixed form. Consider the use of genre-bending, attributed to H.W. Attridge on his view of John 10 and found in Jeremiah 1:4-10. God tells Jeremiah in 1:6, “do not be afraid” and “thus says Adonai” and in 1:8 we see the divine presence, “in order to deliver him.” Was Jeremiah’s resistance effective? The answer is no in that he was not reprieved from duty but yes in that we see an oracle of deliverance and divine presence in reply. Consider some parallels with Moses and Jeremiah.

Explore Jeremiah 1:10, “See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Consider the negative verbs of נתשׁ which means to uproot, pull, or pluck up, נתץ which means pull down and figuratively means break power, אבד which means to destroy or put to death, and הרס which figuratively means overthrow or cast down. The positive verbs used include בנה which means to build (with materials) and נטע which means to plant or establish. Is Jeremiah reporting or effecting change? Brueggemann states in The Theology of the Book of Jeremiah, “Jeremiah, in prophetic speech, is to do what he is to say.” Consider the verses Jeremiah 12:14-17, 18:1-11, 24:4-7, 31:27-30, and 45:4. We read in Jeremiah 45:1-5, “The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: You said, “Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.” Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.’”

Explore symbolic prophetic acts in the Old Testament. Consider 1 Kings 11:30-32. Consider the sign and the thing signified. Martin Luther stated, "The gospel gives the righteousness that the law demands." In Jeremiah we see the symbolic acts in the loincloth (13:1-11), the shattering of the jug (19:1-5), the yoke (28), the field (32:1-15), the burying of stones in clay pavement (43: 8-13), and the scroll in the Euphrates (51:59-64). [cf. Shead, 121] We read that Isaiah was naked for 3 years (20) and Ezekiel lies on his side for over a year and eats barley cakes cooked over human dung fire (4:1-13), he shaves; (5:1-4), digs (12:1-16), and writes on sticks (37:15-28). Hosea marries a prostitute (1-3) and Zechariah makes a crown (6:9-15). Consider the Flood Tablet from the 7th Century BC King Ashurbanipal of Northern Iraq and the Neo-Assyrian Archives 680-679 BC. Consider that prophets were present around the royal courts and it was common to bless the king which was called shulmu oracles. Explore 1 Kings 22 with Ahab (Israel) as seen in 1 Kings 22: 7-9, 11-14, 17-18. Consider the examples of Esarhaddon (680-669), Ashurbanipal (668-627) and 30 oracles of well-being. In Assyrian, the terms used are ragintu and ragimu or “one who shouts or proclaims.” The Assyrian terms zabbu and zabbatu are also used and mean “frenzied one”. Another term used is mahhu meaning ”crazy person". The majority was female as 8 out of 9 of the 13 named are female. This might be due to the practice of gender-bending and/or castration. The Neo-Assyrian prophets were supported by the state. Consider similarities include they are God’s or gods’ words, speak comfort, and are to the King, but intended for a larger audience. Differences include that Isaiah’s message mixes judgment and well-being, the tone is different, “winners write the history books”, and there is relative scarcity of well-being oracles in the Old Testament. Also, the Neo-Assyrian prophecies were written or collected prior to their downfall in late 7th Century to Babylon as in the Ziyaret Tepe (ancient Tushan) dated 611BC in the post-fall of Nineveh and final days of Neo- Assyrian empire.

Compare the Ancient Near East and Old Testament prophets. First consider monotheism as found in Joshua 24:15, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We also read in Jeremiah 2:11, “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.” Consider also moral and just behavior as found in Isaiah 1:12-17, Amos 5:21-24, and Amos 5:14-15, 18-20. Consider Isaiah 1:12-17. Consider literary activity as found in prose and poetic speech. We find symbolic action reports in Isaiah 20:1-6 and Ezekiel 4:1-3, 5:1-4. Consider commissioning reports or “call narratives” found in Jeremiah 1:4-10, Isaiah 6:1-3, and Ezekiel 1-3. Consider the vision reports of Amos 7:1-9, 8:1-3, 9:1-4, Zechariah 2:1, 1:18, Nahum 1:1, Obadiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel 1:1, 8:1, 37:1, 40:1, and Jeremiah 1:11-13. Consider the legend found in 2 Kings 2:23-24, the widow and Elisha found in 2 Kings 4:1-7 and the didactic tone. Consider the prophetic historiography found in Isaiah 36-39 with Sennacherib, King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18:13-19:37, and Jeremiah 52 and 2 Kings 24:18-25:30. Consider biography found in Jeremiah 37-44 and is a central theme throughout. We can also see a divinatory chronicle in Samuel in 1 Samuel 9, Jeremiah 38:14, Ezekiel 20 and Zechariah 7:3.

