Jeremiah 1

 

Jeremiah prophesied during the reigns of 5 kings of Judah, but two of them only reigned for 3 months and so are not mentioned in these verses.

 

After Jeremiah 1:3, you can’t really trust the record to be chronologic.  The following is a rendering of the chronology of these kings and Jeremiah’s prophecies. If you read about Jeremiah in the order presented, it will give you a completely new appreciation for his life and mission.

(Jeremiah chapters 11, 14, and 50-51 are placed based on content rather than chronology in an effort to match current events with Jeremiah’s prophecies. The prophecies may have been given earlier.)

 

“According to the superscription of the Book of Jeremiah (1:1-3), Jeremiah's ministry began in the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, and continued through the eleventh year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, at which time Jerusalem was destroyed and her captives carried away to Babylon. This passage also lists Jehoiakim as another king during whose reign Jeremiah received the word of the Lord. Actually, Jeremiah prophesied during the reign of five kings of Judah; however, two of these reigned for only three months, which is probably why they were not listed in the superscription. If the recorded biblical chronology of this period is correct, the length of Jeremiah's ministry exceeded forty-one years.” (Monte S. Nyman, The Words of Jeremiah [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], 2 - 3)

 

Remember that Lehi started prophesying in the first year of Zedekiah’s reign (1 Ne 1:4), but the destruction came in the eleventh year.  Nephi leaves us with the impression that the family left Jerusalem soon after Lehi started prophesying, but the destruction would not come until Zedekiah’s eleventh year.  Nephi and Lehi wandered in the wilderness for 8 years and were already in the land of promise before Jerusalem was destroyed (2 Ne. 1:4).

 

A memorable account of the power of [inspired] teaching comes from the life of the prophet Jeremiah. This great man felt the way most teachers or speakers or Church officers feel when called—inexperienced, inadequate, frightened. “Ah, Lord,” he cried, “behold, I cannot speak: for I am [but] a child.”

 

But the Lord reassured him: “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee. … Therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them.”

 

So speak unto them he did, but initially not with much success. Things went from bad to worse until finally he was imprisoned and made a laughingstock among the people. Angry that he had been so mistreated and maligned, Jeremiah vowed, in effect, never to teach another lesson, whether that be to an investigator, Primary child, new convert, or—heaven forbid—the 15-year-olds. “I will not make mention of [the Lord], nor speak any more in his name,” the discouraged prophet said. But then came the turning point of Jeremiah’s life. Something had been happening with every testimony he had borne, every scripture he had read, every truth he had taught. Something had been happening that he hadn’t counted on. Even as he vowed to close his mouth and walk away from the Lord’s work, he found that he could not. Why? Because “his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer. 20:7-9) (“A Teacher Come from God,” Ensign, May 1998, 27)

 

Now, some of you may be shy by nature or consider yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to a calling. Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies. (“Duty Calls,” Ensign, May 1996, 44)

 

 

“Like Enoch, Moses, and Isaiah before him, Jeremiah expressed his inadequacy: ‘Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child’ (Jer. 1:6). To Enoch's reply that he was young, hated, and slow of speech, the Lord had promised, ‘Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance’ (Moses 6:32; see also 6:33-36). To Moses' complaint that he too was ‘slow of speech,’ the Lord had promised that he would be with his mouth but finally promised in addition to provide for him a spokesman, his brother Aaron (Ex. 4:10-16). Isaiah felt unworthy to be in the presence of the Lord and answered, ‘I am a man of unclean lips’ —to which the Lord sent a seraph with a live coal from the altar to touch Isaiah's mouth and promise, ‘thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged’ (Isa. 6:5-7). Just as he had to Enoch, Moses, and Isaiah, the Lord responded to Jeremiah with a promise followed by a distinctive symbolic act. He said, ‘Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord’ (Jer. 1:7-8). With that admonition and promise, the Lord, in the words of Jeremiah, ‘put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth’ (Jer. 1:9). This gesture would serve Jeremiah throughout his mission as a sober reminder of the divine origin and urgency of the words that he would be asked to deliver and as a comfort that the Lord was with him to deliver him from his enemies. It also serves to remind us that the words in his book are of God.” (Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4: 1 Kings to Malachi [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 195)

 

The problem with most of us is that we are afraid. We want to do the right thing, but we are troubled by fears and we sit back as the world drifts about us.

 

I confess to you that by nature I was a very timid boy. When I left to go on a mission my great father said, "I want to give you only one verse of scripture." I think this has become, perhaps, the greatest help of my life, these words of the Lord to the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter was reported dead. And the Lord turned to the ruler of the synagogue and said: "Be not afraid, only believe." (Mark 5:36.)

 

"Be not afraid, only believe." I commend to you these wonderful words of the Lord as you think of your responsibilities and opportunities. (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], 129)

 

 

Prophets have power over the nations.  To the mortal eye, it may not appear to be so, but God will protect and empower his prophets.  LeGrand Richards used to teach that a deacon in the Mormon Church has more authority and power in the kingdom of God than the President of the United States.  Isn’t that true?  Jeremiah spent years in prison or under house arrest.  He appeared to have no power at all.  Yet, in the eyes of God, he had power “to root out,” “to pull down,” “to destroy, and to throw down.”

