The Life of Jeremiah

THE LIFE OF JEREMIAH
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The life of Jeremiah
Introduction
Jeremiah was the son of a Leviticus priest called Hilkiah. The man came from a small village in the territory of Benjamin called Anathoth and located three miles away from the north East of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 1:1). The birth year of Jeremiah is approximately between 650 and 645 BCE. God called Jeremiah to become a prophet when he was young. Initially, the lad resisted the calling with the objection that his youth hindered him from doing the will of God (Jeremiah 1:2). Jeremiah was exposed to religious services performed by priests as a child. These events enabled God to groom man for future prophetic responsibilities. The name Jeremiah in Latin vulgate is Jeremias while in Hebrew is Yirmeyahu which means Yahweh exalts.
The life and time of Jeremiah
God called Jeremiah around 627 B.C. during the 13th-year reign of King Josiah of Judah. Some scholars believe that after the call, Jeremiah attended as a prophet in the temple. At the same time, other researchers trust the unlikeliness of the situation because of Jeremiah's criticism of prophets, temple cult, and priests.God had set Jeremiah apart to become a prophet way before Jeremiah was born. God wanted Jeremiah to take his word to all nations and Israelites (Jeremiah 1:5). The prophet had an overview of his foretelling ministry (Jeremiah 1:9-10). It meant that God had chosen Jeremiah to declare devastation and establishment of nations that would ultimately obey and follow the will of God. Jeremiah was one of Yahweh's prophets through the reign of the five kings of Judah; Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. The prophet continued to spread the word of God when Babylonians captured Jerusalem (Jeremiah 1:3, 52:7-11).[Else K Holt, "Portraits of the Prophet in the Book of Jeremiah." The Oxford Handbook of Jeremiah (2021): 343.] [Ibid]
Jeremiah, the Lamentation Prophet
Jeremiah is referred to as a weeping prophet. The description arises from his concern about peoples' imminent chastisement. Jeremiah wept because his family denounced him (Jeremiah 12:6), and people rejected his preaching message. The prophet told God that everyone disdained and mocked him (Jeremiah 20:7). Jeremiah also wept for Josiah, probably because of the king's untimely death and the punishment that would soon befall the nation. Babylonia captured the nation of Judah as a punishment from God because they refused to heed the prophets' warning about repentance. Jeremiah 13:17 reveals that the prophet wept about people's pride.[M. M. Reddy, & Nicolaides, A. (2022). Jeremiah the Suffering Prophet-his Communication of Judgement and Promise of Blessing. Phoros Journal of Theology, 103(2), 1-17.] [Ibid., 7]
The Era of Josiah
God called Jeremiah to prophetic ministry a year after Josiah began creating reform to stop idolatry. The king's grandfather Manasseh and father Amon established the sinful situation (2 Kings 20, 21:10). Jeremiah also witnessed people Manasseh's rituals of worshiping the queen of heaven and making child sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:18, 7:31,195,32:35,44:19). These events where the reason Jeremiah was selected to disclose the sins of individuals and the penalties of disregarding them. King Josiah led the people in tearing down pagan pillars, altars, images, and places of worship that even dated back to the times of King Solomon. When Jeremiah began the work of God, Josiah was 21 years, and he had already established improvements to bring people back to the worship of one true Yahweh (2 Kings 23:10-15) (2 Chronicles 34:3)[Mary Chilton Callaway, Jeremiah through the Centuries. John Wiley & Sons, 2020.]
Josiah found the missing book of the law hidden in the temple of Jerusalem. Jeremiah dedicated himself to evangelizing the law to the people in Jerusalem and the whole of Judah (2 Kings 22:3,8) (Jeremiah 11:1-8). The people observed the long-neglected Passover festival in the same year (2 Kings 23:22-23). Jeremiah was among the people who hoped for a lasting spiritual restoration. Still, unfortunately, the virtuous king Josiah died abruptly at the age of 39, which left the whole nation in mourning (2 Chronicles 35:25). Eventually, Josiah's reforms were forgotten due to the deep-rooted sins of Manasseh among the people (Kings 23:26-27) (Jeremiah 15:4-2). Consequently, the nation of Judah could not escape the wrath of God.
Scholars believe that Josiah's reforms and the Book of Law relied on Deuteronomy or some part of it. Moreover, researchers suggest that Jeremiah became disappointed with the reforms because they ignored ethical conduct and people's inner spirit and mainly focused on the externals of religion. Jeremiah may have lapsed into several years of silence due to insignificant reforms and the failure of his prophecy on the foe from the north materializing.[M. M. Reddy, & Nicolaides, A. (2022). Jeremiah the Suffering Prophet-his Communication of Judgement and Promise of Blessing. Phoros Journal of Theology, 103(2), 1-17.]
Some intellectuals question the accuracy of biblical accounts since they doubt that the work of Jeremiah began in the 627BC. The opinion rises due to the difficulty of identifying the foe from the north, which is related to the Babylonians in later periods, and the inability to assign Jeremiah's messages to the kingship of Josiah or determine the prophet's attitude towards the Deuteronomic revolutions. In the view of such intellectuals, Jeremiah stated propheti...