Wednesday House Church

Jeremiah week 1

Jeremiah 1:1-3

Who and When 

The Theme Of Loyalty

Jeremiah opens up its introduction by revealing to the reader who and when this prophet prophesied. This provides us some important contextual data about the prophet and about the social situation of his prophecy. 

For our study, it’s important that we take the invitation of these introductory verses, which is to know who is speaking and when, as this will set the stage for our reading and understanding this Text. 

What we’ll learn is that Jeremiah is a priest of Anatoth, which sets him up as an outsider of the religious and political powers of Jerusalem. 

As well, we’ll discover that Jeremiah prophesied during the turbulent days leading up to the fall of Jerusalem, the exile of the nobles and the destruction of Jerusalem, which came 10 years after Jerusalem’s fall. 

Moreover, we will need to consider the geo-political situation of the time, so that we have a grasp on the political influences outside of Jerusalem, which play a key role throughout the book. 

All of this will set up a major theme about loyalty that runs through the book. The geo-political question is whether they will be loyal to Babylon, or to Egypt. Jeremiah, however, will play off this concern asking if they will be loyal to the Covenant made with Yahweh/the Lord?