Explore poetic speech with parallelism as found in Nahum 2:4 with (A) “The chariots race madly through the streets” and (B) “They rush to and fro through the squares.” Consider the figures of speech including the simile as found in Hosea 6:4, “Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.” Hosea 13:3 also has a ‘dew’ theme. Explore the forms of prophetic speech and form criticism. Consider judgment oracles which include an indictment and sentence as found in Amos 1-2 (especially 1:1-2), Jeremiah 5:10-17, 6:16-21 and Micah 1:5-7. Consider woe oracles. The Hebrew word hoy means “woe to you…” and is found in Isaiah 5:8, 29:15, 30:1, 45:9, Amos 5:18, and amplifies a sure result. Consider the lawsuit which is legal language as found in Micah 1:2,5-6. The people are summoned, “hear, you peoples” and interrogations are made, “What is the transgression of Jacob?" These are followed by judgments offered, “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country.” Consider the lament as ritual and cultic as found in Jeremiah 8:18-9:3, 15:10, 18 and Amos 5:1-2. Consider the hymn found in the Temple and begins with a command to Sing! and Praise! as found in Amos 9:5-6, Habakkuk 3:2-15, and the song in Isaiah 5:1-2. Consider allegory and acrostic used by scribes and intellectuals as found in Ezekiel 17: 2-20 and Nahum 2:1-8. Consider apocalyptic literature as a form of prophetic speech and the difference between prophetic and apocalyptic literature. Explore the theology of the prophets with the covenant as found in Hosea 4:2 and the curses found in Deuteronomy 28 and Isaiah 34:11-17. Consider Micah 6:1-8, Jeremiah 31:31, and Ezekiel 36:26. Consider the theology of the prophets with God as King (Universalism) and “the nations“. Consider Isaiah 6 and the divine council, Jeremiah 1:5, 10, Isaiah 13:1-23:18, Jeremiah 46:1-51:58, and Ezekiel 25:1-32:32. We read in Isaiah 14:26, “This is the plan that is planned concerning the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.” Consider God as King in Joel 2:20, 3:9, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah 4:1-2, Nahum, Habakkuk 1:5-6, Zephaniah 2:4-15, Haggai 2:21, Zechariah 1:11, and Malachi 1:11. Explore the general and specific ethics of the prophet’s theology. In general they are for the whole world as found in Amos 1-2, Isaiah 14, 10:12-15, and Jeremiah 51:11-49. Specifically they are for Israel elect and include righteousness and justice as found in Amos 5:10-15 and are social and individual. We find humility mentioned in Micah 6:8 and hope found in Amos 9:11-15 and Micah 2:12-13, 4:6-8. Consider the remnant as in Isaiah 11:11, 7:3 and Jerusalem found in Jeremiah 3:17, Ezekiel 48:35, Isaiah 62:4, and Zechariah 8:3.

