Essay On The Book Of Jeremiah

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The book of Jeremiah is made up of Prophetic Oracles and Narrative History. However, the book of Jeremiah is not in chronological order. The main purpose of this book was a warning. The warning of destruction that was coming and to try and bring Judah back to the Lord. Jeremiah not only gives warnings but he also prophecies about the Messiah and the New Covenant that was to come. One of the great themes of Jeremiah is judgement. The book begins with an account of Jeremiah's call to be a prophet. The passages are written from the view of Jeremiah's when he is older and when it seemed clear to him that even before Jeremiah was born, the Lord had a plan and purpose for him to fulfill. Jeremiah's earliest prophecies, like those of Zephaniah, are believed to be connected with the threat of Judah being invaded by the Scythians. He felt that his home land would be completely destroyed as punishment for the sins that the Lords people committed. His predictions in this was not fulfilled but was taken by the people as evidence that he was a false prophet. One of the important events that took place a few years after Jeremiah began his prophetic work was the discovery of the law book in the Temple at Jerusalem. This book, was the main part of what we now call the Book of Deuteronomy. It was declared to be the word of God, and king Josiah made it a part of the law of the land. For a time, Jeremiah was pleased with king Josiah's decision. The laws were intended not only to correct many of the peoples sins that they committed in the land but also to protect the worship of the Lord from destruction by the evil influences of idolatry worship. It was hoped, and apparently with good reasons, that the enforcement of these laws would spark a gre...

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...h in which the Lord told him. God will never leave us nor forsake us. Jeremiah believed that the Lord used even the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem as a means for bringing the Israelite people to realization of the fact that God could be worshiped in a strange land without any of the external factors associated with the temple in Jerusalem. In a foreign land, they would learn that true religion is a matter of the heart and can be experienced by any individual who establishes a right relationship with the Lord, a big conception of religion and one that was far beyond the understanding of the people. Conformity to things around us is always an easier course to follow, and during the centuries that followed Jeremiah's prophecies, the ritual element in religious practices received greater emphasis. Nevertheless, Jeremiah's idea of religion was never lost completely.

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