Jeremiah - Scriptural Dossier

The prophet Jeremiah, known as the Weeping Prophet, experienced a lot of sorrow due to the idolatry and bad things happening during his time. This teaching focuses on his life rather than a complete analysis of the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was called to ministry at a young age and was a priest as well as a prophet. He was commanded not to marry or have children. He was assisted by a scribe named Baruch and was persecuted for his prophecies. Despite the hardships, Jeremiah remained faithful and is considered one of the major prophets. The prophet Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet and this was because there was a lot of bad things that happened in the time and life of Jeremiah. And during this time there was a lot of idolatry and things that were going on with the people and he was greatly saddened by what was going on and the prophecies that he was having to prophesy against them. But there's so much more about this prophet Jeremiah. So join us during this teaching for the life and times of the prophet Jeremiah and learn more about this amazing man of faith, this amazing man of Yahweh. So this draw for teaching is going to be all about the prophet Jeremiah. Now there, of course, is a book in the scriptures that go along with this prophet that is also named Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah. This is not going to be a lengthy, complete exegesis of the book of Jeremiah. This is going to be focused more on the life of Jeremiah. However, a lot of the information that we get about the life of the prophet Jeremiah comes from the book of Jeremiah. So we can't help but go through a lot of the actual book itself. But just know that this teaching or this draw is going to be geared towards more the life and person of the prophet and not a full exegesis of what's contained within the book, if that makes sense. So before we get to that, I just want to remind everyone, like always, that if you would like the notes that we took for this teaching, you can click on the link down below in the description. That'll take you directly to the post on our website where you can find the on-demand video. You can also find the draw slides that you're seeing here on your screen. And you'll also be able to find, like I said, the notes and the transcript once everything gets uploaded and processed. So click on that and that makes it a whole lot easier. The link is down below in the description, and that should be available whether you're watching on a video platform or through an audio podcasting platform like Spotify or iTunes or Amazon Music or something like that. Just go down below and click on that link in the description. So the prophet Jeremiah, also known as the Weeping Prophet, because there's a lot of lamenting that goes on in the life and ministry of the prophet Jeremiah. We first hear about Jeremiah from Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 1 and 1 through 2. The words of Yirmiyahu, the son of Hilkiyahu, of the priest who were in Anathoth in the land of Binyamin, to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Yoshiyahu, son of Ammon, son of Yehudah, in the 13th year of his reign. So this is the first mention we get of the prophet Jeremiah. Now, if you do a search just for Jeremiah in the scriptures, you're going to come up with several people that go under this name. But this person we're speaking about is the prophet Jeremiah, who foretold and prophesied the destruction by Babylon and the subsequent captivity of the Israelites by Babylon that Jeremiah. Now, his name comes from Strong's H3414, for all you nerds out there who are like me. It can be written and pronounced as Yirmiya or Yirmiyahu. And Strong's definition has it as the meaning being Yah will rise. It's the name of eight or nine Israelites. Like I said, there's a bunch of them that you find in scripture that are named Jeremiah. Run driver Briggs has the name means looseness or that is the womb. His prophet son of Hilkiyahu. Now, Jeremiah was not just a prophet, but he was also a priest. He was a priestly lineage. His father was a priest. We'll get in more of that in just a moment. You see, this is Hebrew lexicon has the meaning of Jeremiah as whom Jehovah has appointed. Of course, we know that to be actually Yahweh of a very celebrated prophet, son of Hilkiyahu, the priest and gestural dictionary of the Targums just simply says the prophet in the name of several other people, too. So what about some statistics about Yirmiyahu or Jeremiah? Well, he was called to ministry while he was still very young. In fact, when Yahweh calls him to ministry, he kind of puts up a little bit of resistance saying, well, I'm young. I'm still in my youth. We don't know exactly how young he was, but it was probably maybe early teenager years. Teenager years. We know a lot of people started about the time when they were 30. Joseph started his work with Pharaoh and his office in the government when he was about 30. Yeshua and John the Baptist started their ministries when they were somewhere about 30. And of course, in the law, in the Torah, it talks about the priest starting when they're about 30 and stuff like that, too. But Yirmiyahu or Jeremiah was way younger than that. Like I said, probably in his early