Explore the writing of the Book of Jeremiah which roughly spans from 622-587 BC. Josiah’s reforms were from 622-609 BC. In 605 BC Jeremiah had been prophesying for more than 20 years. In Jeremiah 36:1-3, 4, and 32 we see that God had instructed Jeremiah to record his prophecies in writing. Consider the events in 2 Kings 23:15-16 and 1 Kings 13:1-5,14-17, 20-25,29-32. In 2 Kings 23:16-18 we read, "And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, ‘What is that monument that I see?’ And the men of the city told him, ‘It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.’ And he said, ‘Let him be; let no man move his bones.’ So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria." Consider what the people were following before Josiah's reforms. The structure of the Book of Jeremiah is Book 1 which includes Jeremiah 1-25, Book 2 which includes Jeremiah 30-31, and Book 3 which includes Jeremiah 46-51. Consider the biographical sections of Baruch ben Neriah and later redactors in Jeremiah 26-29, 32-45, and 52. Jeremiah 51:64 states, “The words of Jeremiah end here.” Explore the historical background of Jeremiah’s initial call in 627 BC. In that year we have the death of the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal and in 626 BC the rise of Babylonian state. Josiah’s reforms took place in 622-609 BC and in 609 BC we have the death of Josiah and Battle of Megiddo. The Battle of Carchemish took place in 605 BC in which Babylon defeated Egypt. Josiah sons were exiled (Jehoahaz) and installed in Palestine (Eliakim or Jehoiakim). In 601 BC Jehoiakim planed to revolt with Egypt’s help and in 598 BC Babylon invaded and laid siege to Jerusalem. Jehoiachin was deported to Babylon in 597 BC as recorded in 2Kings 24:10-17 and Mattaniah, Josiah’s last son was installed in Jerusalem and renamed Zedekiah. View a map of Babylonian Empire. The history is recapped with Manasseh, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Eliakim (Jehoiakim) as in Jeremiah 22:1-17, Jehoiachin as in 2 Kings 24:12-14, the first deportation, and Zedekiah. In Jeremiah 22:10-12 we read, "Weep not for him who is dead, nor grieve for him, but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land. For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: ‘He shall return here no more, but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.’”

Explore textual issues with the Book of Jeremiah. It shares similarities with Kings and the rabbinic tradition holds that Jeremiah wrote the Book of Kings. There are two main versions, the Hebrew Masoretic Text and Greek LXX. Why are there diversions? The Greek LXX is 1/8th shorter. There are different placements and sequences for example the oracles against nations are found in Hebrew 46-51 and in the Greek LXX 25-31. The Hebrew version follows the fragment from Qumran. Was the oracle only for the exiles? Consider the inspiration of the redactors and the inspiration of scribes. Consider the views of J.G. Janzen and Robert Althann on these textual issues. Consider the use of the LXX. Shead states in A Mouth Full of Fire, “Finally, if the inclusio of Jeremiah 1:1 and 51:64 is allowed to have its full force, the words of Jeremiah must be seen to encompass not only the oracles given him directly by God, but also the stories about his life that were, at best, written under his supervision. Moreover, even the oracles are not only words put by God in to the prophet’s mouth (Jer. 1:9), but also words carefully shaped and reshaped to convey a total message. The word of God with which these words are identified is, ultimately, the final message of the book as a whole.”

Explore the structure and organization of the Book of Jeremiah. The book includes prophetic oracles written in poetry, historical narratives about Jeremiah, and prose speeches of the book. The book is not chronological, only Ezekiel is. The book is not topical but thematic as seen in the “harlotry cycle” in chapters 2-3, the “foe cycle” in chapters 4-6, the Temple sermon in 7:1-10:25-26 and the “confessions” in chapters 11-20. Consider Jeremiah 17:17a, 20:7, and 12:1-2. Explore a picture of the Sistine Chapel with Jeremiah and God behind him creating the world. The prophet Jeremiah was from Anathoth. We read in 1 Samuel 22:21-23, "And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. And David said to Abiathar, ‘I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.’” We also read in 1 Kings 2:26-28, "And to Abiathar the priest the king said, ‘Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you shared in all my father's affliction.’ So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh." In 1 Samuel 2:33 we read, "The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.” The prophet Jeremiah was from the Elide priesthood in Jerusalem and of the tribe of Benjamin. Jeremiah had a 40 year prophetic ministry as did Moses. Jeremiah lived a life of Isolation. Kathleen M. O'Connor in Jeremiah: Pain and Promise states, “But disaster studies point to further dimensions of Jeremiah’s isolation. Inevitably, war, exile and military occupation rupture domestic life and undermine community. Deaths of husbands, children, and the elderly, destruction of homes, land, livelihoods - these mortal imprints of war splinter families, shred relationships and isolate victims from their communities. Disaster damages the very ‘tissues of life that hold people together’. In this light, Jeremiah’s celibacy and social isolation enact the social destruction that is central to disaster. His prophetic signs perform social isolation, show it in a living picture, and give it words… as Fretheim puts it, Jeremiah’s life ‘is an embodied Word of God.’”

