Jeremiah (Hebrew origin: God will rise)
(Jeremiah 1:1). 7th and 6th century b.c.e.
Jeremiah was a prophet from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah to after the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians. Jeremiah never married and was wholly dedicated to his mission, which was to warn the people of the catastrophe that was to fall upon the nation because of their idolatry and sin. Jeremiah, horrified and shocked at the prevailing apostasy, began to preach as a young man. When Nebuchadnezzar invaded, Jeremiah believed that God was fighting for the Babylonians and was using them as his instrument to punish Judah and its leaders. He believed that resistance was useless and that submission to Nebuchadnezzar was the will of God. The prophet sent a message to the exiles in Babylon, telling them that God was universal and could be worshiped far from Jerusalem. Even if the exiles could not sacrifice in the Temple, the worship of God could be done through prayer and obedience to his laws. The prophet promised that after seventy years the people would return from the Babylonian Exile. He did not live to see the return of the people and the restoration of the nation.
Read more biographies from Who's Who in the Jewish Bible.
| ||||||||||
Your shopping cart is empty. |