The Peak of Jeremiah

An important step in Biblical literacy is to learn to read a Bible book the way the original readers would have read it. The original readers of Jeremiah were displaced people. They lost all they owned as they were taken captive to foreign lands. While in captivity they learned that all they loved was destroyed, the City of Jerusalem, the Palace, and especially the Temple of the Lord. With news of the destruction of these things the people would basically have lost all hope (except for certain people like Daniel who had rock-solid faith and a living relationship with the Creator).

When the book of Jeremiah is read with the eyes of its original readership some of its organization becomes clearer. Its book ends have already been mentioned. Now it is time to look at Peak.

The first 23 chapters lay down an undeniable case for "why" all the tragedies have taken place. Chapter 24 is pivotal in that is states clearly that God's protective presence left the land and moved to the captives (good figs, bad figs). Chapters 25-29 show more of the "why" and "how' of the tragedies.

When the original readers get to chapter 30 through 33 the dark clouds are transformed into crystal blue sky. Hope is restored. The view is glorious. And the promises are absolute. This is clearly the Peak of Jeremiah. Israel's broken relationship with their God will be restored. The people will all return to the land. The covenantal blessings will be received in abundance. Fields will produce abundantly, animals will thrive. And a New and Better Covenant will be ratified that will prevent all these tragedies from ever happening again.

What glorious promises these are. Captive people of Israel forever rejoice!

"Time Stamps"

Even the original readership of the book of Jeremiah read about events and dates mentioned in the book from a later date. The "now" of the book was all historical to them (just as it is with us). However, this does not diminish the importance of what is said here below:

Time is an element of the book of Jeremiah that must be recognized. Chronology is included in the text and is very important. The thing is, the people the Book was written to were very well informed of the chronology of the nations of Israel and Judah. They knew the lineages of the kings and all the events surrounding them. They knew details of battles, the foreign conquests and deportations. In fact, the original readership were all displaced people, they all had part in the history we are talking about. Even if their ancestors had been deported a hundred years earlier, the history had been handed down from generation to generation and any and all news from the homeland was sought and cherished and discussed and passed down.

Therefore, rather than record things in a restrictive, chronological order, the author of Jeremiah was able to write thematically and place the events and prophecies in their proper historical context by using what we might call “time stamps.” 

Here is an example: The phrase, “After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin … king of Judah … (24:1)” is a very clear time stamp. It gives a specific context for the word of the Lord that follows.  The significance of this particular date is that this is when the majority of the population of the holy city was dragged away into exile. Jerusalem was emptied of its king and his family, its soldiers, its tradesman, its leaders and almost all of its population. Left behind was an incompetent king, peasants, and a wily prophet. This is the context where the good figs, bad figs prophecy of this chapter is revealed. There are about 18 of these time stamps placed throughout the book. The one mentioned above is the 4^th. 

These time stamps are key to recognizing the author's organization of his book.

Original Audience

A genuine benefit comes out of the seeming disorganized structure of Jeremiah. It forces us to realize that it was not written directly for us. It had a different target audience. This is important going forward.

To study Jeremiah properly, we should shed our modern dress, and instead don our ancient turbans and dusty sandals, then stand among a group of refugees and listen to someone as he reads it to us. We will get a lot more out of it this way than by reading it in comfortable surroundings with an over analytical brain.

There is no reason for this book to be arranged chronologically. Its original audience all knew about the major participants in the book, the kings and other officials, who succeeded whom. They know about the sieges and failed alliances and they can trace their history back to the different deportations. The conversations around their nightly fires centered around these things, because their life and identity is still founded on the land, the city, the palace and the temple. They talked in detail about these things on a daily basis.

When you are sitting around those fires at night, Jeremiah’s words in Chapter 24 become very personal, “Hey guys, the LORD says we are the good figs, not the bad figs. PTL!”  That makes you all feel a whole lot better about your state of affairs. Away with the “rejected” motif and on with the “blessed” one in all our conversations.