What is an Old Testament Theology? Consider that the God of the Bible saw fit to transmit a two-testament canon. Christianity did not change the shape of the Old Testament we have. Anyone who advocated removal of the Old Testament was deemed a heretic. The Septuagint (LXX) was a Jewish translation. The theology of the Old Testament is a Christian enterprise. LXX was a Jewish translation the beginning of which was prior to Jesus' advent. What text did Jesus himself speak from? Consider that basic tenets for doing theology from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a closed Canon that is set in some sort of relationship both with the New Testament and with the Church. There exists and existed a direct linkage and relationship with the historical man who lived, died – the resurrected Jesus Christ, the people of Israel, and the texts that bear witness to their stories.

View a picture of Marc Chagall’s “Prophet Jeremiah”. Consider the Ancient Near East setting of prophets and prophecy. In the Ancient Near East, the prophets' prophecy was a form of divination. Extiapicy was an examination of animal entrails. Hepatoscopy was an examination of livers (usually sheep). Astrology was a Mesopotamian study famous in ancient world. Oneiromancy concerned dreams and Augury concerned flights of birds. Lecanomancy was the behavior of oil on the surface of water. Necromancy was summoning the dead. There was also interpretation of the bodies of animals born malformed. Explore divination in the Old Testament. Urim and Thummim were used and there was Oneiromancy. There was also dreamers or "visionaries" and "seers". We have examples of Gideon's fleece and Saul’s necromancy which was condemned in Deuteronomy 18:10-11. There was also Astrology which was condemned in Deuteronomy 4:19.

Explore the call of Jeremiah in 1:11-12. Explore divination in the Old Testament. There were two types of oracles. One type was the inductive or objectivity including concrete phenomenon. Consider a Babylonian liver omen. Another type of oracle was the noninductive or subjective including “Thus saith the Lord”. Consider Deuteronomy 18:20-22. Explore the term “prophet”. The Greek is πρό or forth, before, and for plus φητης or speaker. A prophet is “one who speaks forth or proclaims”. The earliest use of the word "prophet" was in the 3rd Millennium BC. Consider Old Babylonia of the early 2nd Millennium with examples of someone who functions like a prophet. We have a Middle Assyrian rations list of the late 2nd Millennium, a lament from Ugarit (ca. 1200) and many neo-Babylonian texts from 1st Millennium. A 9th Century Amman Citadel inscription has an oracle of Ammonite god Milcom. Zakkur Stela, the King of Hamath says, “Baal of the heavens [spoke] to me through seers and visionaries.” In the early 8th Century Deir ‘Alla Plaster mentions Balaam son of Beor (Numbers 22-24). We also have Hittite plague prayers. Explore the literature from the ancient world including the Mari Letters from 1775-1762 BC. The Mari Letters refer to kings Yasmach-Addu and Zimri-Lim (ca. 1792-1760). Consider that muhhum in Akkadian means “crazy person” or perhaps “ecstatic”. Consider what Christopher B. Hays in “Mari Letters: “Hidden Riches” records. The word āpilum means answerer. In ARM 26 371, a prophet is recorded as screaming at the city gate, “but no one spoke to him”. Perhaps he was shunned like most street-corner preachers! View a picture of a tablet of Zimri-Lim. (c. 1770 BC)

There are misconceptions about what a prophet is or is not in the context of the synagogue or the church. The Hebrew term is nabi’im and the Greek term is προφητη prophet and not simply to “foresee”. For Calvin, prophets are interpreters of the Law. Consider the distinction between prophet and priest. There are four titles in the definition of Prophet. One title is seer or visionary, a ḥōzeh in Amos 7:12. Another is a diviner or rō’eh. This is someone who can consult and communicate with the spirit world as in 1 Samuel 9:6. Man of God or ˆ’îš hā’ělōhîm is used for Elijah and Elisha as in 2 Kings 6:1-7. Prophet or nābî’ is the most common and is “somebody with a predetermined message or job” as in Isaiah 6, Jeremiah 1, Ezekiel 1-2, and 1 Samuel 9:9. In Hebrew the nābî’ are called to a task. Explore the actions of a prophet. They “spoke to the people on behalf of God” through voice and visions and represented humans to God as in Amos 7:2 and God to humans as in Amos 5:4. They saw the cosmic world as in Amos 7:4 and Zechariah 1:7-17. They spoke of the divine council as in Isaiah 6 and 1 Kings 22 and analyzed and criticized as in Micah 3. The prophets were of priestly origins as recorded for Jeremiah in 1 Kings 2:26-27, for Ezekiel in Ezra 1:3, for Zechariah in 1:1, and for Nehemiah in 12:16. They also provided intercession as in Joel 1:13-14, 19 and Zephaniah 3:14-15. Explore the historical context of the biblical prophets. Consider the statehood with Nathan and Gad in 2 Samuel 11-12; 24 and the divided Kingdom around 922 BC with Ahijah and Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11. There was also the military campaign of Assyria against Israel (North) in 740-730 BC with Tiglat-Pilaser III in 2 Kings 15 and Amos and Hosea found in Hosea 7:12. The Assyrian military campaign against Israel (South) in 722 BC took place with Sennacherib found in Micah 3:1-4 and Isaiah 36:10; 37:35 which states, “for my own sake and the sake of my servant David”. Explore the Babylon conquest with Nineveh 612 BC and Jerusalem 597 and 587 BC in Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 37, Haggai 2:20-23, and Zechariah. Consider the decline of prophecy in the 515 BC rededication of Temple, Judaism, and the Torah.

