We know more about Jeremiah than we know about any of the other prophets. He was born around 650 B.C., just about a century after the prophet Isaiah. He belonged to a priestly family living in the little village of Anathoth near Jerusalem. He began his career as a prophet at the age of twenty-four, remaining as God’s spokesman and interpreter for the next forty years until he died in exile in Egypt. There, according to an old tradition, he was murdered by his own countrymen.

   The influence of Jeremiah was much greater after his death than when he was living.  Israel in exile read and reflected on the writings of Jeremiah, listening to and heeding his words for the first time. During his lifetime, Jeremiah was a failure. All his warnings, threats, prophecies of disaster, admonitions to the worthless Davidic kings fell on deaf ears. When Jerusalem lay in ruins and the people were scattered and in exile, then they admitted that Jeremiah had warned them that all of this would happen if they did not reform and live up to the requirements of their religion.

  Jeremiah’s prophetic career began in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah who had begun a religious reform and rallying of the nation following the discovery of the Book of the Law in the Temple. Jeremiah whole heartedly supported the king’s efforts, but the hopes of the reformers were dashed when Josiah fell in battle against the Egyptians at Megiddo in 609 B.C.

   With the death of Josiah, the old idolatry returned under the new king, Jehoakim.  Also, the security of the kingdom was threatened by a shift in the balance of power from Egypt to the Chaldean Empire with the fall of Nineveh in 612. From 605 onwards, Nebuchadnezzar held Palestine . However, Egypt by a political faction within the country, continued its attempt to regain control. Unrest led to a revolt of the Kingdom of Judah which brought Nebuchadnezzar on the scene. Jerusalem fell and a number of its inhabitants were deported. The lesson was not learned and a second revolt recalled the Chaldean armies. Jerusalem fell in 586, Solomon’s Temple was burnt, much of the city was destroyed, and more of its inhabitants were deported.

  Jeremiah opposed the revolt, prophesying disaster. The war party silenced him by putting him in prison. When Jerusalem fell, he remained in the city with his friend Gedaliah, who had been appointed governor by the Chaldeans. But two months later, Gedaliah was assassinated by a party of Jews who, fearing reprisals from the Chaldean emperor, fled to Egypt taking Jeremiah with them.

  Jeremiah lived in a time of turmoil, trouble, and disaster. All of this conflicted with his own affectionate and gentle disposition for he was a man of peace. His calling to be a prophet threw him into the role of being at war with his own people, with kings, priests, false prophets. His spirit was tortured with what he had to do for the Lord. In prayer he referred repeatedly to the question, “Why  is my suffering continual?” (15:18). This intense personal suffering  purified his soul and prepared him for his prophecy of the new covenant that God would make in Christian times. His doctrine of a new covenant written in the heart made him the father of all that was best in Judaism.

  Sometimes called “The Gospel before the Gospel,” this prophecy was made about the time of the final destruction of Jerusalem. This passage contains his most sublime teaching and is a landmark in Old Testament theology. This New Covenant will be inaugurated by the sacrifice of Christ and will be proclaimed  by the  apostles. According to Jeremiah, it will differ from the old Covenant for it will not be broken but will last forever; its law will be written in the heart, not merely on tablets of stone; the knowledge of God will be shown forth in the life of the people. The most remarkable passage is as follows and as presented in the Jerusalem Bible translation:

  “See, the days are coming – it is Yahweh who speaks – when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah), but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.  They broke that covenant of mine, so I had to show them who was master. It is Yahweh who speaks. No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive – it is Yahweh who speaks.  Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know Yahweh’ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest – it is Yahweh who speaks – since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind” (31:31-34).

  “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” are more commonly referred to now as “Lamentations” for it is highly unlikely that Jeremiah wrote them. They were written in Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 and probably were used in the liturgy which was still performed on the site of the Temple. The Lamentations describe the mourning of the people but a ray of trust in God shines forth that is linked with whole-hearted repentance. The Jews chant the Lamentations on the great fast commemorating the disaster of 586 and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. Christians use them in the liturgy of Holy Week to recall what happened on Good Friday. They are poems built on the familiar structural device in which each verse starts with a new letter of the alphabet, which presents a symbolic and disciplined expression of the profound grief, the sense of sin, the enduring hope of the suffering community.