cyberjosh
Member
I was reading Jeremiah last night and I've been taking a more careful method of stopping and pondering what seem like "simple statements" in Scripture lately to draw out its meaning and implications and I was struck to really see the heart of God in how He expressed Himself in just the first two chapters of Jeremiah. I don't have a set plan yet as to whether I will continue this study through the whole book of Jeremiah yet but I will just start with what I observed from the first two chapters and go from there.
My method will essentially be to quote verses that jumped out at me and then elucidate my thoughts on it. Unless otherwise noted I will be quoting from the ESV with the exception that I will modify all instances of "the LORD" with the real and accurate translation "Yahweh" (in the tradition of the ASV, which renders "the LORD" as the anglicized "Jehovah" though).
Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “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.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you - This brings to mind the passage in Psalm 139:15-16 which shows God's continuing thoughtful and creative act of giving men and women a living soul while they are yet in the womb, and not only that but also ordaining their destiny and a plan for their life at that time, even setting them apart for Himself (much as Nazirites were to be set apart completely to Yahweh).
I appointed you a prophet to the nations - Now here is something easy to overlook and underappreciate. Notice Yahweh did not say to Jeremiah that he would be a "prophet to Israel", as in restricted solely to Israel, but rather a "prophet to the nations". This is something that I have noticed more and more over the years: that God's prophets were not exclusive to Israel (even though some of the "Minor Prophets" had a prophetic word for only Israel or Judah) and that foreign nations even listened to the prophetic words of God's servants with eagerness or apprehension. We see this most explicitly in Jonah, but would be misled I think to see this as an exception and conceive of the prophets as only having prophetic authority over Israel. Elisha annointed Hazael as the king of Syria upon Yahweh's command (1 Kings 19:15; 2 Kings 8:7-15), and Hazael was only too glad to receive it in that case, and so he eagerly "listened" to Yahweh's prophet.
Aside from explicit stories like that though, even though we are often not given a description of where or how the prophecies were delivered, we however can imagine that all the prophecies leveled against foreign nations (such as the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel gave) were spoken in the presence of the foreigners they addressed (or their messengers/emissaries) or otherwise were written down upon clay or a scroll and sent to the foreign nations. When I was younger I always had a mental image of the prophets all wandering through the streets yelling their prophecies out loud, to no one in particular, and all of it being done within the confines of Israel itself (never "travelling for the occasion"). I'm quite sure the actual prophecies and how/where they were delivered were a little more complex than that, because the foreign nations apparently got the message (whether they chose to ignore it or not).
In Jeremiah's case though something remarkable happened and as a "prophet to the nations" none other than Nebuchadnezzar himself became a listener of Jeremiah's prophecies (which reminds me somewhat of how intently Herod kept tabs on what Jesus did during his ministry and desired to hear him in person). Nebuchadnezzar mentioned Jeremiah by name to his Captain of the Guard to be singled out for protection during the attack and exile of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar did this because he well knew from Jeremiah's own prophecies that Yahweh had chosen Nebuchadnezzar as a vessel to judge Judah, but he was fearful and respectful enough of Yahweh's prophet (who was the One giving him the victory) to do Jeremiah no harm. "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” (Jeremiah 39:11-12). So in a very literal sense Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations.
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. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 1:7-8)
Remarkably God does not care about our youth (with all its implied inexperience or immaturity) when it comes to serving Him. We are as dependent on Him (if not even more consciously so) when we are older as we are when we are younger, and the age of the vessel whom God chooses to use is irrelevant to the inner working and out working of His power through them. Just as Yahweh was with the young boy David against the churlish pagan Philistine Goliath, and as He was with King Josiah (during Jeremiah's own day) to rule as a righteous king at only 8 years old, so He said to Jeremiah "I am with you to deliver you" if he would yet do whatever He commanded Him to speak. This no doubt took courage as all faith does, but if God be for you who may be against you? That last consideration becomes especially elaborated on in Jeremiah 1:17-19.
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I will continue the rest of this soon, and go through chapters 1 and 2.
My method will essentially be to quote verses that jumped out at me and then elucidate my thoughts on it. Unless otherwise noted I will be quoting from the ESV with the exception that I will modify all instances of "the LORD" with the real and accurate translation "Yahweh" (in the tradition of the ASV, which renders "the LORD" as the anglicized "Jehovah" though).
Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “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.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you - This brings to mind the passage in Psalm 139:15-16 which shows God's continuing thoughtful and creative act of giving men and women a living soul while they are yet in the womb, and not only that but also ordaining their destiny and a plan for their life at that time, even setting them apart for Himself (much as Nazirites were to be set apart completely to Yahweh).
I appointed you a prophet to the nations - Now here is something easy to overlook and underappreciate. Notice Yahweh did not say to Jeremiah that he would be a "prophet to Israel", as in restricted solely to Israel, but rather a "prophet to the nations". This is something that I have noticed more and more over the years: that God's prophets were not exclusive to Israel (even though some of the "Minor Prophets" had a prophetic word for only Israel or Judah) and that foreign nations even listened to the prophetic words of God's servants with eagerness or apprehension. We see this most explicitly in Jonah, but would be misled I think to see this as an exception and conceive of the prophets as only having prophetic authority over Israel. Elisha annointed Hazael as the king of Syria upon Yahweh's command (1 Kings 19:15; 2 Kings 8:7-15), and Hazael was only too glad to receive it in that case, and so he eagerly "listened" to Yahweh's prophet.
Aside from explicit stories like that though, even though we are often not given a description of where or how the prophecies were delivered, we however can imagine that all the prophecies leveled against foreign nations (such as the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel gave) were spoken in the presence of the foreigners they addressed (or their messengers/emissaries) or otherwise were written down upon clay or a scroll and sent to the foreign nations. When I was younger I always had a mental image of the prophets all wandering through the streets yelling their prophecies out loud, to no one in particular, and all of it being done within the confines of Israel itself (never "travelling for the occasion"). I'm quite sure the actual prophecies and how/where they were delivered were a little more complex than that, because the foreign nations apparently got the message (whether they chose to ignore it or not).
In Jeremiah's case though something remarkable happened and as a "prophet to the nations" none other than Nebuchadnezzar himself became a listener of Jeremiah's prophecies (which reminds me somewhat of how intently Herod kept tabs on what Jesus did during his ministry and desired to hear him in person). Nebuchadnezzar mentioned Jeremiah by name to his Captain of the Guard to be singled out for protection during the attack and exile of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar did this because he well knew from Jeremiah's own prophecies that Yahweh had chosen Nebuchadnezzar as a vessel to judge Judah, but he was fearful and respectful enough of Yahweh's prophet (who was the One giving him the victory) to do Jeremiah no harm. "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” (Jeremiah 39:11-12). So in a very literal sense Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations.
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. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 1:7-8)
Remarkably God does not care about our youth (with all its implied inexperience or immaturity) when it comes to serving Him. We are as dependent on Him (if not even more consciously so) when we are older as we are when we are younger, and the age of the vessel whom God chooses to use is irrelevant to the inner working and out working of His power through them. Just as Yahweh was with the young boy David against the churlish pagan Philistine Goliath, and as He was with King Josiah (during Jeremiah's own day) to rule as a righteous king at only 8 years old, so He said to Jeremiah "I am with you to deliver you" if he would yet do whatever He commanded Him to speak. This no doubt took courage as all faith does, but if God be for you who may be against you? That last consideration becomes especially elaborated on in Jeremiah 1:17-19.
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I will continue the rest of this soon, and go through chapters 1 and 2.
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