teens. In Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 6, it states and said, I, ah, Master Yahweh, see, I do not know how to speak for I am a youth. Referencing how young he was. But again, we don't know exactly how young he was, just that he was very young. He was born in a town called Anathos, a few miles north of Jerusalem. I think nowadays there's a town there called Anat by Arabic, but it's still there. You can still find Anathos. You just have to do a little bit searching because the names are different than you find within scripture itself. His father's name was Hilkiyahu, who was a priest. And of course, Yirmiyahu or Jeremiah was also a priest as well as a prophet. We find in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 1, the words of Yirmiyahu, the son of Hilkiyahu, of the priest who were in Anathos in the land of Binyamin. His mother, however, is not mentioned in scripture. So we don't know a lot about her. Did not get into the Talmud and Jewish writings, things like that, to see if there's any information about Jeremiah's mother or any of his extended family, because we don't know anything about his brothers or sisters as well. We know a lot about the ministry of Yirmiyahu, and we know his father was named Hilkiyahu. But we don't know anything else about his mother or siblings or otherwise. His uncle is mentioned later on. Well, sort of. It talks about Yirmiyahu buying a parcel of land that was his uncle's, but that's about it. We don't know too much about his extended family. Jeremiah was specifically commanded by Yahweh not to marry or have children. So he was a bachelor and single throughout his entire life. You can imagine how that would have played on especially a young teenage and early 20s kind of guy. I mean, if you're a man, you understand there could be some. Well, yeah, you get it. Be kind of difficult for most of us anyways. But we read in Jeremiah chapter 16, verse 2. Do not take a wife nor have sons or daughters in this place. And as you go throughout the life and times of Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah, you see that this might have been for a really good thing, because he suffered a lot of persecution and pushback and even torture and beatings for what he was prophesying. So in sort of a good way, he didn't have a wife and kids that he had to worry about as well while he's going through this. And they didn't have to see him go through this. He was also assisted by a temple scribe by the name of Baruch. You may have heard this name before. There's actually a deuterocanonical book by the name of Baruch. And we believe it's the same Baruch who assisted Jeremiah. We read in chapter, I'm sorry, Jeremiah chapter 36, verse 4. And Yirmiyahu called Baruch son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote on a scroll from the mouth of Yirmiyahu all the words of Yahweh, which he had spoken to him. So it was actually Baruch who wrote down the book of Jeremiah and everything that had happened during Jeremiah's prophecy and his ministry. Now, we also know that Yirmiyahu or Jeremiah was of the tribe of Benjamin. So he was a Benjamite or a Benyamin. He was also of the southern kingdom of Judea. So that would make him a Jew in that sense of the word. But he was not a Jew of the tribe of Judah. He started his ministry somewhere about the year 627 BCE. And it ended up somewhere around the year 580 BCE. Now, if you get into researching this, there's going to be some variations on the date. But generally in this time frame is where most people kind of land. He ministered or prophesied for about the span of somewhere around 40 years. He was persecuted, like I said, for his prophecies when he came against the king. When he prophesied against the leaders and the people, of course, they did not like being prophesied against and being told that they were in the wrong. So they persecuted Yirmiyahu because of this. And some of the persecutions he suffered was that he was tried, and his very life was put on trial by the priest and other prophets. False prophets, but other priests and prophets. He was forced to flee from the king at one point. He was beaten and put in stocks for his prophecies. He was threatened in his very hometown of Anathaz. It kind of reminds you of what Yeshua said, that a prophet is only welcome, but not in his hometown. He's publicly humiliated by a false prophet named Hananiah. When he goes in front of the king and he tries to prophesy something, and the false prophet Hananiah tells this false prophecy that sounds good to the king. It kind of tickles his ears, as the Berthadashah would put it. But it was trying to come against the prophecies of Jeremiah. But anyways, it was a public humiliation for Jeremiah, because he was trying to tell the true prophecies. He was actually at one point thrown into a well or a cistern, which would have been very pleasant. And he was left there to actually starve to death. He was accused of telling lies. And at one point, he was accused of treason for plotting with the Babylonians against Israel. All of it false, all of it not true. But these are the persecutions, or some of the persecutions, that Jeremiah suffered during his ministry of prophecy. He was known as the weeping prophet for the many times he lamented over his home country and his home people and things like that. He is considered one of the major