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Friday, December 6th, 2024
the First Week of Advent
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Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah

Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the BibleKretzmann's Commentary

Chapter 1
Jeremiah's Calling and Divine Appointment.
Chapter 2
Israel's Unfaithfulness; Call to Repentance.
Chapter 3
Call to Return to God; Israel's Waywardness.
Chapter 4
Impending Judgment and Call for Repentance.
Chapter 5
The People's Sin and Coming Judgment.
Chapter 6
Imminent Judgment; Call to Flee from Danger.
Chapter 7
Temple Sermons; Rejection of Empty Rituals.
Chapter 8
Judgment and Sorrow over Israel's Sin.
Chapter 9
Lament over Judah's Sin; Call for Truth.
Chapter 10
God's Sovereignty versus Idolatry; Judgment on Nations.
Chapter 11
The Covenant Broken; Conspiracy against Jeremiah.
Chapter 12
Jeremiah's Complaint; Divine Response about Judgment.
Chapter 13
Symbolic Acts Illustrating Judah's Sin and Judgment.
Chapter 14
Drought; Jeremiah's Plea for Mercy.
Chapter 15
God's Judgment; Jeremiah's Lament and Call for Deliverance.
Chapter 16
Restrictions on Jeremiah; Prophecy of Judgment and Restoration.
Chapter 17
Judah's Sin and its Consequences; Blessing of Trust in God.
Chapter 18
The Potter's House; Israel's Choice and Consequences.
Chapter 19
Symbolic Act of the Broken Jar; Judgment.
Chapter 20
Jeremiah's Suffering and Complaint; Confidence in God.
Chapter 21
Judgment against Jerusalem; Promise of Deliverance.
Chapter 22
Judgment on Judah's Kings; Call for Justice.
Chapter 23
The Righteous Branch; False Prophets and True Shepherds.
Chapter 24
Vision of Good and Bad Figs; Exile's Outcome.
Chapter 25
Seventy Years of Captivity; Judgment on Nations.
Chapter 26
Jeremiah's Message; Opposition and Deliverance.
Chapter 27
The Yoke of Babylon; Warning to Surrounding Nations.
Chapter 28
False Prophet Hananiah's Prophecy and Judgment.
Chapter 29
Letter to the Exiles; Promise of Restoration.
Chapter 30
Restoration and Future Blessings for Israel.
Chapter 31
New Covenant and Restoration; Future Hope.
Chapter 32
Purchase of the Field; Confirmation of God's Promise.
Chapter 33
Promises of Restoration and Righteous Leadership.
Chapter 34
Judgment on Zedekiah; Broken Covenant.
Chapter 35
The Rechabites' Example; Judgment on Judah.
Chapter 36
Baruch's Scroll; Jehoiakim's Rejection and Destruction.
Chapter 37
Jeremiah's Imprisonment; Warnings to Zedekiah.
Chapter 38
Jeremiah's Trial and Rescue from the Pit.
Chapter 39
Jerusalem's Fall and Exile; Jeremiah's Release.
Chapter 40
Gedaliah Appointed Governor; Warning of Further Invasion.
Chapter 41
Murder of Gedaliah; Flight to Egypt.
Chapter 42
Jeremiah's Warning against Going to Egypt.
Chapter 43
Flight to Egypt; Idolatry Condemned.
Chapter 44
Judgment on Those Who Worshipped Idols in Egypt.
Chapter 45
Message to Baruch; Reassurance amid Trials.
Chapter 46
Prophecies against Egypt and its Allies.
Chapter 47
Prophecy against the Philistines.
Chapter 48
Prophecy against Moab and its Destruction.
Chapter 49
Prophecies against Ammon, Edom, Damascus, and Elam.
Chapter 50
Prophecy against Babylon; Future Restoration of Israel.
Chapter 51
Further Prophecy against Babylon; Call to Flee.
Chapter 52
Fall of Jerusalem; Final Note on Zedekiah.

- Jeremiah

by Paul E. Kretzmann

The Book Of The Prophet Jeremiah

Introduction

The prophet Jeremiah, a native of Anathoth, a town situated a little over three miles northeast of Jerusalem, within the boundaries of Benjamin, was born shortly before Josiah became king. He was a member of a priestly family, and God called him to be a prophet when he was still a very young man. He witnessed the great reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah, whose death he lamented. During the early years of Jehoiakim's reign he was in danger of losing his life on account of his faithful preaching. He was threatened even by his townsmen and opposed by his own family. He was obliged to endure many other indignities and adversities, not only under the reign of Jehoiakim, but also under that of Zedekiah, the climax of his sufferings being reached when the armies of the Chaldeans approached the city. After the capture of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was taken in chains as far as Ramah, but released by Nebuchadnezzar's general. He lived with Gedaliah, the governor of the country, for a while, but after the assassination of Gedaliah was carried to Egypt by force. He continued to preach and prophesy in Egypt, predicting the conquest of the country by Nebuchadnezzar and warning the Jews to abstain from idolatry. He seems to have died in Egypt, according to tradition having been stoned to death by his own countrymen.

As the brief outline of Jeremiah's life shows, the period of Jewish history in which he lived was the critical time preceding the nation's doom. Only one of the five kings under whom Jeremiah prophesied was a pious ruler. The people became guilty of gross idolatry and, as they relapsed into paganism, of immoral practices. Covetousness, dishonesty, murder, adultery, stealing, false swearing, and other sins were prevalent throughout the nation. Year after year Jeremiah came with messages from God, whose mercy and compassion sought to turn His people to repentance, but the moral corruption was too great, and the people refused to obey. They preferred to listen to various false prophets, who predicted peace and prosperity. But though the work of Jeremiah, to all outer appearances, was vain, it resulted, in fact, in a clearing of the situation, since, as a consequence, the true Israelites were preserved in faith. In spite of all the trying experiences, therefore, which Jeremiah, naturally of a mild, sensitive, and retiring disposition, had to undergo, he remained faithful to his task as a prophet of the one true God. He ever found comfort and strength in the promise which the Lord had given him at the beginning of his labors: "Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee. . They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. "

The arrangement of the Book of Jeremiah is topical rather than chronological. It may be divided into two large groups. The first division contains the introduction and the prophecies concerning Judah, together with some historical matter, 1-45; the second division contains ten prophetical discourses concerning nine foreign nations, together with a final historical account concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the release of Jehoiachin. A more detailed division of the book yields the following outline: prophecies belonging for the most part to the reign of Josiah, 1-6; prophecies belonging probably chiefly to the reign of Jehoiakim, 7-21; prophecies probably belonging to the reign of Jehoiachin, 22 and 23; prophecies and events in the reign of Zedekiah, 4-39; history and prophecies under Gedaliah's administration and in Egypt, 40-44; group of prophecies against heathen nations, 46-51; historical conclusion, 52. As stated above, however, this division is only general.

There are several notable prophecies in the Book of Jeremiah, some of them being veritable gems of epigrammatic utterance. But the most beautiful passages are the Messianic prophecies concerning the Lord, our Righteousness. Cf Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 30:9. The prophecy of the New Covenant refers to the days of the New Testament, which began with the coming of Christ. Jeremiah 31:31-34.

 
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