Jeremiah 1--The Call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1
English Standard Version

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

The Call of Jeremiah
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD.”

9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
10 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.”

11 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” 12 Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” 14 Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.”

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Like Isaiah, Jeremiah was from one of the clans of the priests (descended from Aaron).  He was living in the region of the southern kingdom that belonged to the tribe of Bejamin--close to the Temple,  His time as a prophet came near the end of the time of the kings of Judah (you see the name Jehoiakim here which is one of the last kings of Judah), so the LORD gave Jeremiah a message to prepare the people for going into Exile.  It would be from the scroll of the prophet Jeremiah that the prophet Daniel would read of the limited number of days of their exile and receive comfort, but also Daniel would be concerned that even after 70 years of exile, the people were not ready to return to the Land.  

The LORD chooses Jeremiah to be His messenger and gave him a message that no one wanted to hear (and no one would listen to).  Jeremiah is known as the "Weeping Prophet" because he seemed to always be the bearer of bad news.  However, the LORD chose Jeremiah for this task before he was even conceived.  The LORD tells Jeremiah that he must always go where he is commanded to go and speak whatever he is told to speak (there will be times he wants to quit because no one is listening to him, and the LORD knows this will be a difficult, but necessary task and a necessary message for him to deliver).

The LORD already knows some of Jeremiah's objections and deals with them up front.  He is a young persona and the older people in the community might not listen to a young "whippersnapper" who is still wet behind the ears like him.  God says not to worry about that.  He is still to speak the words that the LORD give to him.  He tells Jeremiah not to be afraid of the people; whatever they may do to him (they will abuse and torture him and many times try to kill him because they hate the message that he brings as if killing the messenger will stop God's plan from moving forward).  He is to remember that the LORD is with him wherever he goes and whatever he goes through, the LORD is right there with him.  Whatever the people are doing to the prophet of the LORD, they are doing to the LORD, and they will be held accountable by the LORD.

The message that God put in Jeremiah's mouth was one of the building up and the destruction of nations.  It is a message of both blessing and of judgment (though people focus mostly on the judgment).  It is definitely not as hopeful as the prophet Isaiah which speaks much of salvation and deliverance, but there are still some of those themes here.  We will learn much of this thing called the "new covenant" in Jeremiah because a better covenant is needed.  The covenant that was written on the stone tablets that was given to Moses was not transforming the people of God and making them into His image bearers, so there would be a day when the LORD would make a better covenant with His people.  He would take their hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh (give them a new heart, take that which was dead and make them alive) and would write His commandments on their hearts so that it would be internalized--no longer would it be an external set of rules, and He would pour out His Spirit upon them so that they might be transformed and able to do everything He had commanded.  However, that is in the future and not going to happen for this generation that is about to go off into Exile.  They wanted to skip exile and go straight for the blessings that belonged to future generations.  They didn't understand that all this would come at the cost of God's own Son--His one and only Son.

Though the people are about to face judgment, the LORD promises that He will save a remnant for the sake of His Name and His plans and purposes.  It is not because the people deserve to be saved, but because the LORD has covenant promises to keep that are more important than the immediate judgment that all the sinful people of the world deserve.  He wants to provide a way of salvation for them and for that salvation to come through the tribe of Judah (the Jews) --descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Specifically, Messiah would have to come from the family of David because God made a covenant with David that King of Kings would come from his line.  Though this Messiah would be David's Lord, He would also be called the Son of David.  Just be prepared as we study Jeremiah and Lamentations that it is "heavy" and sad and depressing.  No one repents, proving that they all deserve the judgment to come, yet the message reaches into new generations and warns us even today, and perhaps some of us will listen where none at that time did.