Jeremiah 1:1

I. THE PART OF JEREMIAH IDENTIFIED WITH THE SCROLL[1] JER. 1:1-20:1-18[2]

JEREMIAH 1

THE CALL AND COMMISSION OF JEREMIAH

Chapter summary: the general title (Jeremiah 1:1-3), Jeremiah's call to the prophetic office (Jeremiah 1:4-10), the two visions of the almond tree, and the boiling caldron (Jeremiah 1:11-16), and the assurance to Jeremiah of Divine protection (Jeremiah 1:17-19).

Jeremiah 1:1-3

"The words of Jeremiah the Son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: to whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiachim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month."

There were five kings of Judah during the time period mentioned here; but the names of Jehoahaz and Jeconiah are omitted because each of these kings reigned only three months. If we calculate the length of Jeremiah's ministry only from the data mentioned here, it was exactly forty years and six months (Under Josiah, 18 years; under Jehoahaz, three months; under Jehoiachim, 11 years; under Jeconiah, three months; and under Zedekiah, 11 years).[3]

"However, the later chapters (Jeremiah 40-41) record events that happened several years after the destruction of Jerusalem,"[4] indicating that this summary occurs in Jeremiah before the book was completed, pertaining not to all of the book, to part of it. This supports the view of some scholars that Jeremiah's ministry lasted perhaps as long as fifty years.

"Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah ..." (Jeremiah 1:1). The Hebrew form of this name is Ben-Hilkiah, which according to the Dean of Canterbury "made it improper grammatically to insert the further identification of Hilkiah as `the High Priest.'"[5] This writer also answered other objections to understanding this Hilkiah as the High Priest who discovered the Book of the Law in the temple, pointing out that for ages this has been the understanding of the identity of Jeremiah's father. "Clement of Alexandria, Jerome, Kimchi, and Abravanel,"[6] are among the ancient scholars cited.

Another objection based upon the supposition that the "High Priest" who discovered the Book of the Law `probably' lived in Jerusalem is trivial. Jerusalem was only three miles from Anathoth! Besides, the record here was not speaking of the residence of Hilkiah, but of ancestral connection. Christ was born in Bethlehem, but he was nevertheless called "Jesus of Nazareth!"

"In the thirteenth year of his reign ..." (Jeremiah 1:2). This is generally agreed by scholars to have been the year 627-626 B,C. Ash, a dependable scholar, mentions a plausible theory that this was the birth of Jeremiah instead of his call, based upon the truth that God called him while in the womb. This theory is rejected here because of the plain words of the text.

"To whom the word of Jehovah came ... It also came ..." (Jeremiah 1:2-3). These are, perhaps, the most important words in this paragraph:

"This word came to Jeremiah by means of inspiration, and is neither the product of a reflective musing as to what his calling was to be, nor the outcome of an irresistible impulse within him to come forward as a prophet. It was a supernatural divine revelation vouchsafed to him, which raised his spiritual life to a state of ecstasy, so that he both recognized the voice of God and felt his lips touched by the hand of God (Jeremiah 1:9). Further, he saw in spirit, one after another, two visions, which God interpreted to him as confirmatory tokens of his divine commission."[7]