Jeremiah is the Old Testament prophet most like Jesus. He speaks for God during one of the worst times in Jewish history — the last decades before the kingdom of Judah is destroyed. Jeremiah objects to God’s call to be a prophet, insisting that he is too young and doesn’t know what to say. When Jeremiah begins speaking as God’s prophet at age 22, the great reforming king Josiah reigns and listens to Jeremiah. The year is 628 B.C.
However, Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt vie for power in the Middle East, much as nations do today. As Babylon (think Iran) begins to take over the Assyrian empire (think Iraq), Josiah sees a chance to extend Israel’s boundaries. He dies in battle in 609; Jeremiah stands up against increasing opposition.
When the Babylonians conquer the Assyrians, Jeremiah preaches against making an alliance with the Egyptians to fight them. He smashes pots to demonstrate what will happen to Jerusalem. He wears a yoke to show what Babylon will do to the people.
The kings after Josiah and the people of Judah think the temple makes Jerusalem invincible. They see Jeremiah as a traitor for insisting God will remain with them “only if you reform your ways…deal justly with your neighbor, no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow.”
God calls Jeremiah.
In the days of Josiah
the word of the Holy One
came to me:
Before I formed you in the womb
I knew you; before you were born,
I dedicated you; I appointed you
a prophet to the nations.
Gird your loins, stand up, tell the people all that I command you.
Do not break down before them,
or I will break you before them.
I, for my part, this day
have made you a fortified city,
a pillar of iron, a wall of brass
against the whole land:
against Judah’s kings and princes,
against its priests and people.
They will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you, says God,
to deliver you.
Jeremiah 1.4-5, 17-19
- When have you experienced God’s call to speak as a prophet? What has your speaking cost you?
- Who speaks as a prophet against the wrongs of our time? What does it cost him or her?
- How do you judge whether to accept or reject the words of a prophet?