The words in Chapter 29:7 speak directly to you and your whole group. “And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” What? Pray for the pagan, idolatrous Babylonians’ welfare? Yes! I guess no more imprecatory Psalms for them.

And the list goes on and on and on. The book of Jeremiah was planned, drafted and crafted not for a 21^st century audience, but for deeply grieved, displaced, confused and doubting Israelis in the 500s BCE.

Jeremiah has Bookends

Yes, the text of the book of Jeremiah begins with a clear introduction, and, if understood right, a masterful conclusion.

Introductory bookend:

The first three verses of the book provide its own introductory description. It states that the book of Jeremiah contains the words, messages, and prophesies of Prophet Jeremiah, which were announced over a period of more than 40 years. The period begins in the 13th year of King Josiah's reign (627BCE) and ends with the capture of the last king of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem, the palace and the LORD's Temple, and deportation of the total population (586BCE).

What this means as readers, is that we need to read the book and the messages of Jeremiah not from the perspective of the people on the ground, hearing them audibly when Jeremiah first spoke them, but from the perspective of the initial readers of the completed book. These would be the people living after the events had taken place. The original audience for the Book of Jeremiah were badly displaced Israelis who's land had been conquered and stripped of anything of value. They are a defeated people. They have been taken captive to distant lands, forced to serve masters who speak foreign languages, live by strange laws and expectations, and worship "gods" that the Israelis should never have had anything to do with.

The original audience of the Book of Jeremiah were distressed, displaced, defeated people who may feel abandoned by their God, or are convinced that their "god" was weak and powerless.

How can you place trust in a God who has been defeated and shamed in the eyes of the whole world?

This is one of the major questions and misunderstandings that is being intentionally addressed in the Book of Jeremiah.

Concluding bookend:

Chapter 52 consists of a second description of the fall of Jerusalem. It adds a few details but is mostly repetition of material already given in chapter 39. This serve as a bookend, but it would not at all be masterful. The actual bookend is 52:31-34. It adds new information, dating over 25 years after the fall of Jerusalem. It is clever, it is masterful, But sorry, this blog is not going to get into it until many other things get covered first.

The Book is an Intentional, Actual Unity

Scholarly Criticism has attacked the book of Jeremiah and argues with a unified voice that it was written in a number of different pieces and forms and then the parts of it were gathered and collated by different people at different times and so its final form is a patchwork of these records as arranged by the efforts and whims of the compilers.


This blog is strongly opposed to such views.

This blog is moving forward with the belief that: The Book of Jeremiah is a unity - it is planned and purposefully arranged - there is nothing hodgepodge, mishmash, nor willynilly about it.


And if this assumption is true, then it should be possible (as with any good literature) to uncover much of the plan, the purposeful arrangement, and possibly grapple successfully with intentions of the original author.

This is the gold mine that this blog is working on.

Lets Look at the Book, not the Person (for the time being)

Jeremiah is both the name of a person and the name of a book. This blog is named after the person, but its focus over the next months/years will be on JBH's Book. It is the largest book in the Bible (going by number of words in the original languages). And it is among the most neglected.

I often think of Jesus' strange words, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." Mat. 7:6 NKJ

What do these words of Jesus have to do with the book of Jeremiah? There are some holy, valuable pearls that the Lord chose to implant in this largest and most difficult of books in the Bible. They are things closest to His holy heart, and he doesn't want them trampled on by casual, uncommitted followers. It takes work to see and learn the best of things in God's word.

True knowledge of God comes at a cost, is it a cost you are willing to pay?

Jeremiah Ben Hilkiah

This is a fascinating, rewarding study.

Jeremiah Ben Hilkiah was a truly remarkable man.

But it kinda seems he wasn't very organized when he wrote his book.

The book he wrote is a massive labyrinth (the largest (and certainly the most confusing) book in the Bible). But he spiked his tome with energy bars and suitable fizzie drinks at appropriate places to edge the reader on through the maze.

This blogger is attempting to study this labyrinth from all angles so as to provide others with a road-map to greatly assist their study and reaping the rewards of this gem-in-the-rough.