Some Scripture scholars see prophet Jeremiah both as a prophet of doom and a prophet of hope. Discuss the veracity of this statement with the help of relevant texts from the Book of Jeremiah.
The starting point is the account of his vocation Jr 1:10
And the doctrine of the two ways in Chap 6, Chap 26 (there is hope if they obey).
He predicted the punishment of Jerusalem and Judah because of their sinfulness. This is the sign of Doom Jr2:13 Jr3, 4, 5.
The clear message of hope is in the famous book of consolation: 30, 31, 32, and 33.
31:31-34 “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, I will place my law within then”. Not on Tablet, but in their hearts (the heart being the sign of decision and discernment).
Ch 50 the fall of Babylon the super power is a good sign of hope for Israel.
Jeremiah was prophesying against Judah before the fall of Jerusalem because of their unfaithfulness, and was prophesying against the super power Babylon to give hope to his people that God will rebuild Jerusalem.
Before I enter into the heart of the discussion that is about the consideration of the prophet Jeremiah as a prophet of doom and prophet of hope by some Scripture scholars, I would suggest that we have a look on the person of Jeremiah and his historical background in order to know why prophecies of doom and prophecies of hope. Thus, I will first of all respond to the question “who is Jeremiah?”
The man Jeremiah
Born of a priestly family from the little village of Anathoth, some three miles northeast of Jerusalem, Jeremiah received his prophetic mission from God around 626 BC, while still a young man. His father was called Hilkiah of the land of Benjamin (Jer.1:1). The word of God came to him during the days of King Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. All that is known of Jeremiah is found in his book. There are many biographical narratives in his book. He was endowed with an affectionate personality and qualities which were not exactly compatible with his mission that was to “root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish (Jer.1:10).” A man of peace who was called to confront people and this led him into conflict with his people because of his mission. The anguish that characterized his life can be found in his prayer: “Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?” (Jer.15:18; 20:14-18). He was a man open to God, enemy of sin and delightful of God’s law. He was very patriotic and did not want his people to suffer God’s punishment. He faced thus the dilemma of announcing God’s punishment or keeping silence. But he stood for the announcement of God’s punishment in order to avoid it. According to the tradition he spent the rest of his life in Egypt because he was forced and brought there by his people. It is said that he was murdered in Egypt by his fellow Jews. His body lies buried on the African continent. What is then the socio-political and religious context of Jeremiah?
Historical background
Jeremiah lived during one of the most troubled periods in the Ancient Near East, between the second half of the seventh century BC and the first half of the sixth. He witnessed the momentous historical and political events that led to the fall of the great Assyrian Empire and the rise of an even greater Babylonian Empire. It was during this period of political turmoil that the small kingdom of Judah and with it the Israelite monarchy finally came to an end. During his forty years of ministry, Jeremiah never tired of reminding the people of their covenant obligation and warning the incompetent Davidic kings, one after another, that their infidelity was about to bring down God’s punishment on the whole nation.
After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC and the deportation, Jeremiah stayed behind for a while, but it was clear to him that the hopes for the future of the nation laid only in those who had gone into exile. After the assassination of Gedaliah, whom the Babylonians had appointed governor of Judah, a number of Jews decided to flee to Egypt.
In his book, “Prophets and prophecies”, Joseph Dheilly describes as follow the religious context: “Under Mannasses, paganism had free toleration; the baals were worshipped in the hill-shrines, temple prostitution and the sacrifice of children were common and recognized. Not only was fervent worship given to Ishtar, queen of heaven, in private houses “the mother kneading dough, and all to make cakes for queen of heaven!” (Jer.7:18), but the Temple was filled with idols and once again magic and divination were practiced (4kings 21:3-7; 23:4-7).”[1]
At the level of moral life Jeremiah realizes that not even one man is doing his duties (Jer. 5:1). More specifically, he castigates adultery and the frequenting of prostitutes (Jer.5:7), legalized robbery, and the oppression of the orphans and the poor (Jer.5:26-8); the really grave thing about this is that those who are responsible seem to be found in the most influential classes of the society. So, how did Jeremiah go about these complex situations?
The message of Jeremiah
To answer to the question whether Jeremiah is a prophet of doom or a prophet of hope or both, requires that one goes through the message of Jeremiah and then take position. In order to get the message of Jeremiah, we have to consider the structure of his book, to see what the content of the book is and then analyze that content:
→Structure according to the African Bible
I. Introduction and call of the Prophet (1:1-19)
II. Preaching of the Prophet (2:1-25:38)
III. Justification of the Prophet’s ministry with the message of Hope (26:1-45:5)
IV. Oracles against the Nations (46:1-51:64)
V. Historical illustrations (52:1-34)
Introduction (1:1-19).