 

“Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the nations, and his mission was to proclaim destruction as well as restoration. Obviously the prophecies of doom would make Jeremiah unpopular and would lead to much persecution, even to the point of threatening his life. Yet the Lord promised that he would protect him: ‘For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land’ (Jer. 1:18). This imagery is ironic, for though Jeremiah would be protected as a mighty city, his people and the holy city they inhabited would not be. But protection from his enemies did not lessen the burden of suffering that Jeremiah would be called upon to bear. (Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4: 1 Kings to Malachi [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 195)

 

 

“The almond tree has special significance for Tu B’Shevat (a Jewish Holiday). The word for ‘almond’ is shakeid, which comes from a root that means to ‘watch’ or ‘wake.’ The almond tree is among the first trees to ‘awaken’ from its winter sleep… We therefore eat almonds on Tu B’Shevat to celebrate the return of spring.  In the Scriptures there is a play on words regarding the use of ‘almond’ and God’s ‘watchfulness’ (i.e., faithfulness):  ‘And the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it’ (Jer. 1:11-12)(http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Winter_Holidays/Tu_B_shevat/Almond_Tree/almond_tree.html)

 

 

How humiliating! Babylonian princes mocking the establishment of Jerusalem!  They set up their chairs like thrones because none was strong enough to oppose them.  Who could remove the thrones of the princes? They must be destroyed. Would Baal be able to do it? Where was the strength of Jerusalem?  

 

   All the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.

  And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night… (Jer. 39:3-4)

 

“Jeremiah lived in turbulent times. During his ministry he witnessed the solemn rededication to the covenant and the religious reforms of Josiah, the ensuing optimism and political independence shattered by Josiah's untimely death, the decline of the kings of Judah as vassals of Egypt and then Babylon, and ultimately rebellion, the destruction of the temple, and exile… Like Mormon, Jeremiah would address a hard-hearted people, and his message would fall on deaf ears. But at the end of forty years of alternately pleading and threatening, he would be an eyewitness to the truthfulness of his words and an eyewitness to the destruction of his people.” (Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4: 1 Kings to Malachi [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 195-196)

 

 

“When the Babylonians finally came and surrounded the city, Jeremiah… counseled individuals that they could survive by surrendering to the Babylonians. Such advice weakened the hands of the defenders and made Jeremiah look as if he were a traitor. (Jer. 38:2–4.) Yet only God knew what was coming and could tell them how to survive.

 

“In the final days of the siege, Zedekiah desperately asked Jeremiah for advice. Jeremiah promised him his life and the city’s salvation if he would give himself up to the Babylonians. Otherwise, the city would be destroyed. Yet Zedekiah kept the advice secret for fear of his own people, and Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled. (Jer. 38:17–27.)

 

“The widespread hostility to and rejection of divine messages made it a hard time to be an authentic prophet. Even the priestly men of Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown, repeatedly made attempts on Jeremiah’s life, saying, ‘Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand.’ (Jer. 11:21.) The plotters even involved his brothers and the house of his father. (See Jer. 12:6.)

 

“Jeremiah was horrified at the variety of plots being made against him: ‘I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living.’ (Jer. 11:19.)

 

“Another time, when he had promised that the temple and city would fall, the priests and prophets brought him to trial before the princes and accused him of treason, demanding his death. But, like Abinadi, he replied,

 

   But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. (See Jer. 26:8–15.)

 

“Once again, the Lord delivered Jeremiah out of their hands, as he had promised…

 

“The constant harassment, mockery, and ridicule became at times a burden almost too heavy for Jeremiah to bear. He wondered aloud, ‘Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?’ (Jer. 20:18.) On the other hand, he empathized with the suffering his people were about to experience: ‘Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!’ (Jer. 9:1.)” (Keith H. Meservy, “Jerusalem at the Time of Lehi and Jeremiah,” Ensign, Jan. 1988, 25)

 

 

“Jeremiah’s efforts provided a timeless example for all people. Although Jeremiah did not bring Judah to repent, and he did not avert the destruction of Jerusalem, the beneficial consequences of his life have been incalculably great. Jeremiah’s unwavering dedication to the Lord and his own personal brilliance are obvious in his forceful and moving denunciations of sin. (see Jer. 2; Jer. 7; Jer. 13; Jer. 16–17; Jer. 19.) Consequently, while the worship of Baal is today only a historical curiosity, Jeremiah’s writings continue to be meaningful. Jeremiah’s message far transcends the evils against which it was directed and continues to influence us in situations that Jeremiah himself might not have fully expected. Can anyone question whether Jeremiah, although persecuted and possibly martyred by the worshippers of Baal, achieved the final victory?

 

“In one sense, our problems today, like Jeremiah’s difficulties of twenty-five centuries ago, may have no immediate solution. Our challenge is to engage these problems with all the resources with which we have been blessed, with totally unwavering dedication to the Lord. We can be uncompromising in resisting evil. We can strengthen our families. We can seek to be led by righteous persons, and we can inform them of our views on current issues. We can extend to all people the opportunity to hear the truth and to unite in its support.” (K. Codell Carter, “Dark Clouds of Trouble,” Ensign, July 1980, 29)