Yahweh's Use Of Metaphors In The Book Of Jeremiah: The African Bible Analysis

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Though the book of Jeremiah contains oracles, poetry and metaphors, his use of metaphors makes him similar to Jesus talking to people in parables. As the narration is in “the first person,” the Collegeville commentary examines the statement “The word of the Lord” pointing to Jeremiah’s speech and considering it “as if he were God speaking.” Since Jeremiah’s words depict a narrative mode of the conversation that took place between Yahweh and him, the Collegeville commentary perceives it as the words of speech by a messenger that are spoken on behalf of a king. In this case, Jeremiah is the messenger, because he is the prophet and metaphorically speaking, the king is Yahweh.
Going further with the use of metaphors in this exegetical passage, …show more content…

The image of knowing and consecrating are related to each other, pointing to agriculture making a parallel of Jeremiah as a dead seed buried in the earth and Yahweh watching over him and knowing him as the pillar of cloud as mentioned in the Old Testament. Since Yahweh was the cloud, when it rained, the water sank deep in the Earth, immersing the dead seed in water, inviting the seed to burst forth because of the smell of the rain, (Isaiah 60 and 61) thus baptizing him with full immersion and consecrating him as a prophet. On another note, using the image of construction, it can be argued that while Jeremiah was taking shape in his mother’s womb, he was as an embryo surrounded by the water and received his consecration which on a literal level, was immersed in water, and was present in the midst of that as God knowing and choosing him and, never abandoning him. Using the words of Rev. Paul Wenz, it can be concluded that “formed you” in verse 5 is yazar in Hebrew has a connotation with “God’s creative

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