Covenant Compass Plus

  The book of Jeremiah takes pains to depict Jeremiah as a legitimate prophet of the Israelite god Yahweh. In Jeremiah’s time, Judah was a nation divided over foreign policy and religion, and prophets with opposing messages claimed to speak for Yahweh (Jer 28).  According to the book of Jeremiah (our only source of information about him), it was Jeremiah’s determination to preach the word of Yahweh despite opposition that established his authenticity. He forcefully asserts the truth of his denunciatory prophecies against the optimistic predictions of other prophets, whom he accuses of prophesying lies (Jer 23:9-40).  Yahweh designates Jeremiah a “prophet to the nations” (Jer 46-51) and commissions him to pronounce judgement against not only Judah but also other nations. “See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer 1:10).  When appointed, Jeremiah, like many biblical fi...