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Jeremiah

Dennis Bratcher

I. Jeremiah, The Man:

A. From the Southern Kingdom of a Priestly family

B. Person of deep feeling and sensitivity

C. Called as a young man

E. Close contact with the kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah

F. Unpopular because he advocated surrender to the Babylonians

G. Used a scribe (Baruch) to record his messages

H. The prophet of repentance and new covenant

A. A complex book; sermons from Jeremiah supplemented by stories about him, as well as Post-exilic reflections added by later community.

B. 1-25 Early sermons of Jeremiah

1. Faithlessness of Judah will result in defeat and exile

2. Calls to repentance mixed with funeral songs sung over Judah

3. Insincere worship brings judgment not protection

4. God's Lordship over history

C. 26-45 The Baruch memoirs

1. Jeremiah's imprisonments and trial for treason

2. Conflicts with false prophets

3. Promises of restoration and a new covenant

4. The destruction of Jerusalem and its aftermath

D. 46-52 Oracles against foreign nations

E. Sins of various nations with an historical appendix from 2 Kings 24-25

A. My people have committed two evils...forsaken the living waters..hewed out broken cisterns that can hold no water.

B. 5 Run to and fro through the streets...see if you can find a man who does justice and loves truth.

C. 7 If you do not oppress the orphan...I will let you dwell here. Has my house become a den of thieves?

D. 8:22-9:9 Is there no balm in Gilead?... O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears...!

E. 12 Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

F. 17 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron...the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

G. 24 I will give them a heart to know me...they shall be my people and I will be their God.

H. 31 I will make a new covenant...put my law within them...write it on their hearts...remember their sin no more.

Biblical Books

Jeremiah

See Text Index for articles on specific passages of Jeremiah.