Chapter 34—Jeremiah
Among those who had hoped for a permanent spiritual revival as
the result of the reformation under Josiah was Jeremiah, called of God
to the prophetic office while still a youth, in the thirteenth year of
Josiah’s reign. A member of the Levitical priesthood, Jeremiah had
been trained from childhood for holy service. In those happy years of
preparation he little realized that he had been ordained from birth to be
“a prophet unto the nations;” and when the divine call came, he was
overwhelmed with a sense of his unworthiness. “Ah, Lord God!” he
exclaimed, “behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.”
Jeremiah 1:5, 6
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In the youthful Jeremiah, God saw one who would be true to his
trust and who would stand for the right against great opposition. In
childhood he had proved faithful; and now he was to endure hardness,
as a good soldier of the cross. “Say not, I am a child,” the Lord bade
His chosen messenger; “for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee,
and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of
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their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee.” “Gird up thy loins, and
arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed
at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have
made thee this day a defensed city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls
against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes
thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee;
for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.”
Verses 7, 8, 17-19
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For forty years Jeremiah was to stand before the nation as a witness
for truth and righteousness. In a time of unparalleled apostasy he was
to exemplify in life and character the worship of the only true God.
During the terrible sieges of Jerusalem he was to be the mouthpiece
of Jehovah. He was to predict the downfall of the house of David and
the destruction of the beautiful temple built by Solomon. And when
imprisoned because of his fearless utterances, he was still to speak
plainly against sin in high places. Despised, hated, rejected of men, he
was finally to witness the literal fulfillment of his own prophecies of
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