prophets. There are those who are considered minor prophets, but Jeremiah is considered one of the major prophets. The story of Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah and a lot of his prophecies coincide with the timelines in the events in 1 and 2 Kings. Some of the kings match up, some of the same prophets and things like that match up, some of the same events. But that's kind of the time frame that we're seeing there, both 1 and 2 Kings and the story of Jeremiah. He's a contemporary with some other prophets that you may know of. Prophets like Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Daniel, and Ezekiel. So it wasn't just false prophets that were around the time of Jeremiah. There were also true prophets, actual prophets of Yahweh. Jeremiah who uses various strategies in his prophesying ministry. He uses things like parables, sermons, and object lessons when he puts on things like a yoke or breaks a pottery, breaks a piece of pottery in front of people to illustrate a certain prophecy or what's going to be forthcoming. In the book of Jeremiah, the nation or the kingdom or empire, however you want to put it, of Babylon is referred to 164 times. As we go on and look throughout the book of Jeremiah, we see that it's generally, traditionally, at least according to the Protestant canon, has 52 chapters, 1,364 verses, and somewhere around 42,659 words. Now, of course, the word count is going to vary depending on which translation you have, but there's a lot regardless of which translation you have. There's tens of thousands of words there. Once again, we know he was called to be a prophet when he was very young by Yahweh himself, but in addition to that, he was already set apart as a prophet before he was even born. We check, oh, Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5. Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. And before you came out of the womb, I did set you apart. I appointed you a prophet to nations. Now, does that sound familiar to anyone? He's a prophet, not just to Israel and the Hebrew people, but he's also a prophet to the nations, to everyone else outside of Israel as well. Who does that sound like? Keep that in mind. We're going to be getting into some comparisons later on in this teaching. One of the more famous verses that we find, and which is well known throughout a lot of Christianity and also probably Judaism as well, is Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11. For I know the plans I am planning for you, declares Yahweh, plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and an expectancy. A lot of you out there are probably thinking, an expectancy. A lot of you out there have probably heard this before, and this comes from the book of Jeremiah. Yirmeyahu prophesied that Yahweh will make a new covenant with his people. This is another famous verse, and we're going to be going over a lot of famous verses later on in this teaching as well. But this one about Yahweh making a new covenant comes from Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 to 33. Again, speaking of that new covenant, which most of us here probably have heard about before. This is where one of the prophecies about Yeshua and the new covenant come from, is from Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 to 33. At one point in his ministry, Yirmeyahu actually bought a field in enemy territory. When Babylon had taken over a lot of the territory around Jerusalem, one of the areas they had taken over was his hometown of Anathot. And Jeremiah, in the midst of enemy occupation, buys a field in Anathot, his uncle's field. Jeremiah chapter 32, verse 9. And I bought the field, which was at Anathot, from Hanamael, my uncle's son, and weighed out to him the silver, seventeen shekels of silver. Now, at first glance, those of us in modern times might not think that to be of any consequence. But it's actually rather odd for someone to do that at the time, because why would you buy property behind enemy lines, as it were? Because you don't know how the war is going to go, and it could be an entire waste of money, a waste of time to buy this plot of field, especially if the enemy is there and has already taken it over. But he was actually commanded to, as one of the prophecies, that Yahweh would bring them back and they would return to the land. Jehoiakim burned the scroll that Jeremiah sent him. At one point, Yirmeyahu wrote down a scroll and various prophecies and sent it to the king, King Jehoiakim. And the king did not like what he saw or heard from the scroll, so he cut it up and then he burned it there in his winter house, as it's described in the scripture. Anyways, we find that in Jeremiah chapter 32, Then it came to be, when Yehudi had read three or four columns, that the sovereign cut it with the scribe's knife and threw it into the fire that was on the hearth until the entire scroll was burned in the fire that was on the hearth. We know also that Jeremiah is credited with the book of Latter-day Saints. We know also that Jeremiah is credited with the book of Lamentations. Now, in the canon of scriptures that we have, the name of Jeremiah is not specifically stated in the book of Lamentations. But other things give circumstantial evidence to him being the author of the book of Lamentations. We also read in the Targums a very interesting connection. In the standard verse that you would read in probably your Bible, Lamentations chapter 1 verse 1 reads, How she sits, the city once great with people, like a widow she has become, one great among the nations, a princess among provinces, has become a slave. In the Targums on Lamentations chapter 1 verse 1, it reads somewhat, I don't want to say different, but extremely expanded and amplified. Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 1 from the Targum Lamentations in English. Jeremiah the prophet and high priest said, How was it decreed that Jerusalem and her people should be punished with banishment and that they should be mourned with echah? Just as when Adam and Eve were punished and expelled from the garden of Edom and the master of the universe mourned them with echah. The attribute of justice replied and said, Because of the greatness of her rebellious sin that was within her, thus she will dwell alone as a man plagued with leprosy upon his skin who sits alone. And the city that was full of crowds and many peoples has been emptied of them and she has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations and a ruler over provinces that had brought her tribute has become lowly again and gives head tax to them from thereafter. And that's just one verse from the Targum. So the Targum is like a Jewish commentary on the scriptures and it's a lot of verses are extremely expanded like this to include their commentary. In this Targum on Lamentations chapter 1 verse 1, the Targum actually reads, Jeremiah the prophet and high priest said, thereby attributing the book of Lamentations to the prophet Jeremiah. There are other things that kind of lead us to think it was Jeremiah who wrote Lamentations or possibly Baruch who wrote it down for Jeremiah. But a lot of the flow and the words and the way it's written is very similar to what we find in the book of Jeremiah, which once again gives us circumstantial evidence to make us think that Jeremiah is the author of Lamentations as well as the author of the book of Jeremiah. And speaking of the book of Jeremiah, let's go over a quick overview because like we said in the beginning of the video, this dross is focused more on the life and times of Jeremiah and not meant to be a full exegesis of the book of Jeremiah. But the vast majority of information that we have on Jeremiah comes from the book of Jeremiah. So I think it would be a advantageous thing to go over a summary bird's eye view of the book of Jeremiah as it relates to the life of Jeremiah. Once again, there's 52 chapters. There's going to be a lot of information here. So have your notes ready. And once again, if you happen to miss anything or you'd like to go back at a slower pace, check out the post on Godhonesttruth.com. There you can find the slides for yourself that you can go through at your own pace if you happen to miss anything or you would like to go back and review something that you have in mind. So to get started, buckle up. Chapter one, we find the call of Yirmeyahu from Yahweh. And we saw that he kind of pushed back saying he was too young, things like that. And we also find that Yirmeyahu was called by Yahweh as a prophet even before he was born. We get the vision also in chapter one of the almond tree and the boiling pot prophesying, the boiling pot anyways, prophesying the invasion of Babylon. Chapters two through six, kind of a section there. But we see that Yirmeyahu uses imagery and allegory to depict the spiritual adultery that Israel has engaged in towards Yahweh. And this is one of the more prominent books to use this imagery of adultery when speaking about idolatry against Yahweh. He also condemns the people's idolatry and religious hypocrisy, comparing them to a faithless wife going against the people and the priests and the leaders at the time for religious hypocrisy and idolatry. Sound like anyone else you might know? Yirmeyahu also calls on the people to repent and return to the covenant relationship that they had before with Yahweh before they lost their way. Chapters seven through 10, we find Yirmeyahu delivering a sermon at the temple and condemning the people's false confidence in the temple and their hypocritical worship practices. Again, calling out their hypocrisy in religious matters. Some of the people at that time were going to the temple trying to worship Yahweh and then they were also going outside the temple and serving Baal and Molech and things like that. It was completely hypocritical. So, Yirmeyahu calls them out for that and they didn't like it very much. Yirmeyahu also warns of the impending destruction, not just the captivity and invasion of Babylon, but the destruction of Jerusalem and also the temple if the people do not repent. Who else prophesied the destruction of the temple? Yirmeyahu contrasts the true worship of Yahweh with the vain rituals and empty religious observances of the people. So, you look in Yeshua's time, he's doing very much the same thing. Calling out their vain observances and their oral traditions that nullify the word of Yahweh. Yirmeyahu is doing very much the same thing here. Then we go on to chapters 11 through 13 and Yirmeyahu denounces Judea's covenantal rebellion and violation of the covenant with Yahweh. Remember, people, this time we're going towards other gods