[Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah the priest, was born in Anathoth (Jer. 1:1). He was born as a priest and was called to be a prophet in the thirteenth year of King Josiah. He spoke for the Lord until the captivity of Israel (Jer. 1:2-3, 5-7). Among all the prophets, he was the one who suffered the most persecution. Except for a few of the kings, leaders, priests, and people, everyone was against him and hated him. The false prophets, who assumed to speak in God’s name, especially lied about and contradicted his prophecy. Finally, Azariah and Johanan and those who were close to Egypt forced him to go to Egypt (Jer. 43:2-7).]
Most of this book was written in Judah; the final chapters were written in Egypt. It spans from 629 B.C. to 588 B.C.
The subject is the salvation of Jehovah through Christ, the righteous Sprout, administered according to a new covenant.
The kings and people of Israel had committed sins and were full of wickedness; they worshipped idols, rejected God’s word, and were extremely unrestrained. Jeremiah prophesied that they needed to repent and turn back to Jehovah; otherwise, they would be carried into captivity and their nation would be destroyed.
The judgment of Jehovah on sin is definite. His love and faithfulness are also definite and eternal. The ones who went astray should repent and come back to His bosom.
Jehovah rebuked the kings and the people for their sins. They had forsaken God and disobeyed His word (2:13; 9:13). They were worshipping idols and committing fornication (1:16; 11:13). They also spoke lies, deceiving others, and committed iniquity (9:3, 5; 11:10). The kings scattered God’s people and did not care for them. [Jeremiah, on one hand, rebuked the kings and the people for their sins and wanted them to repent; on the other hand, he warned them that they would be taken into captivity, that their nation would be destroyed, and that the cities of Judah and Jerusalem would become desolate.]
1) The calling and commission of the prophet (ch. 1), 2) the prophet in Judah before the fall of Jerusalem (chs. 2—38), 3) the fall of Jerusalem (ch. 39), 4) the prophet in Judah after the captivity (chs. 40—43:7), 5) the prophet in Egypt (chs. 43:8—51), and 6) conclusion (ch. 52).
The writer of Lamentations is also Jeremiah. This book was once part of the book of Jeremiah, and at one time it was called “the Second Book of Jeremiah.” According to Jewish tradition and the translators of the Septuagint, this book was written by the prophet after Nebuchadnezzar’s final destruction of Jerusalem. This would mean that it was written about 588 B.C.
This book was most probably written in Jerusalem. Outside the city, facing Golgotha (also called Calvary), there is a hidden cave which is called the cave of Jeremiah. It is said that the prophet used to sit there to mourn for that desolate city, and that it is there that he wrote the lamentations recorded in this book.
The subject is repentance from the sin that brought in the righteous judgment of God results in His merciful salvation and restoration.
[Jerusalem fell and the people were taken captive. All the warnings of Jeremiah were fulfilled. But because he loved God and God’s people, Jeremiah could not bear to see the fall of Israel and the loss of God’s glory due to the degradation of the people of Israel. Thus Jeremiah wrote Lamentations and wept for them.]
The central thought is the suffering and calamities brought on by sin, and the mercy and lovingkindness which Jehovah still has toward His children even when He is angry.
[Lamentations, composed of five chapters which are five songs, may be divided into five sections: suffering, lamenting, hope, confessing, and prayer. Except for the fifth, each song speaks first of the tragic destruction of Jerusalem and then of the righteousness of God’s severe judgment. “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations” (1:1). “How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel” (2:1). “The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment” (1:18). “Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people” (2:11). “Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old” (5:21).]
1) Suffering (ch. 1), 2) lamenting (ch. 2), 3) hope (ch. 3), 4) confessing (ch. 4), and 5) prayer (ch. 5).