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?