Book of Jeremiah

Venice Buffe
Jaymie Jane Johnson
SUMMARY
• The Book of Jeremiah is primarily a message of judgment on
Judah for rampant idolatry.
• After the death of King Josiah, the last righteous king, the
nation of Judah had almost completely abandoned God and His
commandments.
• Jeremiah compares Judah to a prostitute. God had promised that
He would judge idolatry most severely, and Jeremiah was warning
Judah that God’s judgment was at hand.
SUMMARY
• God had delivered Judah from destruction on countless
occasions, but His mercy was at its end. Jeremiah records King
Nebuchadnezzar conquering Judah and making it subject to him.

• After further rebellion, God brought Nebuchadnezzar and the

Babylonian armies back to destroy and desolate Judah and
Jerusalem. Even in this most severe judgment, God promises the
restoration of Judah back into the land God has given them.
Who is Jeremiah?
• Jeremiah, a prophet called by God at the approximate, yet not
definitively known, age of twenty years old, was born in the small
village of Anathoth near Jerusalem.
• Born of a line of priests (his father Hilkiah a Levite priest), Jeremiah
does not seem to have served as one (Moody).
• There are many possible meanings for his name: “Yahweh hurls,”
“The Lord throws,” “Yahweh founds,” or “The Lord establishes.”
Who is Jeremiah?
• “The Lord commanded Jeremiah not to marry and raise
children,” states the NIV Study Bible, “because the impending
divine judgment on Judah would sweep away the next
generations.”

• Jeremiah had few friends, his secretary Baruch being the closest to
him. Though timid in character, God equipped Jeremiah to deliver a
hard message to the people he loved.
Main theme and Purpose
• The Book of Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible. Judgment,
repentance, faith, and restoration are major themes. God’s people
struggled to resist rebellion.
• Jeremiah impressed the importance of genuine faith, reaching
beyond ceremony and circumstance to authentic worship of the
Lord. He tells of God’s character and ability to uphold His promises.

• The prophet spoke in detail of the consequences God’s people

could expect if they did not repent. He warned in an urgent way
so as to cause his people to repent and turn from their rebellion
against God to avoid the impending destruction.
Moral Lesson
• Seeing God’s patience with His people in the Old Testament
reminds us that God has always been and continues to be
merciful. That His chosen people routinely ignored the covenant
they made with Him for the better part of a millennia without
immediate death and destruction should give us hope in our own
struggles with living well for God. Though we fail Him, He is
patient with us, working in us to bring about the best for our lives.