and going into idolatry, thereby committing spiritual adultery. He uses symbolic acts, once again, such as being a Christian, being a Christian, being a Christian, being a Christian, being a Christian, being a Christian, such as breaking a potter's flask to illustrate the consequences of disobedience and the irrevocable nature of Yahweh's judgment. Yirmeyahu mourns over the people's refusal to listen to Yahweh's warnings and their stubbornness in their sinful ways. And this is one of the reasons he's called the weeping prophet because of the times that he laments over the people and the nation and the idolatry and adultery, spiritual adultery, that's going on during his time. Chapters 14 through 17, Yirmeyahu laments the drought and famine that afflict the land as a consequence of the people's sin. He exposes the false prophets who proclaim peace and prosperity while ignoring the reality of impending judgment. And there's a lot of prophecies from Jeremiah about impending judgment from mostly the Babylonians, but also others. And Yirmeyahu, this prophet, is one of the few who issues these prophecies. And then during his own lifetime, he sees these prophecies come true. Yirmeyahu reflects on the human heart's deceitfulness and emphasizes the need for genuine repentance and trust in Yahweh. And those were from chapters 14 through 17. Moving on to chapters 18 through 20. Not even halfway through yet. Yirmeyahu receives a vision at the potter's house, illustrating Yahweh's sovereignty over nations and his ability to shape destinies. And this is a very interesting scene that we find here. Yahweh tells Yirmeyahu to go to the potter's house and he watches the potter and the potter's trying to make something and it doesn't come out. It kind of fails. So the potter regathers the clay and shapes it into something different. We see this also, the same kind of story and very well could be this exact same story. We find it referenced in the Brit Hadashah saying, well, it ends up in the Brit Hadashah saying, who are you to question Yahweh? And it goes back to Jeremiah chapter 18, the vision or the allegory or symbology of this potter making something out of clay. Yirmeyahu faces opposition and persecution from his own people, including imprisonment and physical abuse for his prophetic message. Imprisonment and physical abuse. Who does that sound like? Yirmeyahu expresses his anguish and despair over the hardships he endures for the sake of proclaiming Yahweh's word. So once again, he expresses his anguish and despair. He laments over the hardships he's had to endure just for speaking what Yahweh told him to speak and prophesy. Chapters 21 through 25, Yirmeyahu delivers oracles of judgment against Judea and its kings for the rebellion and idolatry. He warns of the impending invasion and destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians. Yirmeyahu also prophesies judgment upon the surrounding nations, including Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, and Babylon itself. So even though Babylon was used in a way to punish the nation of Israel, Babylon itself had its own sins to atone for and Babylon was prophesied against that they would suffer judgment. And once again, Yirmeyahu or the prophet Jeremiah was not just a prophet for the nation of Israel, but also the rest of the world, other nations. And once again, who does that sound like to you? Moving on to chapter 26, Yirmeyahu is brought on trial for prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And despite opposition from the priest and false prophets, some of the elders actually defend Yirmeyahu at this trial, citing the example of Micah, who was another prophet who similarly foretold destruction, but was not punished. Yirmeyahu is ultimately acquitted at this trial with his life spared due to the intervention of Ahikam, a supporter of Yirmeyahu. So not everyone was against him, not everyone was against him, thankfully. We know that Yahweh was for him, but he also had friends and people there who were his supporters during his ministry as well. Then in chapters 27 through 29, Yirmeyahu engages in symbolic acts such as wearing a yoke, another one of those imagery sermons that he kind of puts on, such as wearing a yoke and sending yokes to neighboring nations to illustrate the imminent Babylonian domination. He sends letters to the exiles in Babylon, advising them to settle down, build houses, and seek the welfare of the city during their exile as it will last for 70 years. Maybe this kind of brings something to mind as well. Remember just a few weeks back, we spoke about the story of Esther and Mardachai and the story of Purim. And their story is after this 70 years that's prophesied by Yirmeyahu. And they're still in Medo-Persia, even after some of the people have returned to Israel. They're still living there. But this is the same 70 years in Babylon that Yirmeyahu is prophesying here in the book of Jeremiah. Yirmeyahu warns against false prophets who falsely predict a quick return from exile, affirming that the exile will indeed last for the appointed time of 70 years. So those who are already in captivity in Babylon, he writes some letters, tells them to buy land, set up a life, and settle in because you're going to be there for a long time. Chapters 30 through 33, Yirmeyahu delivers prophecies of restoration