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JeremiahAid to Bible Understanding
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be cut off from Jonadab the son of Rechab a man to stand before me always.”—Jer. 35:1-10, 19.
8. A priest (or one representing the priestly house of that name) who returned from Babylonian exile in 537 B.C.E. with Governor Zerubbabel and High Priest Jeshua.—Neh. 12:1.
9. A priest (or one representing a household by that name) among those attesting by seal the “trustworthy arrangement” entered into before Jehovah by Nehemiah and the princes, priests, and Levites (c. 455 B.C.E.), to walk in God’s law. If the name stands for a house rather than an individual, this may be the same as No. 8.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 2, 29.
10. A priest (or a priestly house) appointed to one of the thanksgiving choirs walking in procession on the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of the Ashheaps to the right, toward the Water Gate, eventually meeting the other choir at the temple. (Neh. 12:31-37) In the days of Joiakim, Hananiah was head of the paternal house of Jeremiah. (Neh. 12:12) If the name Jeremiah here stands for a house and not for an individual, this may be the same as No. 8.
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Jeremiah, Book ofAid to Bible Understanding
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JEREMIAH, BOOK OF
Jeremiah was commissioned as prophet in the thirteenth year of King Josiah (647 B.C.E.) to warn the southern kingdom, Judah, of her impending destruction. This was less than a century after the prophet Isaiah’s activity and the fall of Israel, the northern kingdom, to the Assyrians.
WHEN WRITTEN
For the most part, the book of Jeremiah was not written at the time he declared the prophecies. Rather, Jeremiah evidently did not put any of his proclamations into writing until he was commanded by Jehovah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim (625 B.C.E.), to dictate all the words given him by Jehovah to date. This included, not only words spoken about Judah in Josiah’s time, but also proclamations of judgment on all the nations. (Jer. 36:1, 2) The resulting scroll was burned by Jehoiakim when Jehudi read it to him. But Jeremiah was ordered to write it over, which he did through his secretary Baruch, with many additional words.—Jer. 36:21-23, 28, 32.
The remainder of the book was evidently added later, including the introduction, which mentions the eleventh year of Zedekiah (Jer. 1:3), and other prophecies that Jeremiah wrote down at the time he was to deliver them (Jer. 30:2; 51:60) and the letter to the exiles in Babylon. (Jer. 29:1) Additionally, the proclamations uttered during the reign of Zedekiah, and the accounts of the events, after Jerusalem’s fall, down to about 580 B.C.E., were added later. It may be that, although the scroll written by Baruch was the basis for a large part of the book, Jeremiah afterward edited and arranged it when adding later sections.
ARRANGEMENT
The book is not arranged chronologically, but, rather, according to subject matter. Dating is presented where necessary, but the majority of the prophecies are applicable to the nation of Judah throughout the general period of the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. God repeatedly told Jeremiah that the nation was incorrigibly wicked, beyond reform. Yet those with right hearts were given full opportunity to reform and find deliverance. As to being prophetic for our day, the arrangement does not affect the understanding and application of Jeremiah’s writings.
AUTHENTICITY
The authenticity of Jeremiah is generally accepted. Only a few critics have challenged it on the basis of the differences in the Hebrew Masoretic text and the Septuagint Version as found in the Alexandrine Manuscript. There are more variations between the Hebrew and the Greek texts of the book of Jeremiah than in any other book of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Septuagint Version is said to be shorter than the Hebrew text by about 2,700 words, or one-eighth of the book. The majority of scholars agree that the Greek translation of this book is defective, but that does not lessen the reliability of the Hebrew text. It has been suggested that the translator may have had a Hebrew manuscript of a different “family,” a special recension, but critical study reveals that this apparently was not the case.
The fulfillment of the prophecies recorded by Jeremiah, together with their content, strongly testifies to the book’s authenticity. Among the numerous prophecies of Jeremiah, some of which he personally saw fulfilled, are the following:
The captivity of Zedekiah and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Jer. 20:3-6; 21:3-10; 39:6-9)
The dethronement and death in captivity of King Shallum (Jehoahaz) (Jer. 22:11, 12; 2 Ki. 23:30-34; 2 Chron. 36:1-4)
The taking captive of King Coniah (Jehoiachin) to Babylon (Jer. 22:24-27; 2 Ki. 24:15, 16)
The death, within one year, of the false prophet Hananiah (Jer. 28:16, 17)
Some of the Rechabites, and Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, surviving Jerusalem’s destruction (Jer. 35:19; 39:15-18)
Among further fulfillments of Jeremiah’s prophecies are:
Egypt invaded, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 43:8-13; 46:13-26)
The return of the Jews and rebuilding of the temple and the city after seventy years’ desolation (Jer. 24:1-7; 25:11, 12; 29:10; 30:11, 18, 19; compare 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21; Ezra 1:1; Daniel 9:2.)
Ammon laid waste (Jer. 49:2)
Edom cut off as a nation (Jer. 49:17, 18) (With the death of the Herods, Edom became extinct as a nation.)
Babylon to become a permanent desolation (Jer. 25:12-14; 50:35, 38-40)
The Christian Greek Scriptures indicate that Jeremiah’s prophecies have a larger, spiritual fulfillment. Among these are the following:
A new covenant made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-13)
David’s house not to lack a man on the throne of the kingdom forever (Jer. 33:17-21; Luke 1:32, 33)
Fall of Babylon the Great an enlargement and symbolic application of Jeremiah’s words against ancient Babylon, as the following comparisons show:
In Jeremiah In Revelation
50:2 14:8
50:8; 51:6, 45 18:4
50:15, 29 18:6, 7
50:23 18:8, 15-17
50:38 16:12
50:39, 40; 51:37 18:2
51:8 18:8-10, 15, 19
51:9, 49, 56 18:5
51:12 17:16, 17
51:13 17:1, 15
51:48 18:20
51:55 18:22, 23
51:63, 64 18:21
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