The Weeping Prophet: A Summary of Jeremiah’s Life

Jeremiah ben Hilkiah (before 627 BC – after 585 BC) is one of the more famous prophets of the Old Testament. God sent him to the Kingdom of Judah to warn them of judgment. Jeremiah prophesied during the chaotic years leading up to the invasion of Judah by Babylon. He lived through the siege of Jerusalem and continued to prophesy even after the fall of the city. He is known as the ‘weeping prophet’ because of his painful emotional struggles as he brought God’s Word to a rebellious nation.

Early Life

Jeremiah was likely born during the reign of the evil king Manasseh. He was born into the priestly village of Anathoth, three miles north of Jerusalem. This priestly village contained members of the tribe of Levi, although it was located in territory owned by the tribe of Benjamin. Despite his priestly heritage, there is no indication that Jeremiah himself was ever a priest.

In the year 627 BC, Jeremiah received a dramatic call from Yahweh, the God of Israel, to begin prophesying to the nation. While we do not know Jeremiah’s age at this time, he described himself as a ‘youth,’ likely in his late teenage years.

Jeremiah’s call to ministry involved ‘The Word of the LORD’ coming to him. He received a promise that God would be with him despite all challenges that he would face. His commission (which was international in scope) was described in this way:

“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.”

(Jeremiah 1:10)

This was confirmed by two visions. Jeremiah saw an almond branch which (through a play on Hebrew words) indicated that God was about to fulfill his word. He also saw a kettle of boiling liquid, tilting dangerously to the side, and leaning toward the south- an indication of the coming Babylonian destruction that would descend on the Kingdom of Judah from the north.

Josiah was king at this time, and we can assume that Jeremiah quickly involved himself in the reforms that Josiah was organizing. This included, in 622 BC, the finding of the lost ‘Book of the Law’ (likely the book of Deuteronomy) in the temple complex (see 2 Kings 22:8).

Societal Opposition

Despite Josiah’s attempts to reform the people from pagan worship, Jeremiah’s ministry was marked by opposition. Josiah himself was killed in battle in 609 BC. From that point on, Jeremiah faced both cultural and royal opposition that steadily intensified.

Although the details are hazy, there was a plot to kill Jeremiah that was launched from his hometown of Anathoth, likely by the priests who preferred pagan rituals to the pure worship of God (see Jeremiah 11:21).

Jeremiah’s ministry likely produced much of this friction because of his direct challenge to the people against their pagan practices. In his most famous sermon, the ‘Temple Sermon’ which was preached in front of the gate to the Temple in Jerusalem, Jeremiah called out the people for hypocritical actions, idolatry, and false religion. He then promised judgment if they did not repent, saying, “the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth” (Jeremiah 7:33).

Throughout his ministry, Jeremiah was aided by Baruch, a scribe who took care to record the prophecies of Jeremiah. After the painstaking labor of creating a scroll with the prophecies, the king Jehoiakim requested to hear the scroll read to him (Jeremiah 36:23). The king’s response was unsupportive; he cut the scroll up with a knife and cast it into the fire, indicating his complete rejection of everything that Jeremiah was preaching.

The final king of Judah, Zedekiah, was only slightly more supportive. As the political situation deteriorated, he called Jeremiah and would request prophetic insight in what to do. Despite being promised mercy, Zedekiah never did what he was told. Instead, Zedekiah bowed to popular pressure, eventually leading to Jeremiah’s arrest and imprisonment in Jerusalem.

The Siege of Jerusalem

The most dangerous time for Jeremiah came after Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Recognizing that God was no longer willing to remove the Babylonian threat, Jeremiah preached to the people to submit to the Babylonians. In this way, they would be spared rather than destroyed. This preaching led him to be accused of treason and weakening the fighting spirit. Jeremiah was lowered into a muddy pit for his crimes, where he sank deeply into the mud. All of this was done with the permission of King Zedekiah.

Jeremiah was saved only by the intervention of Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian court official who pleaded with King Zedekiah to rescue Jeremiah. Receiving royal permission, Ebed-Melech raced to the pit. With thirty men, he lowered ropes and rags down. The prophet stuffed the rags under his arms and was lifted out of the mud by means of the ropes.

This prevented Jeremiah’s immediate death, but he remained a prisoner. Finally, on July 19, 586 BC, Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.

Ministry after the Siege

Jeremiah was known to Nebuchadnezzar, who thought highly of him because he had counseled the people to surrender. When the city fell, Nebuchadnezzar instructed his officers to rescue Jeremiah from prison and give him liberty to live in the land.

While all the leading citizens of Judah were deported back to the Babylonian heartland, the poorest people in the land were allowed to remain. Jeremiah was given his liberty to continue living with them, which he did. Yet as political instability continued to rock the region, including the assassination of the Babylonian governor, the populace began to consider migrating to Egypt in order to avoid being under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar.

They eventually formed a delegation, and the grou asked Jeremiah whether they should go to Egypt. Jeremiah consulted with God, asking for direction for the people. God’s answer was clear: they should remain in the region and should not travel to Egypt.

On receiving this answer, the people promptly accused Jeremiah of prophesying for his own benefit, and then prepared to leave for Egypt, taking Jeremiah (probably by force) along with them.

While Jeremiah’s writings were meticulously recorded by the scribe Baruch (who ended up rewriting the scroll that was burnt by the king), nothing else is known of the prophet. He likely lived in Egypt until his death. His prophecies recorded dire predictions of the fate of the nations of his day, but also promises of hope. Jeremiah saw the worst in man, and he knew that what humans need is not external rules and regulations, but a heart changed to be obedient to God. He prophesied of a day when God would make a new covenant with his people, writing his law on their hearts.

Hundreds of years later, the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews would pick up this theme, referring to the promises of Jeremiah in Hebrews 10:16-17. The New Testament sees the coming of Jesus the Messiah! In this  period where these prophecies began to come to fruition, God instituted a new covenant, based on the blood of Jesus, and through the process of being ‘born-again,’ people receive hearts that have God’s law written on them.