The Prophet Jeremiah

By Porter

February 13, 2023

notes This very insightful article helped much with the writing of this post.

Background

Jeremiah was a member of the priestly household of Hilkiah. His hometown was Anathoth.

Ministry

tree

We only know the prophet Jeremiah began prophesying in the 13th year of king Josiah. After discovering a book of law during the construction of a temple, Josiah was one of the only righteous kings over Judah. The other being Hezekaih. King Josiah is killed in a fight against the Egyptians in Megiddo and the following Kings are wicked.

Preceeding his ministry, the Lord commanded Jeremiah not to get married and have children because of the empending doom that would fall upon Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s ministry began in 626 bc, and ended sometime after 586 bc. His ministry was immediately preceded by that of Zephaniah.

Jeremiah had a few friends namely Ahikam, Gedaliag, Ebed-Melech, and most importantly, Baruch. Baruch was his scribe and accompanied Jeremiah on the long road to exile in Egypt. It is possible that Baruch was also responsible for the final compilation of the book of Jeremiah itself.

Jeremiah began prophesying in Jodah halfway through the reign of Josiah. And continued to the reign of Zedekiah. It was a period of storm and stress when the doom of entire nations including Judah was close.

Jeremiah told the people to repent and they responded that because they had a temple of the Lord, the Lord would save them despite their iniquity.

11 Is this ahouse, which is called by my name, become a bden of crobbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.

570 BCE: Jeremiah dies in Egypt, where he had been taken by a group of Jewish refugees who had fled there after the fall of Jerusalem.

640 BCE: Jeremiah is born in Anathoth, a town in the kingdom of Judah 627 BCE; Josiah becomes king of Judah.

It is generally accepted among scholars that Jeremiah and Lehi were contemporaries because they were prophets in the same place at the same time. According to the Book of Mormon, Lehi was born in Jerusalem “in the days of King Zedekiah” (1 Nephi 1:4), which is generally believed to have been around the late 7th or early 6th century BCE.