The Book of Jeremiah begins (1:1-4), “The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying . . . “ Consider doing theology from the Old Testament. Are we reading a Hebrew Bible or an Old Testament? Consider Marcion and that in erasing the Old Testament Marcion effectively attacked the Jesus of the church's memory. Explore the various Jewish names for Scripture. Ha-sefarim is Hebrew for 'the books' and the Greek, τα βιβλια means 'The book'. Torah or Tanakh is also used. Tanakh is the Torah (law) and Nebi’im (prophets) plus the Ketubim (writings) or TNK. What is a testament? Testamentum in Latin means ʻcovenantʼ or ʻcontractʼ. The Hebrew is berit. For Calvin, "The covenant made with all the patriarchs is so much like ours in substance and reality that the two are actually one and the same. Yet they differ in the mode of dispensation." The Bible itself gives us internal testimony. In the Old Testament we have Jeremiah 31,31-34 and Ezekiel 34,25-31. In the New Testament we have Hebrews 9,15-22 and 1 Corinthians 11,25. Luther stated, "For the New Testament is nothing more than a revelation of the Old, just as if somebody at first had a sealed letter and then opened it. So the Old Testament is the testamental letter of Christ, which he caused to be opened after his death and read and proclaimed everywhere through the Gospel." View a picture of a cathedral’s stained glass windows. How do stained glass windows work? Consider biblical theology and Jerome's statement. What makes theology biblical? Consider Childs on biblical theology, "It can either denote a theology contained within the Bible, or a theology which accords with the Bible."

Continue to explore the topic of biblical theology. In the early church we have Irenaeus’ "The Rule of Faith", Origen and the figurative sense of Scripture, and Augustine with his work, "On Christian Doctrine" which for him was a mode of accessing the truth. In the Medieval Period and Reformation we have Thomas Aquinas who used the senus literalis or the literal sense of Scripture. The Quadriga is the literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical level of Scripture. We also have Martin Luther with the theology of the Word and John Calvin with the two dispensations of the self-same substance. For Calvin, Israel's actual history is important and Scripture is its own and best interpreter. Calvin’s work is the "Institutes of the Christian Religion".

Continue to explore the history of biblical theology. In the 17th Century and Post-Reformation Period we have J.P. Gabler who held that we must classify and study each particular text, compare various parts of the Canon to determine where it converges and diverges from the rest of Scripture, and look for universal truths. G. L. Bauer separates Old and New Testament theologies into distinct camps. For J. Semler, the Old and New Testaments are different religions and his agenda is what is operative today in the academy. For H. Gunkel, ". . . the spirit of historical investigation has now taken the place of a traditional doctrine of inspiration." Consider doing theology from the Old Testament. Ebeling states, "We must be after the inner unity of the manifold testimony of the Bible." In the 19th Century we have Wellhausen and the Document Hypothesis. In the early 20th Century the Church and Academy united against national socialism. 1930-1960 is known as the "Golden Age of Old Testament Theology". Old Testament theology was not a history of religions' approach nor did it say that the historical critical method was totally bankrupt. Renewed theological interests exerted a pressure back on to the exegesis.