Jeremiah 1

Jeremiah 1:1

I. INTRODUCTION: THE PROPHET JEREMIAH’S APPOINTMENT AND COMMISSION (Chap. 1)1:1-10 In the first chapter of the prophecy, Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah is presented, called, and instructed. His father is described as one of the priests of Anathoth, in Benjamin. He was ordained . . . a prophet . . . before his birth (v. 5), humanly reluctant (v. 6), divinely empowered (vv. 8, 9), and commissioned to predict destruction and restoration (v. 10). William Kelly nicely summarizes the prophet’s person and work: The different character and style of Jeremiah as compared with Isaiah must strike any careful reader. Here we have not the magnificent unfoldings of the purposes of God for that earth of which Israel was the centre, but we have the prophecy in its moral dealing with the souls of the people of God. No doubt, judgments are pronounced upon the heathen, still the intention was to act upon the conscience of the Jew, and in order to do this we see how much the Spirit of God makes of Jeremiah’s own experience. Of all the prophets we have none who so much analysed his own feelings, his own thoughts, his own ways, his own spirit. 1:11-19 Next Jehovah teaches His prophet through visual aids, namely an almond tree and a boiling pot. The almond tree, a first sign of spring, indicated the nearness of the fulfillment of God’s Word (vv. 11, 12). The boiling pot . . . facing away from the north was Babylon, ready to boil over into Judah because the people forsook God for idolatry (vv. 13-16). Jeremiah must prophesy this unpopular message against the kings of Judah, her princes, her priests, and her people, but will receive divine help. They will fight against him, but God will be with him to deliver him (vv. 17-19).