Bearing in mind the context in which Jeremiah was called to work in, one can easily understand how difficult could be the mission of Jeremiah. Jer.1:10 gives a kind of summary of Jeremiah’s mission in six verbs of actions whereby four sound negative: “to root up and tear down, to destroy and to demolish” and the two positive: “to build up and to plant”. This shows how the people were not in good relationship with God starting from the kings, priests, some prophets and the rest of the people as we shall see.
The preaching of the Prophet (second part: chaps.2-25) points out all the wrong doings of the people of Israel (from the leaders to the simple people). In this part Jeremiah points out people’s infidelity (2:5; 2:19), and idolatry (2:26-27). He preaches about the unfaithfulness of Israel (4:22), about their injustice, hardness of hearts, crimes, incompetence of the leaders (21:11-22:30), he peaches about the sin and apostasy of Judah. All of these wrongdoings against the Lord will unfortunately lead to judgment and punishment of God’s people because they did not listen to the words of the prophet Jeremiah. This second part is concluded by a description of God’s punishment (25:15-38). So all the hardships the Jews will have to endure come from the mouth of Jeremiah commissioned by God. Thus, unfaithful kings, and priests, and false prophets, and immoral and wicked people died as the result of their sins. In addition the worst punishment God inflicted on his people is the exile or deportation in foreigner countries and the destruction of the Temple and devastation of the towns of Judah. So, the dooms that befell on the people of Israel were foretold by Jeremiah.
In the third part, that is about the justification of the Prophet’s ministry and the message of hope to the people of Israel (26:1-45:5), we find Jeremiah reminding his fellow Jews to come back to the Lord in listening to the prophets of God and to amend their lives to his law (26:4-5) in order to gain back God’s favor. In this sense, Jeremiah is telling them that if they do not follow God’s prescriptions, they will end by facing misfortune of any sort. However, this part is marked also with the message of hope (30:1-33:26). God promises to make a new covenant (31:31) that goes in the same line of the promise he made to His servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He promised to show mercy (33:26c) and to restore the people. From chapter 36 to chapter 45 again Jeremiah prophesies the threats and punishments God was intending against the Israelites because of the hardness of their heart. Jer.45:5 ends the third part with these words: “What I have built, I am tearing down; what I have planted, I am uprooting.” This is to show that God was decided to punish his people because of their wickedness, idolatry and apostasy, because of their adultery and crimes and so forth. He is a faithful God to his own words.
In the fourth part, that is about oracles against the Nations (46:1-51:64), Jeremiah prophesies against the Nations and their fate. Some of these nations, if not all, have served the Lord as instruments for punishment of Israel. Meanwhile their interactions with Israel have given more room to Israelites to profile their God in serving other gods. So the promise of the restoration of Israel brings about punishment of the Nations. This is why Egypt, Moab, Edom, Arabia, and Babylon got God’s punishment. This part presents the restoration of Israel on the one hand and the fall of the Nations on the other hand.
The last part is about the historical illustrations (52:1-34). Many studies agree that this part might have been added by the last compiler. It talks mainly of the destruction of Jerusalem. The compiler wanted to show that the prophecies of the great prophet Jeremiah have been fulfilled. This passage might have been taken from 2kgs.24: 18-25:30. The destruction of Jerusalem implies also the destruction of the Temple (in 587 BC) by the Babylonian Emperor, Nebuchadnezzar.
Having all this in mind what could one say? Is the Prophet Jeremiah the prophet of doom or a Prophet of Hope or both? One can have a problem of interpretation in the sense that we find both oracles of doom and oracles of hope in the book. With regard to this issue, Robert P. Carroll, a commentator of Jeremiah, has this to say: “The conflict between oracles of doom and promises of salvation is not peculiar to Jeremiah, but the problem constituted by it is exacerbated by the strongly critical nature of Jeremiah’s oracles. A prophet who said so many harsh things about the community can hardly have said such positive things without serious problems of interpretation arising.”[2]
So, all in all I would say that Jeremiah is both the prophet of doom and hope. This we have shown above in his message. He prophesied about the unfaithfulness of the Israelites to the covenant. Dooms came about because of the hardness of their hearts and unfaithfulness. And hope came about because God wanted to fulfill his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in bringing back his people in a new covenant based on love, justice, fidelity and care for the poor and oppressed. Jeremiah started by oracles of doom and ended by oracles oh hope, if we do not consider the last chapter (52).
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