Jeremiah Was a....Young, Hesitant Priest?
New series: Jeremiah for today
It was the start of the COVID pandemic. Everyone responded in their own way, some healthy ways, some not so much.
As was true for many, this time of distress revealed what was deeply true about me.
Apparently, literature is so deeply ingrained in my psyche that it starts to leak out during times of extreme duress.
For example, I suffered not at all at the prospect of being homebound for an indefinite period. Two literature-based models clicked into gear.
First, the Wool novellas, which have now been adapted into the Silo TV series about survivors in a post-apocalyptic world living in a subterranean silo. My brain immediately latched onto the descriptions of a functional underground society (“Hmmmm…hydroponics…” I mused), and I thought if they can live underground, I certainly could do just fine in my four-bedroom airy house.
Next, when we had a lengthy power outage during this time, my first thought was, “What about my evening tea??” My next thought was basically a mental shuffling of Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and I found myself brewing a kettle in our fireplace, which, mind you, had been converted to gas.
Bottom line: I was encouraged that I could cope with being homebound because literary characters modeled the way for me.
What deeply troubled me during this time, however, in addition to the illness and loss of life, was the political and spiritual turmoil I sensed all around me.
After about nine months of this, I decided to search the Bible looking for encouraging descriptions about the Messiah. You know, things that would help me see that although life seemed bad now, God would make all things right.
I went to a known book chock-full of Messianic references: Isaiah.
And then spent the next year writing intensely about Isaiah for today. It’s not that I wasn’t encouraged. The beauty, hope, and promise were definitely present in the text. But I was struck by the realness of someone living in times that seemed remarkably reminiscent of my present-day reality. I was amazed by Isaiah’s behind-the-scenes reveal of God’s perspective on times such as these.
Thus was this blog born.
Isaiah, as an incredible piece of literature and a source of biblical truth, has deeply informed my perspective on the past few years. It provided me with a roadmap of sorts.
As 2025 dawned, I kept seeing references to a different book of prophecy: Jeremiah. Suddenly, this prophet popularized by Three Dog Night seemed everywhere.
And I decided that Jeremiah is the prophet for the present times we are in.
So, let’s begin to explore Jeremiah for today.
Jeremiah: Backstory
First up, background info.
Jeremiah, by his own admission, was young. His call, described in chapter 1, is reminiscent of Moses’ because he responds to God with an excuse.
“Alas, Sovereign Lord…I do not know how to speak; I am too young” (v.6).
While there’s some debate among Jewish and Christian scholars on Jeremiah’s precise age, his long tenure as a prophet (from King Josiah through Zedekiah) indicates that he is telling the truth. He’s likely in his late teens or early twenties.
So, my kids’ age.
The opening verses of Jeremiah give us more of a backstory than we typically get on the prophets. Jeremiah is a young priest from a priestly family. Priests in the nation of Judah didn’t have separate tribal land allotments; instead, they were dispersed throughout the land to minister.
Jeremiah’s family lived in the region of Benjamin, which is why Jeremiah can prophesy and write for as long as he did. When Assyria carries off the ten Lost Tribes of Israel, only Judah and Benjamin (which is small circle of land just above Judah and around Jerusalem) remain as the nation of Judah.
The Bible helpfully provides an introductory timeline in verses 1-3, so we know that God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet about five years after King Josiah begins his sweeping reforms to encourage Judah to return to God.
John Calvin, in his commentary, points out that God pulled out all the stops (my phrasing) during this time because things were bad. The people were corrupt, and the Book of the Law had been lost for who knows how long. Calvin says that God called Jeremiah from among the priests to “cast a reflection on the idleness and sloth of the priests.”
That is, one can best critique from the “edge of the inside” as Franciscan Richard Rohr always says. It’s not fair to critique from the outside, where you don’t really understand the lived experience of others. On the other hand, if you’re too inner circle, you’re rarely usable by God to offer meaningful critique. You’re too close and are likely part of the problem.
So, God so often chooses weak (from a human standpoint) outsiders, although they often have interesting qualities that make them very useful for kingdom purposes.
In Jeremiah’s time, God positioned a few others to help with this meaningful critique. King Josiah is now old enough to reign knowledgeably, and the prophetess Huldah is also available. She seemingly was carrying the knowledge of the Book of the Law within her, like a real-life Fahrenheit 451 or Book of Eli character.
