Intro to Jeremiah

Jeremiah has three strikes against him before I even start reading.

1) It’s a book of prophecy. I like history books, where it’s a simple matter of facts (either you believe them or you don’t). Prophecy books are altogether too full of animals with four heads, flames coming from the north, dirty belts and bizarre personal behaviour dictated by God (see Ezekiel and Gomer). You’re supposed to interpret them somehow, and I have seen too many people interpret prophecy pretty much however they liked.

2) It’s in the Old Testament. I find the Old Testament hard to read at the best of times (here defined as “times in which I’m not reading a prophetic book”). God seems different to the way He appears in the New Testament (although, as I have noted in previous editions of Johno’s Commentary, these differences may well be exaggerated).

3) When all is said and done, our Jeremiah is a man with a reputation. They call him the “Weeping Prophet”. Sounds like this book is going to be a barrel of laughs.

Yet, as with Numbers (and as I discovered in no small measure!) God never does stuff for the Lulz, and there is a reason why He has allowed it to survive to this day.

A curious feature of Jeremiah is that I have read it before, yet I can remember very little of it. My childhood and young-adulthood readings of many books seem to have left much more lasting impressions than Jeremiah. So it’s very much time for me to take another look at this book. Despite my complaints and misgivings, I am under no illusions – One thing that this project has taught me is that God has placed meaning and value throughout His word, and if we ignore those parts we find difficult, WE are the ones who ultimately miss out.

So without further ado, let’s delve into chapter one and see what God has for us today in the book of Jeremiah.