Jeremiah

Course Description

The book of Jeremiah is simultaneously perhaps the most compelling and confusing book of the Old Testament. Contrary as these traits might seem, they reinforce one another in this book due to a marvellous combination of historical sweep, literary intensity, and theological surprises. Its unparalleled breadth comes not only from sheer length, though Jeremiah is indeed the longest book in the Bible by word count. More than this, it is a “book of books” that speaks to a series of different situations in the course of Judah’s last days. Covering a period of about fifty years, the prophet and his book move from the best days of the southern kingdom under King Josiah to its quick decline through several rounds of exile and finally the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 b.c. The book of Jeremiah also addresses the Jewish diaspora community’s struggle for survival as well as their return from exile, an event foreshadowed in its final paragraph through the unexpected release of King Jehoiachin from a Babylonian prison. All told, the words of Jeremiah as “a prophet to the nations” (1:10; cf. 1:5) literally traverse the entire ancient Near East, from Babylon to Egypt and most everywhere in between. For this reason, his bracing words also jump across two millennia and speak afresh to the modern scene as this international and intercultural prophet addresses us from the throes of a deeply painful but epoch-making ministry.