Jeremiah was a youth when God called him to be a prophet in the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign in 627 B.C. Scripture doesn’t give Jeremiah’s age when he was called. He states that he is not up to the task because he ‘doesn’t know how to speak and is only a youth or child’ (Jer. 1:6). The Hebrew word here for youth/child is used for a newborn and is translated ‘boy’ in 1 Sam.4:21, a 3-month-old translated ‘child’ in Ex 2:6 and a 17-year-old translated ‘young man’ in Gen 37:2. Some O.T. scholars suggest he was around 13 others under 20 when he was called. He may have been around the same age as King Josiah. He ministered during the last five kings of Judah and even beyond that when Judah was defeated and taken to Babylon in 586 B.C. All five of the kings are mentioned in Jeremiah, they are Josiah (640-609 B.C.), Jehoahaz also known as Shallum (608 B.C.), Jehoikim (608-597 B.C.), Jehoiachin also known as Coniah (597 B.C.), and Zedekiah (597-586 B.C.). If you have the Holman Concise Bible Commentary you will want to read the Historical Background section on page 292. Also watch the Bible Project Summary Video of Jeremiah here.
In addition to being a prophet, Jeremiah was also a priest who lived in Anathoth, which was a priestly town located about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Solomon banished the priest Abiathar to Anathoth in
1 Kgs 2:26. Several O.T. scholars think that Jeremiah might have been a descendent of Abiathar. Jeremiah was not popular with other priests living in Anathoth, even members of his own family, see Jer. 11:21; 12:6. Jeremiah’s life was probably one of loneliness and few friends as God had told him not to marry or have children (Jer. 16:2). He was also not allowed to attend funeral events (Jer. 16:5). He complains in Jer. 15:10,
Woe is me, my mother,
that you gave birth to me,
a man who incites dispute and conflict
in all the land.
I did not lend or borrow,
yet everyone curses me.[1]
There are two passages in Jeremiah that are often referred to as Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon. They are found in chapter seven and in chapter twenty-six. The chapter twenty-six sermon is stated to be at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim and many believe it is a summary of the chapter seven sermon. The people felt that because God’s Temple was there, they were safe. Jeremiah’s message was that the Temple wouldn’t save them. They needed to repent. He named the sins that they were guilty of specifically in the account of the sermon in chapter seven, they included oppressing the alien, fatherless, and widows. They were also involved in idol worship. In other passages we learn they sacrificed their children to pagan gods (Jer. 19:5; 32:35). His preaching was so disliked that threats were made to his life.
In chapter thirty-six God instructs Jeremiah to write on a scroll all the words that God had given him and to have it read to the people. Since Jeremiah at this time was forbidden to go to the Temple he had his scribe Baruch take the scroll and read it before the people on a day of fasting. A day of fasting was called when there was a crisis facing the nation, see Joel 2:15-17. The scroll was read to the people and was eventually read before King Jehoiakim who would cut it up and throw the pieces in a warming fire. Jeremiah and Baruch had to go in hiding to preserve their lives from the angry king.
Jerimiah is known as the ‘weeping prophet’ for good reason. In Jer. 9:1 he writes, “If my head were a flowing spring, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.”[2]
[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Ibid.