and hope for the future, promising a new covenant and the return of the exiles to their land. He foretells the restoration of Israel and Judah, the reestablishment of the Davidic kingship, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. Yirmeyahu emphasizes Yahweh's faithfulness to his promises, despite the people's unfaithfulness, offering hope for a future redemption. This again is another theme that we see throughout scripture, that Yahweh will save him a remnant for his glory and for his mission and plan. Chapters 34 through 36, Yirmeyahu confronts King Zedekiah and the people for breaking their covenant with Yahweh by enslaving Hebrew slaves. Yirmeyahu is actually a prophet through, I think, about four different kings during his ministry. He prophesies the fall of Jerusalem and Zedekiah's capture by the Babylonians. Yirmeyahu dictates a scroll containing his prophecies to Baruch, his scribe, who reads it publicly in the temple, leading to its destruction by King Jehoiakim. And this is the destruction we spoke about earlier, where the king cuts it up and throws it into the fire. King did not like what he was hearing from that scroll. Then we go on in chapters 37 through 39. Yirmeyahu experiences imprisonment and confinement during the siege of Jerusalem, which lasted somewhere around 18 months. Horrible atrocities happened during the siege when they ran out of bread and they ran out of food and things like that. Won't get into it here. Go read that for yourself. You can find that here in these later chapters, 37 through 39, but it's truly atrocious and things that Yirmeyahu had actually prophesied before this, things he prophesied would come to pass. He warns King Zedekiah and the people to surrender to the Babylonians to avoid destruction, but they refuse to listen. Yirmeyahu is thrown into a well or a cistern for his prophecies. And he's thrown in here by those who plotted against him in order for him to just stay there and pretty much starve to death. This doesn't happen though, because another person comes by and informs the king, hey, this guy's down here. This is cruel and unusual. We shouldn't do this. So they go and they lift him up out of this well. Yirmeyahu is eventually captured. The city is burned. The temple is destroyed and Zedekiah is captured and blinded by the Babylonians. Now, this is a horrid scene. That's described here, because when he's captured by the Babylonians, he and his sons are taken to Babylon and right there in front of the king's eyes, his sons are murdered. I mean, just slaughtered by the Babylonians in front of his very eyes. And immediately after that, the king's eyes are put out. So he's blinded for the rest of his life. The last thing that he ever gets to see during his lifetime is the slaughtering of his own sons. Chapters 40 through 45, Yirmeyahu remains in Judea after the fall of Jerusalem. He was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar's commander, Gedaliah, to oversee the remnant left in the land. After he was pulled out of the well, he was still in prison. But once the Babylonians took over Jerusalem, they actually freed Jeremiah from prison and told him, hey, no more prison. You are a free man. But then they sent him to oversee those who are left in the land of Israel doing pretty much like farming work and everyday work, stuff like that. Gedaliah is assassinated then, leading to the flight of the remnant to Egypt against Yirmeyahu's warnings. There's actually a prophecy telling the people do not go to Egypt or else the sword will find you. They don't listen and they go to Egypt anyways. And later on, they end up being killed down there in Egypt. Those Babylonians come all the way down to Egypt, taking over those areas as well. Yirmeyahu accompanies the remnant to Egypt, where he continues to prophesy against idolatry and false worship, eventually dying there. We don't know exactly how Yirmeyahu died in Egypt. It's not recorded in the book of Jeremiah or any other biblical books that we can find. But we can pretty well surmise that he did die after he went down to Egypt. Chapter 46, we find Yirmeyahu delivering a prophecy against Egypt, warning of its impending defeat by the Babylonians at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar. The prophecy includes descriptions of battle scenes and the devastation that will befall Egypt and its allies. Went on to chapter 47, Yirmeyahu prophesies against the Philistines, predicting their destruction and the devastation of their cities and territory by the Babylonians. Remember once again that Yirmeyahu was not just a prophet to Israel, but also to the other nations. Chapter 48, Yirmeyahu delivers a prophecy against Moab foretelling its destruction and captivity by the Babylonians. The prophecy describes Moab's arrogance, idolatry and the devastation that will come upon it. Pretty much the same thing he was telling the people back in Jerusalem. Then we go on to chapter 49, Yirmeyahu pronounces judgment against several nations, including Ammon, Edom, Damascus and Kedarb. Each prophecy describes the sins of these nations and the punishment they will face at the hands of the Babylonians. The Babylonians were pretty much a very large hammer back then. Chapter 50-51, Yirmeyahu describes Babylon's pride, arrogance and oppression of other nations, as well as its eventual