See, literature.
So, when Hilkiah the priest finds the Book of the Law (written by Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit), he brings it to King Josiah, who then turns to Huldah for teaching and interpretation.
Meanwhile, Jeremiah is nearby in Benjamin receiving a call from the Lord.
During these dark times, God was positioning His people to speak light and truth.
The truth to be spoken
Back to Calvin’s point, however, about why God called a priest to critique the priests….What was the problem to be addressed?
Oh, so many things. We’ll see more in the chapters ahead.
But, for a preview, David Guzik, in his Enduring Word commentary, explains that Jeremiah’s prophesies (they are both future-oriented as well as present-day call-outs) are against Judah overall: the kings, officials, priests, and people. Everyone.
I’ve been thinking lately about how our individualistic society has encouraged us to see ourselves as separate from others in our nation.
On one hand, we can look askance at a “basket of deplorables.” On the other, we may enlist powerful others to “drain the swamp.”
Somehow, we never include ourselves in either the deplorables or the swamp.
However, reading the biblical prophets reveals the truth of our spiritual standing before God: it is communal. When God brings judgment on a nation, He will do it to all, even if we somehow see ourselves as immune. Jeremiah himself will be affected when his nation goes into exile.
Something to think about if you’re calling judgment on neighbors.
Still, there is a grain of truth about the need to do something about deplorable baskets and murky swamps.
Don’t worry: God has a plan. Only, it is unlikely to match yours.
Jeremiah 1 shows us where God starts. He begins with His servant Jeremiah.
Like the prophet Isaiah, Jeremiah needs to have his mouth cleansed before commencing as a prophet.
God calls Jeremiah (v. 4):
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
I was touched by the “before I formed you” part, which reminded me of Psalm 139. But Calvin identified the crux of the passage: “I set you apart.” This is the same word as “sanctified.”
God is saying that while He always knew Jeremiah, Jeremiah, in turn, had always been chosen to receive the knowledge of God. It’s a little reminiscent of John the Baptist’s calling, although we’re not told that Jeremiah received the Holy Spirit in utero. More likely, this is the first time that God comes upon Jeremiah in a powerful way.
Now he is to be sanctified for God’s work. But he doesn’t need to have his mouth burned with a heavenly coal as did Isaiah. Perhaps due to his youth, he only has to receive God’s hand on his mouth, and then God says that He put His words into Jeremiah’s mouth.
Lovely!
This is exactly what so many of us who follow Christ hope for. Lord, just give me Your words so that I know what to say! It’s beautiful to have this mental image of God gently touching a young man’s mouth and filling it with heavenly words.
However, these words will align with Isaiah’s. While we may think that words from God will be beautiful and gentle (and they often are), they can also be hard and frightening at times.
God is transparent with Jeremiah. Essentially, two-thirds of his message will be about purging the filth. God says (v. 10) that Jeremiah’s words will
Uproot
Tear down
Destroy
Overthrow
Build
Plant
So….Jeremiah is going to have a rough time ahead of him, because four verbs of demolition compared to just two of renewal (see: 2/3) will not be received well.
This is, of course, why Jeremiah is the prophet for our time. We’re in the time of uprooting and tearing down.
I fear the possibility of the destroy and overthrow phase, unless God, by His mercy, relents.
All this must happen before building and planting.
So, I do not doubt my brothers and sisters who have been saying that tearing down has been needed for a while. I do not doubt that the Lord’s hand is in this.
My point is that we need to cease pointing fingers and gleefully identifying who needs to be torn down. This is a message I also need to hear.
Let’s hear Calvin on this. He says that Jeremiah’s task is to
humble the pride of that people who thought themselves exempt from all reproof.
Gird your loins, folks, as God says to Jeremiah!
If God is to bring judgment on a nation, who are you to think that you are exempt?
Let’s pray.
O God who called Jeremiah,
Who calls and sends during times of greatest need.
We know You are at work in our world today.
We see uprooting and tearing down.
And so we understand the season that we are in.
We are concerned by what we see around us.
But You tell us to not be terrified of what men do.
We should only fear You.
So we ask for courage to face the present and future.
Give us eyes to see and discern the times,
courage to face the present,
hearts that align with Yours,
and wills to stand like bronze walls.
Like Jeremiah.