Old Testament Book of Jeremiah - Research Paper Example

Old Testament Book of Jeremiah The book of Jeremiah conserves accounts of prophetic ministries about Jeremiah himself, a biography of his personal life and struggles to be discussed in larger intensity and aspect compared to any other Old Testament prophet. The significance of his Christian name is vague. Suggestions comprise “The Lord exalts” in addition to “The Lord establishes,” most probable proposal include “The Lord throws,” in the sense of “hurting” prophet Jeremiah into a intimidating humanity of “throwing downhill” the nations into celestial verdict for their sins. The prophetic ministry of Jeremiah began in 626 B.C and finished at around 586 B.C. Jeremiah’s ministry immediately preceded that of Zephaniah. Habakkuk was a modern-day prophet, and that would include Obadiah. Even though Ezekiel began his ministry in Babylon in the year 593 B.C, he also was a delayed contemporary of the grand prophets in Jerusalem. How and when Jeremiah died is vaguely known; Jewish custom, however, asserts that whilst existing in Egypt he was murdered by being stoned. In the case of Jeremiah, God was critical. Jeremiah’s divinity conceived the Lord God as Creator of all that exists as almighty, as ever present. Jeremiah attributed a large amount of superior qualities to the God he served (King, 1993). Thus, describing God as the Lord not only of Judah but also of the world. At the same time, God is extremely alarmed about the people and their responsibility to him. Jeremiah’s highlighting as to this regard is comparable to that of Ezekiel, the two men have become acknowledged as the “prophets of individual accountability.” The irrefutable connection involving sin and its penalty, so evident to Jeremiah will watch his adored Judah in her demise, led him to the search of his celestial vocation a blistering cleric of uprightness and his writings have lost none of their command with the transitory of the centuries. The book of Jeremiah names disasters and also reveals its form and mirrors it back to its listeners. It depicts the entirety of the devastation; it also talks of pain and bitter anguish, as it articulates the rawness of the world in which the remaining will unearth. It first describes disaster as a coming event, an onrushing assault upon Jerusalem, by means of the subliminal “foe from the north” (1:14; 4:6). The devastation will disturb the universe. In speech that those at Ground Zero might not find hyperbolic, Jeremiah thus renders the disaster as the fall of creation. Light, mountains, birds, and cities will go back to primeval times “waste and void” (4:24-26; cf. Gen 1:2). Jeremiah’s oracles did foretell the catastrophe rather than describe it after taking place; their preservation after this fact shows the disaster and gives it shape. It also describes the condition of the people and the aftermath (Laha, 2002). The book of Jeremiah’s poetic world shows their predicament. Thus, it enables survivors to see the overwhelming environment of the calamity they had undergone. It’s truthful, bitter; portrayal of tragedy is an endurance tactic as it describes pain out of lack of feeling, by giving it a verbal communication; this makes it visible (O'Connor, 2011). Showing them their losses, it validates them through their affliction, shows people they are not alone in it, by providing them with words by which they could speak of it. Hence, by accepting the enormity of the disaster, healing can then proceed. The new agreement got described in Jeremiah 31:31-34 says, “view the times says the Lord, I will create a new covenant with the house of Israel, together with the house of Judah: This is not according to the contract that I made with their forefathers in the time I held them by their hand and escorted them out of Egypt. My covenant broke although I was a Husband to them said the Lord: this shall be the covenant the Lord will make with the house of Israel. Those days said the Lord; I will put my law in their innermost parts while writing in their hearts, and be their God, and my people (Dempsey, 2007). They shall learn war no more, for every man is his neighbor, every man his brother. Saying recognize the Lord: for they shall know me, from the least minority to the greatest number of them, the Lord said: I will forgive their mistakes, and will remember their transgressions no more.” When the guarantee of a new agreement with Israel is seen in its historical description, it becomes clear that God is describing a magnificent covenant renewal. The setting of the covenant remains untouched; God will pardon the wickedness of His land and inscribe his laws in their hearts. The inscription of God's law into their hearts is not confined exclusively to the New Testament period. Through Isaiah, the Lord addressed the returning exiles by saying: "Head unto me, he that knows uprightness, people in whose heart is my law”. Isaiah 56: 1-6 talks of the covenant renewal talks of the Sabbath and the covenant interchangeably. Judgment is one of the themes in Jeremiah’s oracle, he carefully pointed out the repentance. His guidance of obedience to Babylon and message of life for the exiles during the early deportations identified him as a conspirator in the eyes of the numerous (McKeating, 1999). His counsel not to insurgent in opposition to Babylon made him as a true loyalist, a man that loved his land too much to rest silently while watching them obliterate themselves. Warning them to surrender and not revolt, Jeremiah was enlightening God’s will for them, being the most rational outlook under the circumstances. The latest covenant got cast, in the form of ancient Eastern royal treaties that included absolute, grace and overwhelmingly divinity, morals, principles and relational obligations. The house of David would direct God’s people in uprightness, and would include truthful priests that would serve. God’s commitment to Israel’s salvation was unfailing as the protected array of creation. Therefore, human destiny can be described as a predetermined course of events that are conceived as being predetermined in future whether or for a specific individual. Therefore, the fate of the Jewish people was sealed as it coincided with Gods plans for Mankind. It was, therefore, Israel’s responsibility to follow God’s rules for their own benefit, which would enable them create a new covenant with God and a sure them of God’s promise of the Promised Land. Works Cited Dempsey, C. J. (2007). Jeremiah: Preacher of grace, poet of truth. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press. King, P. J. (1993). Jeremiah: An archaeological companion. S.l.: Westminster Press And. Laha, R. R. (2002). Jeremiah. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press. McKeating, H. (1999). The book of Jeremiah. London: Epworth. McKane, W., Emerton, J. A., & Cranfield, C. E. B. (1986). A critical and exegetical commentary on Jeremiah. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. O'Connor, K. M. (2011). Jeremiah: Pain and promise. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Read More