defeat by a coalition of nations led by the Medes and Persians. The fall of Babylon is depicted as a decisive judgment from Yahweh, avenging the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Israelites. And then finally in chapter 52, this is pretty much a summary of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, the exile of Judea and the eventual release of King Jehoiakim from captivity by the Babylonian king, Ewil-Merodach, if I pronounced that correctly. So yeah, that was a very quick, very bird's eye view of the book of Jeremiah as we examine the life of Jeremiah. The trials and persecutions that he suffered, his lamentings, some of the prophecies that he prophesied against various people, not just the king and the priests and the people of Israel, but also other nations. Some of the persecutions that he faced and some of the, like I said, the prophecies against other nations also and where he finally ended up. But Jeremiah's life was filled with lots of events and lots of prophesying and lots of people just not listening to him. But fortunately, he had Yahweh on his side and he faithfully served Yahweh throughout his career. It was definitely hard at times and there was actually at least one or two times he tried not to prophesy, but he felt like it was a burning in his bones that he just had to get it out. So he went back to preaching and ministering and prophesying and he was faithful to Yahweh. Once again, he was not married and he did not have a family life. He didn't have kids because he was specifically commanded by Yahweh not to. So he had a very interesting life and there's a lot that goes on within the book of Jeremiah and the life of Jeremiah. As a result, that there's so much that goes on, there is a plethora of notable passages that come from the book of Jeremiah. So we're going to go over some of these, definitely not going over all of them for the sake of time. We're already running close to time anyways. But here are some of the more notable ones and a lot of these you've probably already heard before. So this is going to be a recall to memory. First one up, Jeremiah chapter one, verse five. Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you and before you came out of the womb, I did set you apart. I appointed you a prophet to nations. So once again, Jeremiah was called even before he was born. And this also alludes to the fact that even people within the womb who are not yet born are still human beings that Yahweh loves and that should be raised to serve him, not slaughtered in some planning organization. Jeremiah chapter one, verse eight. Do not fear their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, declares Yahweh. Jeremiah one, verse 19. And they shall fight against you, but not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares Yahweh, to deliver you. Jeremiah chapter 10, verses two through four. Thus said Yahweh, do not learn the way of the nations and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are awed by them. For the laws of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They beautify it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not topple. Does that sound like anything you know? We go over this every year at the end of the Gregorian calendar. And you can see here, and you can see here, they're taking a tree out of the forest, and then they're bringing it home, and they're decorating it. And what does that sound like? Yeah, Christmas trees. And remember, as we went over the life and times of Jeremiah in a quick bird's eye view of the book of Jeremiah, he was speaking against the idolatry that had come in to Israel. They were worshiping all these false gods, they were mixing it with the true worship of Yahweh. And this is part of their idolatry. We know when we went back... Okay, reset. If you'll remember from our teaching on Christmas, that trees were used a lot in pagan ceremonies and in the worship of pagan gods. It's a concept known as dendolatry. You do not find this in scripture as a part of the worship to Yahweh. So here we see, even though it doesn't actually say a Christmas tree or a Yuletide tree or a Feast of the Nativity tree or anything like that, we can still see it associated with idolatry, these very same Christmas trees. So once again, this is one of the more famous and notable passages from the book of Jeremiah. Now, Christmas as we know it, was not developed until many, many centuries after the time of Jeremiah. But all the same, they were still using these same practices in the worship of their false idol gods. The same dendrolatry as we find in other pagan worship services. Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 10. But Yahweh is truly Elohim. He is the living Elohim and the everlasting sovereign. At his wrath, the earth shakes and nations are unable to stand his displeasure. Jeremiah chapter 15, verse 21. And I shall deliver you from the hand of evildoers and I shall ransom you from the grip of the ruthless. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 7. Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh and whose trust is Yahweh. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 14. Heal me, O Yahweh, so that I am healed. Save me so that I am saved, for you are my praise. Jeremiah chapter 20, verse 13. Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the being of the poor from the hand of evil ones. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11. For I know the plans I am planning for you, declares Yahweh. Plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and an expectancy. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 13. And you shall seek me and shall find me when you search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 3. Yahweh appeared to me from afar, saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I shall draw you with loving commitment. Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through 33. See, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Yehudah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I strengthened their hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, declares Yahweh. For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Yahweh. I shall put my Torah in their inward parts and write it on their hearts, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. So, these are just some of the more notable passages from the book of Jeremiah that Jeremiah himself spoke at times to various people and nations. So, hopefully some of these will inspire you and be a benefit to you, but there's more that comes from the book of Jeremiah like I said, just for the sake of time, we didn't go over all the ones, but here are some of the more notable passages. So, as we went over the life and times of Yirmeyahu and the book of Yirmeyahu, we went over a lot of things that sounded rather familiar and kind of reminded us of someone else in scripture. And a lot of times you found that person to be Yeshua. There's a lot of things that happened in the life of Yirmeyahu that foreshadowed and went along with the life of Yeshua. For example, both Yirmeyahu and Yeshua were prophets. Both knew their purpose even before adulthood. You find Yirmeyahu saying, Oh, Yahweh, I'm but a youth. And you find Yeshua going to the temple about age 12 and telling Mary and Joseph, Hey, I must be about my father's work. Both of them spoke against hypocrisy. Jeremiah spoke against the hypocrisy of the people and of the king and of the priest. Yeshua spoke against the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders at that time. Both of them spoke against religious hypocrisy. Both of them lamented over Yerushalayim, lamenting that they would turn back and follow Yahweh, the right Yahweh or the right way. Both received persecution for the message that they were preaching. Both were rejected by the religious leaders of their time. Both were falsely accused and both were beaten at certain points in their lives. Both were rejected by the current reigning Judean king of the time. Now with Yirmeyahu was about four different kings, but in the time of Yeshua, it was King Herod. And there was, oh gosh, around the time of Yeshua, there was actually four, somewhere around four different Herods. There was Herod the Great when Yeshua was born and there was Herod Antipas and two other Herods. So that's kind of a parallel to there as well with the four different kings. But wow, I didn't realize that until just now. But yeah, Yirmeyahu is a type and almost like a foreshadowing of Yeshua himself. So there's a lot that we can learn from Yirmeyahu and obviously there's a lot that we can learn from Yeshua, but there's definitely a lot of meat in the book of Jeremiah. So when you have time, go check it out. Read it for yourself. Take down notes in addition to the notes that you've taken during this drash. It is very enlightening and very worthwhile to read. Also go through the audio version. We can find several different audio Bibles on our website at godhonesttruth.com. You can find other audio Bibles on places like LibriVox, YouTube even. So there's really no excuse for not going through the books of the Bible. But yeah, Yirmeyahu was a, like we said, a major prophet and he prophesied many things that actually came to pass during his lifetime unlike a lot of the other prophets that we find in scripture. And Yirmeyahu was, in spite of all the persecution he received, Yirmeyahu was faithful to Yahweh all the way up until the end. And that's just the God honest truth. Thank you for joining us for this teaching on Yirmeyahu, especially the life and times of Jeremiah and a quick bird's eye view of the book of Jeremiah. If you got something out of this, let us know down below what it is that you got out of it. Or if you have any feedback about this particular teaching, let us know down in the comments as well. While you're down there, make sure to hit that like button. Hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so that you're notified every time that we go live or when we upload a new on-demand video. And also hit that share button and share it around with someone that you may know. Share it around through social media, through text, through email, or what have you. But we just want to thank you so much for sharing that around. Once again, thank you for joining us for this drash or for this teaching on the prophet Jeremiah. Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries. We hope that we have been of service to you. And if you have any feedback, then please reach out to us by email and make sure to visit our website at godhonesttruth.com for more information, resources, and contact.